MLP: The Totally Badass, Lovable, and Intense Adventure
by WedThurFri
Summary: After waking up in a strange forest and meeting some strange talking ponies, Ben decides its best to custom to his new life in Equestria but will soon discover it's not all friendly and peaceful. He'll be engulfed into a life of crazy, fun, and messed up things, but he doesn't care since he's a badass, laidback, and faithful person. Rated M for Kamehameha,Violent,and Sexual Content
1. Chapter 1 - A New World

**_The title is massive attempt at being direct and straight to the point, don't pay heed to it too much. This is literally me now in 03/3/2019 realizing that, that damn title has been alive for three fucking years. But that piece of text below me is 2 years old. Just going down memory lane._**

 **This is my first fanfic, so criticism is always allowed. I will try my best to excite my readers, and give them what they want, while sticking to what I like. So I hope you all enjoy the story. Thanks**.

 **I haven't seen or read any MLP fanfic that involved violence, a badass charcter, crazy sexual content, Kamehameha and ect. So I took a stab at it and this is what came out. I hope you all enjoy and yes this is rated M for a reason, so expect awesome shit. Also all charcters except OC's are Hasbro's property, I don't want a CEO giving me shit about how I stole a character. Yes, the story begins like most adventures but I left out the cheesy fuck-boy intro. Expect many Dragon Ball and anime references.**

 **And now…the story!**

#1

It was dark and my body felt distant. After what felt like my body had faded from existence and came back, I was slowly gaining consciousness and getting a feel for my fingers. I knew who I was, but I can't seem to remember when I lost consciousness or how it happened, but somehow, I knew the reveal wasn't too far away.

My face was still subject to the weariness of my mysterious unconsciousness, my breathing followed a slow rhythm and my eyes refused to open just yet. Despite all the questions, I felt at peace with myself, like I had forgotten all the negatives in life and in my head was a river flowing. Funny how I feel like I should be depressed right about now, but something was keeping me from far from it. Whatever it is, I want it to stay with me and never leave.

I want to see it.

In Ponyville, the day was going like a usual day, no trouble to fend off or any bothersome enemies to teach a lesson to. Unless Dash suddenly became an enemy with her constant rants about wing exercises, which by now had given Twilight enough to reason to ditch her follower. She hadn't stopped speaking about them since Twilight had accidentally bumped into her and she chose to stag along on the way to meet the rest. "So, you, being all alicorn, should try out some of these!" She cheerfully encouraged, not once considering how obviously annoying she had become.

Of course, Twilight would be the next victim after Fluttershy; she was the closest set of wings next to Fluttershy. Ever since Dash got her hooves on a book of wing exercises, provided by Twilight herself, she just became a part-time fitness coach for her and Fluttershy.

Twilight sighed in agony. Both the heat of the day and Dash's excessive talking were getting to her. "How about you go tell Fluttershy about this again? I think I got the point." She said trying her best to hide her frustration, but still wanting to hint at it. "Anyways, I got plenty of spells to help me out, I don't need any exercises to improve my wings Dash, thanks anyway."

Dash blinked aimlessly before chuckling nervously as she scratched the back of her head with her hoof. "Uh…I think she's heard enough out of me. I think I might be pushing it too hard on her or something…" She nervously giggled. _Oh_? Twilight looked back with a smirk, feeling the opportunity to dig back at Dash open up.

"You think?" She asked being smug about it. As much as Twilight expected that insult to hit, she was surprised when Dash remained straight faced and agreed.

"Yeah, she doesn't like the stretching positions, says they're "too exposing", whatever that means?" She shrugged as she continued trotting down the dirt path that led to Fluttershy's animal condo which was vacant of any animals considering it was a special time of the year. Apparently, Fluttershy's paranoia was getting to her due to the excessive growling of Timber Wolves in the distance, and she feared that somepony or creature might have been trapped within Everfree. Now Twilight and Dash were on their way to see their frightened friend and company.

Twilight stared at a Dash after that last poor imitation of Fluttershy's voice, fully convinved she didn't need the workout after hearing how Fluttershy was treated. Although, now she had to stop Dash from being so… _physical_ with her workouts; tis the season in which ponies go on honeymoons and do their hidden acts, last thing she needed was to have Fluttershy acting like most mares do this time of year. Twilight shivered at the idea.

"Dashie, these are the times of the year in which most mares are sensitive of their bodies, that goes for us and Fluttershy too, so please don't be so…physically close to ponies, you might just trigger-

"A leakage?" Dash asked with a smug grin, cutting Twilight off with no shame in her response. There was a split-second silence that made the already amused Dash smile wider and made Twilight freeze with a red aura surrounding her cheeks.

"D-DASHIE!" Twilight called, blushing as she looked away, too dumbfounded to say anything else. Dash laughed at her reaction; she found her joy in teasing Twilight most of the time, especially when it came to embarrassing things like _heat_ , it always got that cute response from her.

"Come on Twilight, you and me both know we don't have a guy buddy!" Dash giggled being open about it. A topic which she didn't have to worry about because she didn't need one at the moment. "We don't need one right now, or at least I don't."

As much as Twilight would have liked to have raged her name out once more, she couldn't just let her be so optimistic about such a serious topic. They may still be friends, but sooner or later life will have a way of affecting relationships, that might just be through another stallion or affair.

"But what if that changes!?" Twilight asked firmly stopping her walk.

"Oh?" Dash stopped before a daring smirk reaped over her blush, she used her wing to pull Twilight in closer _physically_ and neared her mouth over her stiffened ear. Dash giggled directly into her erect ear, causing her fur to stand on end.

"If that ever happens, then I guess we'll being leaking and end up like your brother…"

Twilight's muzzle wrinkled up in embarrassment as she shoved Dash away and making her airborne. "DASHIE! WE'RE STILL NOT THERE YET!" She exclaimed, bright red with embarrassment as Dash laughed. "And still, we're not in heat! So, happy days, right!?" Twilight asked, a bit out of her mind.

Dash paused her laughter and gave her a glance of her devilish eyes as she put a hoof under her grin. "No heat? Maybe because you begged Cadence to get rid of it when it began?" She said, reminding Twilight of the reason they can't enjoy " _heat_."

"O-oh…" Twilight looked away, not denying she did such, but only because it was new and frightening when it happened, and as far as this season goes, she hasn't asked Cadence to redo the spell. "Don't be like that, it was frightening when it first happened." She defended herself in a gentle voice.

Dash lifted an eyebrow curiously as she recalled her experience with this so-called _heat_. It wasn't like Twilight described at all, but it was unique.

"Really? I thought it was hot like heck, I couldn't stop sweating, not to mention breathing was a bit harder." Dash giggled with before freezing at a set of words entering her now stiff ears.

"Now what are y'all talkin' about?"

Dash looked down at Applejack before floating down with a smile as Twilight joined with her own smile, trying to hide her blush. They hadn't realized they arrived at their location with the verbal scuffle. Pinkie Pie jumped ahead of Applejack followed by Rarity, then Fluttershy.

"If I'd known you would've strolled, I could have brought some entertainment!" Pinkie pouted playfully before getting Twilight's apology. She quickly forgave her with a smile.

"A few minutes late, but that not a lot now is it? Good morning darling." Rarity greeted with a smile as Fluttershy got ahead of her.

"Umm…" Fluttershy nervously rubbed her hooves together as Twilight turned to her. "Oh yes! The problem!" Twilight mentioned making Fluttershy look to a side and nod.

"Yes, and please don't think I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure I heard something groan from inside…" Fluttershy gently whispered, hoping she wasn't being annoying after having mentioned her worries over nine times this morning. Twilight smiled as shook her head. "Not at all, we're here to help you."

Fluttershy smiled, grateful for her friends. "Thanks."

"Ah, good ol' Everfree, doesn't look like we can stay away from you, does it?" Dash asked, personifying the forest as she stared into the infinite darkness of it. Twilight sighed as she stepped up to grab Dash's attention.

"No, but here we are…let's think of plan." Twilight suggested, turning to the group leaving Dash to face the forest alone. Dash turned around to join the party, but she never did get to fully return to the group. The world became slow for a moment and suddenly every tiny sound was easily sensible. Dash slowly turned back.

" _Wha…"_ She thought as she quickly looked around, the world was actually moving slow. Suddenly, she turned to the forest. Something had grabbed her attention, she didn't know what it was, but it had her ears standing straight and her wings slightly tensed.

"Dashie?" Twilight asked, realizing Dash hadn't followed. Dash remained silent as she stared into the darkness that was slowly emitting signs of an apparition. Twilight cleared her throat and called for Dash again but the only respond she was got was Dash's wings expanding, as if ready to rush into the forest.

" _Uh…my head…"_

"A VOICE!" Dash's eyes widened as she rapidly stiffened her wings and rushed inwards to the forest, hearing a voice that sounded pained, if not hurt. There was no time for a plan, when things came to Dash. Twilight quickly jumped as well, after Dash that is.

"I hear somepony!"

"DASHIE, WAIT!" Twilight yelled trying to use her magic to stop Dash, but she was long gone before she could activate anything.

I could hear the sound of distant birds chirping and feel wind gently hitting my face as I began opening my eyes at last. I laid with my back against the ground and my face facing the sky, if it was visible that is. I still haven't found the reason for being like this or to explain where I am. I'm usually more responsible for my wellbeing. I looked to my sides weakly before rubbing the laziness out of my face and placing hands to the ground.

"What the hell…?" I groaned, carefully lifting myself off the ground. My body felt weak and somewhat exhausted, which was strange considering I don't remember ever doing anything that would waste me this badly, and I'm not well known as a drinker for that matter. I slowly looked around, studying my environment; it was a forest, a dark and dingy forest, a thick tree line everywhere I looked, followed by an eerie silence. The only thing heard was the ever-peaceful sound of nature surrounding me and isolating me. I was uneasy and sweating cold, there didn't appear to be civilization anywhere I looked, let alone anything familiar to give me relief.

" _Where…am I_?" I quickly darted my eyes around to see if I could at least get a glimpse of a nearby home or shelter, something to let me know I was somewhere safe; nothing but a thick, dark tree line. "Where am I!?" I asked the forest, but only received my own haunting echo.

I spun around a few times making sure I was correct about being alone and not just being negative. I was and I was lost too. Despite not knowing where I was before, I could swear I wasn't in a forest, even if my head was all misty at the moment. I cupped my hands over my mouth and inhaled deeply.

"HELLO! ANYONE AROUND!?"

I had hoped to attract anyone out if this nightmare-inducing forest. No one appeared, kinda expected such though. I looked around again, taking in the thickness of the air, which was like swallowing boiling water. "Damn, how did I even…?" I asked, soon realizing that talking to myself wouldn't help.

I let out a sigh as I tightened my fists to ease my mind and get a feel for my body. If there was anything I could do now it was think of a way to get out of this damned forest. The logical man would do so and luckily for me there seemed to be two options available.

I did my little routine again, looking everywhere, just to make sure, before coming to terms. There was an open patch of tree lining to my left and another one to my right, both equally dim and mysterious. I evenly judged each one before making up my mind.

"Shit…" I cursed under my breath, swinging one way and beginning to walk to the right. As stupid as it was, my only reasoning was based off politics which I never really gave a damn about. Even so, I liked stupid, it made me into someone else when I needed to be someone else who wasn't the me.

I went about hoping the stupid choice would lead out of this forest, it wasn't smart but it would lead somewhere for sure. I walked deeper into the path I took, never considering what was to the other patch of tree opening. I walked till the conclusion hit: this forest was abnormally terrifying. There were so many trees it was darker than the night in here, a thick air lingered that gently strangled me, and this place made the perfect scene for a few specific crimes. I wouldn't be surprised if I find eyes following me or have something jump out of the bushes, just trying to get the jump on me: I just won't let it happen.

I walked a good five minutes, still wondering how the hell I ended up lost in a place like this. Was I drunk? Did I have a mental collapse? Was I kidnapped? Of all those, only one made sense to me.

"Geesh…I must have been really out of it-

I heard the snapping of sticks behind me and stiffened completely. I quickly looked back but nothing was there. "Right…" I eased focus back to my path and upgraded my walk a bit. I wasn't alone and the forest was becoming dimmer to my dismay. As unsettling as it was, I wasn't afraid but I would be if I had to hurt someone looking to mug, eat, or kill me. Being well trained in certain areas was something but what I could do with my own skill was not human, that I can prove.

I walked to the point that the forest was choking the last bit of visibility it had. I began using the last bit of visibility I had to avoid anything and accept the fact I had lost myself, this wasn't the result I expected. And as if I didn't feel stupid enough having chosen this way, I managed to headbutt a tree in my lost state. "Damn!" I cursed at the tree line that blocked my path. Realizing this wouldn't lead out and with a shaken head, I sent a punch for the tree but stopped myself, avoiding crippling my hand, although, that punch felt oddly charged up, awakening me a bit more. I sighed and regained my composure.

"Maybe the left was right this time…"

I stared at the tree line blocking my path before snarls of ferocious beasts suddenly emerged from behind. Now what the hell is that!?

"Hmm?" I hummed out casually as I turned back to where I was coming from and surely not to my surprise, I confirmed my suspicion. I was being followed, although it was by three pairs of beady-glowing eyes. _Well, shit_. I stared at the eyes, curious about the source, before morphing it to utter shock as three wolf-like figures appeared, growling and closing in on me. I stared for a while, just idle with my eyes showing my disbelief.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?!" I asked as I noticed the wolf-resembling appearances but with wooden bodies. Woodland creatures? I had no time to ask questions about these creatures' problem or type, these three beasts were closing in closer every second I remained still. I might have been a bit motivated to back off, if I wasn't alone that is. I reached for my side and patted myself looking for my defense. A metallic sound clinked and I placed my hand around the firm and present handle.

 _Alright then._

I sighed and to grow some confidence, I showed off a tempting smile across my face as I slowly unsheathed out the three-foot blade out of its sheath. I straightened my upper body, getting myself ready before aiming the hazardously sharp blade at the beasts. I smirked as I looked at them snarl in annoyance.

"Look, I'm a nice guy, so I'll give you a chance to go back where you came from…" I offered in whisper, just trying to increase my confidence but the creatures were not in the mood, they growled louder as expected from such a stupid idea. I lifted an eyebrow as my toothy grin showed. "I guess this will be your end fiend." I chuckled as flicked the wrist holding the sword. Almost immediately, one of the abominations charge followed by its company.

I've dealt with creatures worse than woodland creatures and killing wasn't an issue in itself, so I had all I needed as I gripped on fast to my decision.

I quickly blinked my eyes wide open to see as much as I could in this dark plane as the one who charged, leaped off the ground to attack with its jaw wide open. Even if it a near shadow, my hand quickly swung from one side of my body to the other and back in the blink of an eye. The creature fell into four pieces on the ground. Before I knew it, the other two leaped from both of my sides, and I quickly swung my body around with the sword to the beast to my left, and quickly turned a full 360 to face the last one which had a straight line through its torso created by the silver blur I held in my hand. The creatures fell to the ground and scattered into pieces. Surprisingly, it took about only five seconds to get this over and done.

"Damn, that felt relieving!" I proudly mocked with a smirk across my face. I twirled my sword around my hand to get use to the feeling again. A small test of skill was always worth it. I quickly turned to the odd creatures and squatted down to study it.

"What the?"

My eyes didn't deceive me at first glance, these creatures were actually made of wood and nature by the looks of it. They didn't bleed or have organs, all that remained behind was a sticky sap they let out. I gulped and looked at the sword and rubbed off the sap on the ground. I quickly made the argument I was probably drunk, sleeping, or actually made a new discovery. Logically, I chose to accept the fact I was awake, but I didn't feel drunk, I didn't feel like I was sleeping due to the fact I could pinch myself and it hurt. So, all that was left was that I had discovered some new creature.

I caught my breath from the excitement and calmed down to think clearly, as exciting as it was, I was still lost in a forest that I had no recollection ending up in. My safety was first, not some creature I just killed in self-defense.

"Now…how do I get out of here?" I pondered out loud with my hand on my chin, hoping to come up with an idea out of the blue. Before any ideas could pop in my head-which I'm sure I could've thought of one-I heard few more twigs snap before a squeal, a girly one too.

"Wow-wow-wow-wow!" A feminine voice appeared from behind me.

"Who!? WHAT!?" My eyes widened and I quickly turned with the sword ready to strike. _Damn, I didn't expect there to be anyone here, now I might get fined for animal abuse...murder_. I stared at a small shadow that stared back at me, it's slow movements talking me. It took a bit for my eyes adjust but I could see a small outline of a small creature. I squinted even more as I focused on what I was seeing and soon my eyes made it out. It was a small, miniature, horse-like creature with wings: a Miniature Pegasus Thing _: I really didn't know by this point_. The pegasus had reacted negatively to my movements from earlier, with the sword and all, and backed up drastically with its wings fanned out.

"E-easy…"

I lifted an eyebrow as my hands slowly began losing grip of the blade. Past the darkness it was hard to tell who was talking, but the voice definitely came in the direction of this winged creature.

" _What is this?"_ I whispered out as I let go of the grip of my blade and fell to the ground. I backed up an inch with my hands out to show I was not a menace to it. What the hell was I seeing!? Whatever I was seeing, it didn't seem harmful, normally enough spooked and terrified, that was reason enough for me to drop my guard.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you…" I backed up a little more to prove it. The pegasus lowered its wings but it didn't move from where it was. It listened, so I played the same way and stayed put. What was I doing? I was trying to talk to a thing with wings. My mind was going back and forth on whether I was sane or just losing it. My pondering was cut short when the pony oddly cleared its throat. I jumped a bit as I heard it and stared.

"O…kay, then…" She spoke before smiling out of the blue. "You've got some nice moves!"

" _Holy balls!_ " I screamed into my hand which had found its way over my mouth to cover for my yell.

The voice was that of a young female and kind of tomboyish. I looked at her as she slowly moved forward. She got close enough for me to notice she had a rainbow pattern on her mane and on her tail, she had huge eyes with a magenta outline, and a strange symbol on her flank _(hey…it stood out)._ I stared at her intensely as she moved even closer.

"Well, well, well. Am I really that surprising?" She asked with a smirk.

I lowered my hand from my mouth and swallowed my surprise along with anything else I felt. "What?" I asked, nervous without a doubt but hiding it behind a straight look and firm voice. I had to hide what I was feeling at the moment, there's just too much going on for me to just let it all out and lose my mind. Of course, I thought this was dream, but I had told myself before that this wasn't one and I had a problem arguing with myself. I got a hold of myself and took in a great deal of air.

"Are you real?"

"What kinda question is that!?" She yelled back and I leaned away a bit, surprised by her reaction. "Of course, I'm real! Look at me!"

"I can see that…" I said with a realization of what's going on. Seeing how she was the one in the right at the moment, my head switched my next question to a set of new words. "This shit is crazy…and I need to get out of here." I whispered to myself but impressively she heard my soft voice, which was suppose to be just for me.

"Oh yeah! I need to get you out now that I think about it!" She excitedly explained with an over excited leap. _The questions only existed in my head._

"Uh…thanks…" I thanked despite slapping my head side to side on the inside. I don't know why I didn't react like I did in my mind, it must have something to do that cute face I was seeing, or the fact it was so hard to believe, I believed it.

"Um…are you lost or do you know how to get out?"

My eyes went to hers and I stared, lost in the thought that I was being asked such a question. I gulped and nodded. "I am, I kind of woke up here…I don't know how I got here or how to get out."

She looked at me and studied me for a few seconds before laughing a bit.

"Alright, cool." She said without much else as she turned around.

I didn't know how to react, a talking pony, a strange forest, and crazy wolves. " _Oh well, fuck it, let's go_ ," I thought to myself as I nodded and gave the 'Okay' to move on out of this creepy forest; that was my priority from the start and still is. She nodded back and immediately took off, kicking up some grass and dust as she made all the trees sway. I blinked a few times, she took off like a bullet! My hair waved and my clothes violently flapped like a flag as she quickly disappeared into the forest. I stared before my mind clicked as my legs moved quicker than my mouth.

"What the-HEY, WAIT UP TALKING PONY!" I had found my guide out the forest, and now she's leaving me? How nice.

I did my best to follow the speedster but it seemed she was way beyond any speed I've normally seen. I had to break into a full sprint to be able to at least keep her in my sight. I'm fast, but damn that speed is way out of my league, I'd have to have the speed of a Saiyan times three in order to keep up, _nah that would be too quick_.

"Hey, wait up! You're leaving me behind!" I yelled, waving my hand frantically. She braked and turned around, groaning in frustration. I stopped running and caught my breath with my hands on my knees, before she quickly appeared behind me with her hooves under my armpits, trying to carry me. _Good luck._ I'm not heavy but she was too small to carry me.

"Darn, you're too heavy!"

"You're too small!"

"That's not helping!"

She gave up on that idea and told me to try to keep up with her again. "Just follow me again, we're so close!" She ordered, and she quickly began moving again. This time I started sprinting the instant she took off, which did a world of difference despite her being obviously naturally quick with her aerial advantage. It was almost thirty seconds before she turned to look at me.

"Come on, we're almost there, Twilight and the others should be there!" She assured while facing me, and not the huge branch in front of her. I heard a slight knock as I yelled out "LOOK OUT!" too late. I looked away with a flinch and turned back to see the completely knocked out pony laying face up on the ground. How suddenly this happened. I stared for a while, thinking how the hell did that event just happen before quickly shaking my head.

"Hold on! I got ya!" I quickly rushed over to see how she was doing and knelt down beside her. I stared again for a moment, double checking that the small line of red wasn't just her rainbow-like hair, before the red grew thicker before my eyes.

"Oh shit…hold on!" I exclaimed. She had a small stream of blood stream down the side of her face mean, along with very faint breathing but that's better than no breathing at all. I frantically looked around for something to wrap her head with and decided to rip one shoulder sleeve from my t-shirt and use it to pressure and cover the wound, not like I needed the shirt anyways. As I applied the treatment, the curiosity got to me: I felt the pony as I was placing the cloth around her head, her fur was soft and smooth, while soothingly warm equally. Once I put the cloth in its place, I picked her up to carry her the rest of the way. If I could do anything now, it was get this strange irregular pony out of here.

" _She mentioned a Twilight and others, that must mean more ponies, if I'm right_?" I whispered to myself but was cut short when those growls reappeared from behind. More of these damned abominations from hell. I could easily have taken them out even if it was six more than before, but this little savior needed help, so I couldn't just waste time. I quickly turned and broke into another fast sprint and ran until I saw sunlight begin to break through the forest, never once thinking of what was chasing me from behind. It wasn't till I felt movement on my rib that I realized that the pony I was carrying was now conscious again and had her hooves around her mouth, and that we were still being chased by those wolves.

"HEY GUYS, WE'RE BEING CHASED BY TIMBER WOLVES, WATCH OUT!" She yelled out at the top of her lungs. _So that's what they're called._

"Huh?" I asked between pants as I saw the clearing and as expected but not any less surprising, more ponies come into view _._ The new ponies all held onto worried and shocked expressions as I neared them and slid into the ground where the sun hit warmly. I heard a snarl as I braked in front of these new beings, kicking up the dust, before I dropped the pony on the ground and reached for my sword. I rapidly drew it and quickly slashed one of the timber wolves, and quickly hacked four more, in another small time period as before. The other wolves snarled and evacuated into the forest. _Finally, they're gone_. I couldn't describe it, to feel excited and afraid at the same time, but equally want to smile and laugh: to me, it sounded like insanity. I took a deep breath before quickly putting away my sword, kicking the remains of the others back into the forest.

I kicked back the last head before smirking as I rubbed the sap off my boot. "That'll teach'em to mess with…

I turned to see the extremely surprised and frightened ponies before I looked at myself.

"Us…"

 _What a horrible, but badass first impression_. Honestly, I loved the way I felt at the moment, it felt like I could dominate anything and slay anything. Hopefully that attitude gets me through this one.

"Hey." I greeted, not once regretting this approach.

I looked at the ponies with a friendly smile to calm them but they all seemed to be too terrified to accept my gesture. _I wouldn't blame them._ I could feel my insides wanting to explode with questions but I was too confused to ask anything, this awkward silence was starting to pain me.

"THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!" Exclaimed the blue pony I got to slightly know, which caught my attention and made me feel a little better knowing at least someone/pony admired my presence. Still, she added to how much I wanted to ask anything like: _How are you talking?_ or _WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON!?_ Although, I restrained myself from asking such.

"RAINBOW! WHO…WHAT IS THIS!?" Asked the purple one, _I would ask the same of her but apparently, I'm the stranger here_. She also had a feminine voice too, this pony wasn't like "Dash", she had a dark purple mane with a light pink strip going through it, same for her tail, her eyes were also had a purple outline. What stood out the most is that she had a combination of wings and a horn: _I don't know what that is, never imagined things like this existed._

I don't know how I got the courage but I managed to clear my throat and chuckle a bit.

"I think I can introduce myself," I spoke up getting their attention instantly. They all looked female: _Mares if I'm not mistaken, all females._ I might have been losing it, but hell, if losing it involved cute faces all over then I'd lose my mind any day.

The purple one looked as if she was going to drop me the moment I tried anything funny, so I back a step to show I wouldn't be of no harm to them. I didn't understand the look she gave me, so I smiled the best I could. Despite my back tracking from her, she trotted up to me and dropped her stare and circled me, studying my body I presume.

"Okay…" I whispered to myself, turning to the more intriguing of my worries.

I looked at the rest of the ponies; each one was unique. One of them had a light pink mane and tail with a yellow body, and eyes the same as every ponies' eyes, except her eyes had a light-green outline. She had wings like Dash and she also had a symbol on her flank like the rest of the ponies. Another pony had an all-white body and violet mane and tail, her eyes were also a shade of blue, and she had a horn like the purple ones. The next two had neither a horn or wings, one was pink, with a pink mane and tail, and a blue outline of her eyes. The next one was orange, with a blonde colored mane and tail, and a green outline of her eyes.

Above all, I couldn't deal with their mystified stares.

"Hey listen, I'm very uncomfortable with you all just staring at me like that." I warned. They looked at each other still with fear in their eyes before the purple one spoke, finally coming at me with a positive tone. "Sorry about that but we aren't used to somepony just taking out five timber wolves, and with such a…violent approach."

"Oh…" I weakly chuckled hoping they could see my slight regret for doing that in front of them. "I've never encountered such strange creatures…"

I began to feel somewhat sorry now since I didn't realize they wouldn't have used violence in my situation. I was a bit crazy but I was still sane…that was quite ironic. Best move now was to come off as a good guy and not a sword wielding maniac, which was simple if not for the absolute madness of this situation. I sighed as I nodded with her statement.

"Sorry, If I had known a less-violent way to have dealt with that, I would have done it that way…uh" I apologized along with indicating them to introduce themselves. The purple one blinked her eyes wide before quickly trotting up closer.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't properly introduce myself, I'm Twilight, Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends!" She went around indicating which pony is which. "This here is Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy."

I blinked away my curiosity: these names were something new. I shook the thought away before aiming my thumb towards my chest, almost coming off as proud.

"I'm B-Ben-" I had a small moment of thought before shaking away any doubts. "I'm Benjamin Flores, but you can call me Ben and as for what you asked earlier, I'm a human and I don't have a clue where I am." I responded in a nearly cheerful voice, which sounded funny with my confusion. Now this was interesting, I was going to find out what was going on, about time too.

"A human…hmm, I'm not familiar with your species, funnily enough, maybe I skipped a page when reading, but maybe the princesses might know. As for where you are, you're in Equestria!" She responded with a smile. I took a few seconds to think about it and it hit me, and not for the first time today; _I was lost._ I quickly had a few glances around me, admiring the colorful scene and sounds of nature before scratching my head.

"Uh…I've never heard of it." I responded completely confused and lost. She quickly dropped that smile and frowned.

"What do you mean _never heard of it_!? Are you from a different world!? There's no living species in our world that doesn't know about Equestria!" She exclaimed completely outraged. Her friends had as much of a shocked expression as she did. I scratched my head a bit more before smirking slightly at her funny and terrified look.

"Well, I might just be from a different world, I come from Texas," I answered. That got no response from them.

"Okay then…how about The State of Texas in the United States?" They just looked at each other shrugging which was slightly making my stomach ache.

"Okay, how about: The state of Texas, in the United States of America, in North America, on planet Earth, in the Solar System, in the Milky Way Galaxy!? Ever heard of it?" I asked back, trying to add more every time she shook her head. Once I was out of things to call out, I shrugged as to show her I was out of options, and her expression changed to one that made me ponder if she was sane. Maybe I shouldn't be saying who was sane because I wasn't sure if I was sane.

"No…I haven't, by Celestia! You are seriously from another world!" She exclaimed to herself.

"No shit…" I whispered in amusement before she turned to me, glaring a curious and serious look. "Listen would you come to Ponyville and to my home so I can get in touch with the princesses, they might know more about your case, and we have to talk about this!"

I shrugged and smiled warmly.

"Yeah, sure, I don't have anything else to do, for all I know I might just wake up or something." I responded smirking. Hoping to show myself as a friendly and alright dude. She smiled and twirled her body around in the direction of the huge clump of buildings or huts in the distance.

"Great! Follow me! Oh and, I assure you, you aren't dreaming."

I paused as I watched her trot away from me, obviously being serious in her response.

"Okay," I answered, trying to bookmark that response in my head. I already agreed to follow her anyways.

"Can we tag along?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight looked over shoulder and her mouth dropped wide open. Upon seeing Twilight's reaction, I quickly turned to see Dash and it wasn't a surprise my expression changed as well. Dash's head was now streaming more blood down her side. I guess it was worse than I thought.

"DASHIE! WE NEED TO GET YOU TO MEDICAL FACILITY, NOW!" Twilight yelled as she quickly raised her head and her horn started to glow a purple aura. _What now!?_ I asked myself before my sight went trippy and we all reappeared in some room with more ponies. My body felt extremely light for a few seconds before landing my bottom on the ground with my eyes wide open in confusion.

"W-what the hell is going on!?"


	2. Chapter 2 - New Relationships

#2

After a long conversation with a "doc-pony" we were informed that Dash would be fine and that she could come home as soon as she passes a small Physical. _I guess it wasn't as serious as it looked._ Recollecting on what was going on, it quickly crossed my mind that _I just got teleported from a forest to a clinic_. I groaned as I tried to avoid the sight of other ponies in this small clinic Waiting Room, just to not irritate myself and take out some anger on these innocent beings, who did look like they expressed some sympathy for me. My look must have had "stressed" written all over it for the worried looks I acquired.

"Oh shit…" I whispered, pitying myself.

I never liked having my head mashed up with too much thought, as a result, I could feel my head starting to pulse with pain. I had to step out for some fresh air to calm down, my mind was lost in so much information and events that it was starting to make me a bit short tempered. Honesty, I was ignorant of what was going on and, as it should, my head had trouble wrapping itself around it. I found a space outside the clinic and let myself catch my conscious.

I took a moment to study the surroundings before sighing in clear pain; nothing but colorful ponies roaming about and living like a peaceful society. It shouldn't be a painful sight, but the absence of human logic just screwed with me.

"What's going on? Why am I here? Is this a really not dream? How?" I asked myself the cliché questions as I ran my hand through my hair and grabbed the handle of my sword; _It strangely calmed me_. I closed my eyes in an attempt to ease my thoughts and forget about what was happening, yet the images of those odd ponies somehow broke my search for peace.

"…and those ponies…just what are they? So cute," I weakly chuckled before sighing in my miserableness. "But I doubt they'll grow use my presence- _I took a brief pause before shaking my head_ -then again, I wouldn't grow use to my presence neither."

"What was that?" An oh-so recently familiar voice asked.

I quickly turned to the left to see Twilight, a puzzled look on her face, yet a worried feeling radiating from her. I was caught off guard and jumped a little causing her to giggle but she concealed it with her hoof going over her mouth. I couldn't do anything but give a slight chuckle at my reaction. There she was again, cute eyes and voice, and now, I couldn't think clearly anymore.

"What do you mean?" I asked putting up my best smile as I sat down on the clinic campus to get to eye level with her to speak. She looked in my direction for a split second before quickly turning away with no trigger or reason. I lifted an eyebrow and reached over to tap her on the shoulder.

"Is there something wrong? I may be a little scary but still I'm sociable," I implied, reassuring her that I'm not the violent thing she saw when she first met me, _although that would be slightly or massively a lie_. She shook her head and turned back to me with a small smile growing ever so slowly, it slightly shocked me for a second but I kept myself in check, I can't remember the last time I made someone smile.

"It's nothing…I just didn't expect you to be so nice and caring, judging on your first impression." She finally replied shyly turning to face the ground. Rubbing one of her hooves on the other shyly. I took a second to take that in. When have I ever been caring? I slowly leaned back to my place and coughed gently to clear my throat.

"Caring?" I asked, never expected to be given such a character given my background, which for good reason I had restricted myself from telling any human being; as odd as it is, maybe it would be best to extend that to colorful ponies now. As crazy as it seems, I finally remembered what I was supposed to depressed about, but it doesn't seem to faze me when around these ponies which was good news. She turned to me with a smile and a great deal of cuteness express all over her. I've never been intimidated by the looks of females, so this would be the first time.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash told me that you where the one who helped her when she was unconscious and I can only assume that you treated her wound with that piece of cloth!" She explained in a more admiring tone and was actually looking at me now. I scratched my head and chuckled a bit; this was pretty hard to take in. I've never really considered my actions till now, and now that I did, they seemed slightly farfetched from my own expectations.

"Yeah, I…did," I skeptically replied looking out at the town, I didn't expect this at all. I continued asking and repeating the word 'caring' over in my head, it was new for me; never have I really been called such and never did I expect to be, but I like it. Twilight gave me a strange glare before nudging me a little with her hoof, getting my attention instantly.

"Yeah?"

She tilted her head to one side, like a dog would when curious.

"What do you mean by that, aren't you a good…um…human?" She asked pressing her hoof on my arm. Huh? I paused for a moment, looking down at my arm, I expected her hooves to be quite realistically _hard_ …but no, they were oddly soft and warm, I liked the feeling of it; protective in a way. I had to think about what to say. If I ever spoke about my past to anyone/pony here they might not take to kindly to it considering they don't seem to tolerate violence, not to say that I'm not proud of it either. I sighed, deciding that lying about the matter is the best way to explain myself.

"Yeah, I'm a good person, I'm just surprised I managed to do that in just a few minutes upon waking up in a new reality, it hurts…a lot." I lied but it was good enough for her, although, I felt awfully guilty. A lump began to form in my throat as I swallowed that lie. I'm a good liar but it was hard lying to these strangely cheerful ponies, and that's not an exaggeration, these ponies are direct replicas of the word "cute". This would be the first time I ever lie and feel regret over a lie. Luckily, thanks to expressing a bit of my pain to her, and seeing her nod in compassion, made me feel a lot more comfortable.

"Okay, you seem like a good human, I like that! And yes, I know this must be heavy, but I assure you that we will find out the answers to your questions."

"Take your time." I smiled to hide the fact that in my head I taunted myself with my self-conscious. _A good guy?_ I always believed I could be, but I never did anything to show for it. Yet, now it's as if the chance was just thrown at me, and with ponies. I admired her compassion, and oddly got this heart-warming feeling that seemed to make my body act on its own. My hand landed on her head and rustled it slightly, avoiding hitting her horn.

"Thanks, I needed that."

She blushed softly with a smile as I retracted my hand to my side and she fixed her mane with her magic.

"Thanks-I mean…you're welcome!" She nervously chuckled before giggling. "Sorry, I get a bit nervous when around…" She turned to look at me off the corner of her eye before chuckling some more. I smiled to show she had nothing to worry about.

"It's okay Twilight, I'd get nervous around a sudden visitor from another world too, if I was in your shoes-uh…hooves."

She just smiled as she shook her head.

"That too, but…I've never really had a conversation like this…with a male," She revealed before freezing slightly and looking away. "S-sorry, that was a bit weird by my part-

"No…not really, on the contrary, it's healthy to speak one's feelings and not hide them." I said, despite the huge irony coming of my mouth, but I paid no heed to my problems as I was finally getting the chance to understand her a bit more and maybe, just maybe, start a friendly relationship. She smiled in agreement, "Thanks, I'll take your word for it."

I smiled as I recalled some back story, not a happy one but it was worth telling to waste some time as Dash gets cleared.

"Well, I wouldn't really know much about it since I've never really grown intimate around girls, or females in understandable terms, despite my failed attempts, but I've learned that females have a magnetic tendency to pull in guys and make them nervous…and from that I kinda learned to accept "no" as an answer." I laughed it up, oddly opening up slowly.

"Ouch. How was that?" Twilight asked with a playful get-along smile. I rolled my eyes as I smiled at my past failures.

"I was young, in my young, teen years, and if you failed at getting a girl, then you basically became the laughing stock until you do something about it." I said tightening a fist in front of me. Twilight stared at it before turning to me curious.

"You…killed them?" She asked, not really getting the point. I looked curiously at my fist before laughing as I brought my hand down.

"I don't blame you for assuming that, but no," I assured her with a smile. "I'd be humble until they finally start acting like they can push me around, then it's time to knock some sense into someone!"

"Interesting, you value your pride then?" She asked, not really admiring it.

"It's not a priority, I'll still give my opponents my hand in honor and respect those who deserve it."

She stared at me, glad to have heard me tell such a small piece of myself. I smiled as I turned back to the ponies trotting along the new town. "Well, that's a little bit about me if you'll need it for future reference."

"Wow, I feel almost wrong for meeting you out of the random," She said, a slightly inspiring tone in her voice. I smirked. "How so?"

She turned to me with a smile as she placed her hoof back onto my arm, which sent another odd feeling through my body again. Her touch was friendly and harmless, and I haven't felt a touch like that in over eight years. "The way you talk, and how I feel, it's almost as if we'd known each other before."

I smiled as I gently grabbed her hoof, being highly gentle as I gripped it softly. She blushed as she looked up at me, not really connecting her eyes with mine.

"I'm glad."

There was an odd silence before I let her hoof go and she slowly let an unstoppable smile reap her. "T-thanks-I mean…"

I laughed at her nervousness before hearing a light knock on the doors of this clinic, which meant that Dash was ready for release.

"We can talk whenever, I got nothing to do, but for now, my little savior needs to see the light of day!" I said, looking over at her with a satisfied smile that gave her my thanks.

Twilight looked back at the clinic with a smile and told me to stick close to her so that I wouldn't wander off and get lost. I just smiled and laughed at the idea of me getting lost, it wouldn't be the first time. She went back into the clinic to get her friends and Dash.

As she did that, I looked at the town of ponies again, and this time I got a small family of three in my sights that were just strolling on by; it looked like a mother, son, and father. The little one, took the time to pause and wave his hoof from his place which was only like ten feet away. I smiled as I waved back, before his mother, of course being protective, nudged him from behind to move.

"Hello, sorry about that." She greeted awkwardly to make up for her protective instincts. I held my smile as I nodded.

"No problem ma'am, just a regular day at the…" I turned awkwardly at the building behind me. "Clinic…"

While the mom was skeptic of my humor, the man of the family stepped up with a chuckle. "Geez, you can't laugh at anything, only us guys get these jokes like friends, ain't that right!?" He asked me before quickly getting some magical aura around his ear and began getting dragged off by his wife. I was stunned into silence by the sudden usage of the word "friend", it was so easily just thrown down that I became mentally stuck. I quickly shook it away as the pony was getting farther away waving his hoof madly.

"Yeah! We got each other!" I exclaimed waving my hand back at him. He smiled widely before he went out of range, and God only knows what his woman might do after that. Ha! Even here guys will be guys. I guess I shouldn't distract myself from the fact I'm still a man, and a man always to be friends with other guys. Although, this is kinda starting late, last time I remember talking like a man to another man was back in the barracks, and damn, that was a few years back.

After a few minutes, the six ponies met me outside with smiles and not the looks they had in the beginning. I just smiled back _-word of Dash must have gotten around_ -and followed Twilight as she began the way to her "home".

As I anticipated, we all talked on the way to the house. I had expected to get along, but not to be greeted with such charisma. I appreciated it fully though.

"So…Ben, how did ya end up here?" asked this Applejack pony, her voice was that of a southern cowgirl…or cowpony in this world. I admired her accent: it reminded me of the old westerns I watched as a kid and the missy who's always a decent woman. I turned to her and walked backwards to face her while talking. Now it's my time to be charismatic.

"I really have no clue, all I know is that I ended up in that forest of nightmares, and now I'm walking with y'all to Twilight's house, I enjoy the company though." I responded in a casually lost tone. It felt kind of odd speaking to them so friendly at the moment but they seemed so kind it was imperative I respond back kindly too and getting a bit closer to Twilight also had something to do with it.

"Maybe them fancy princess might know…but I think they're probably aware of ya by now." She finished. Her accent was strong and lived up to the true cowgirl/pony name.

I looked back at her and raised an eyebrow, intrigued by her response. "How do you figure?" I asked.

Rarity then interrupted clearing her throat, "Well darling, it isn't a secret that something strange happened in Everfree forest and that a certain pony ended up hurt." I turned my attention to her and back at Applejack. "Yeah, I have no right to deny what your saying…considering I'm more lost than when I first learned to drink."

"OH-OH, maybe you drank your way to Equestria!" The bright pink one called Pinkie Pie exclaimed in such a cheerful manager she jumped ten feet into the air, terrifying me slightly. I smiled as I laughed with her response, not questioning the physics she just broke. "Maybe Pinkie, maybe."

"Geez, if that were true, then we'd be nothing but a dream of yours. Meaning we'd have meaningless lives!" Dash quickly debunked sounding legitimately shocked, before she followed with a few awkward chuckles.

"Wow Ben, you're already making Dash a philosopher," Twilight giggled. "I think you should be someone Dashie should look into."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Dash shot back before I looked at her, still walking backwards.

"I feel like you could get along with him, he's very gritty and strong-minded, like you!" Twilight cleared up, easily changing the meaning of her words; the first time obviously referring to her lack of intelligence.

"Really? Strong-minded is more like Applejack, no?" Rarity argued before Twilight bobbed her head in agreement. Rarity became slightly curious after making that observation, her look showed it.

"So…what else is he like?" Applejack asked next making me feel uplifted, it seemed they really wanted to get to know me. Twilight smiled as she spoke ahead of me, and I allowed it.

"Well, from what I've seen, he's really kind, sweet, humble, strong, very charismatic, good with words, smart, a charmer and romantic." She easily put out there but the looks she got were not what I had expected, but I could see the reason behind them. In all her characterization of me, she must have lost track of her words and spoke freely. She basked in the glory of her words, not yet realizing the looks she got.

"A charmer and romantic? Did all that really happen while you were outside with him?" Rarity asked with a daring smirk. Twilight blushed again as she found herself at a loss for words. I looked at her before smiling.

"I do try to be,"

They turned to me, almost surprised I finally said something, and giggled.

"Seems you didn't need to," Rarity said before Dash smiled. "I'm starting to feel like this is gonna be a long day!"

"Ha! You got that right! Considering our friend here has almost everything we all have together in his body!" Applejack stated before Pinkie nodded quickly. "Wow! You're getting an extra special one!"

I didn't know what that meant by Pinkie's part but I accepted it with a smile. As for Applejack, she had me traumatized mentally with that word again, "Friend" it was easy for them to say, but I was restarting the usage of such a word after years.

"Woah, I didn't expect that much recognition, huh…almost funny be so socially active again…" I whispered that last bit, which got Twilight's attention despite her trotting ahead of me and with my back to her. I took a slight pause as I tried to come up with something else to ask. "And these princesses, who might they be?"

"They are the princesses of day and night; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Twilight cut in. My attention then switched to her, she had begun explaining a whole bunch of info that I didn't pay much attention to. As I listened bluntly, I couldn't distract myself from the fact that there are still monarchs. Truly, this is a new world. In the end, I managed to divert my concentration from myself to these princesses. Once Twi finished her speech, I turned around to walk forwards. These princesses she speaks of sound like they basically are mortal gods with no freedom, it felt wrong in a way to hear Twilight just speak so calmly about it.

"Okay, so they're higher-ups and control day and night cycle but also take care of Equestria…" I asked before shaking my head.

"As crazy as that sounds to my human logic, I feel bad for them." I expressed, "It seems like a bunch of responsibility for just two ponies."

I had trouble believing what I was saying, as much as I wanted to scream and yell out in confusion, I couldn't. I had something strange going on in which I couldn't take things seriously. Oh, how this brain of mine works.

"Well, they're alicorns, like me, but you have nothing to worry about, they've been doing fine as far as I can remember." Twilight claimed with a reassuring smile. _Alicorns, now that's some new vocabulary_. I decided to take her word for it, I'm new here, so I have to trust in these ponies about most things, although, I'll keep my personal opinions on a pedestal. And, I'll also keep in mind my opinion towards these princesses.

Once we got that conversation over, Pinkie Pie took her leave without saying a word, I didn't notice until I looked back and didn't see her. I asked about it but no one gave me a clear answer, it became a little suspicious but I didn't press anymore on the issue.

We began to chat about the places that were on the way to Twilight's house; there were homes, stores, vendors in the streets, and young ponies running around tagging each other. The walk became more of a tour than a simple walk home. Once we actually reached the house, I was surprised to find out that the house was built into a giant mineral that had been shaped like a tree with a beautiful design, _strange, but a stargazing experience._ The door swung open and it was clear that the home was small and that I had to duck to get in. All the ponies had gone into the house, which I was now suspecting wasn't just a home, and I followed and somehow managed to get in through the small door. I must have looked awkward or stupid crouching and sliding into the house since they all stared at me holding back some humor.

"Looks like you've been eatin' mighty healthy, yer quite tall." Applejack giggled as the rest also showed signs of amusement. I look at them and smiled. "I guess I have."

Everypony took a seat on a piece of furniture.

"You can sit here," Twilight said pointing at a couch that was surprisingly big and suited me well. I took a seat and deeply inhaled some clear thoughts. "Thanks." I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes. The couch felt like a memory foam bed, _it was comfortable._ As relaxed as my muscles were getting and just as I was about to feel at peace, something ringed in my right ear.

"Hey, where'd you get that awesome sword!?"

I jolted my eyes open and looked to my right. Dash was there with her hooves on the handle of my sword. _She's fast_ : _she was on the other side of the room a second ago._ Almost by instinct, I scooted away from her causing her to fly up.

"What's the matter? I don't bite," She said hovering in mid-air. I looked down to notice my sword: a few inches of the shiny metal was showing. Those few inches exposed the sword's design: a dragon that appeared on both sides of the sword. I focused my attention back to Dash, who was looking at me with a locked stare.

"Your teeth don't worry me as much as your speed. You startled me, you were over there and now you're here in the blink of an eye, and somehow managed to pull out my sword a few inches; that's quite impressive I'll admit." I said giving her an awkward look as she began to hover closer to me. I frowned a bit and leaned away even more until I was at the edge of the couch. She didn't break her stare and I was literally at the edge of my seat.

"So…can I see the sword?" She finally asked over enthusiastically. I wasn't surprised by her request but her ability to be so clueless when it comes to personal space surprised me.

"DASH! Why would you ask something like that!? It's his property!" Applejack asked with a stern look going on. Dash looked back at her with a confused frown.

"Because the sword looks freaking cool! And it has a weird symbol and I want to see it!" Dash stated approaching me even closer. "Can I, please? At least, see it?" she asked almost sounding like she was begging. She was getting nearer, and nearer. In about a few seconds, she got so close that my forehead nearly touched hers, I could see her eyes, huge like everyone else's' but up close. I had no choice.

"Alright then Dash, I might just worry about you biting me considering you're just a millimeter from my face." I said as I gave up on holding my breath before smirking with a sudden rise in confidence. "But be warned, I bite back."

She quickly looked me in the eyes and retracted herself quickly to the other side of the room leaving a blur of rainbow as she did. Her eyes were stamped into my brain: the surprise and sheer embarrassment all in that one-second eye connection. I noticed a blush form around her cheeks, _she really was clueless_. She was quick too, she slingshot to the other side of the room. My confidence rose a bit more seeing how she reacted.

"Okay, I wouldn't have bit you that hard." I chuckled flashing a toothy smile. "Still wanna see it though?" I asked, hoping she still wanted to see the sword despite the circumstances. She took a deep breath as she used her hooves to rub her face a bit before nodding. I could still see a hint of red, but it was nearly unnoticeable. "Yeah!" She said trying to cover embarrassment with enthusiasm.

"Okay then," I reached for the strap that wrapped the holster around my waist and untied it. With every knot I undid, everypony seemed to express more interest in it as they all neared except Twilight who was contacting the princesses. I held the holster with one hand and slowly wrapped my fingers on the grip and began to unsheathe it. The sword made the classic unsheathing sound as it came out and left the holster. Once the sword fully exposed itself, I held it in one hand with the blade laying on the palm of my other hand. The finely polished metal shined glamorously as I ran a finger from one end of the blade to the point and picked it up before blowing at the edge making a thin whistle.

"Woah," They all whispered in unison, eyes wide with the reflection of the sword in their eye.

"Yeah, that's what I first thought when I first made it, " I agreed with a smile. I warned them that it was double-sided and that its sharper than the average sword but they seemed more interested with asking if I actually made this fine weapon, than the sword itself.

"Did ya really make this thing? With metal and all?" Applejack asked as she studied it tensely.

"Yeah." Was my simple answer.

"How did you put such a design on a sword?" Rarity asked next. I would've gone into the full explanation as to why I created it to begin with, but I didn't want to go into the full details but I'll tell enough to know how I made it.

"This project took me about a year and a half to complete because of time scarcity. It's made of pure titanium and as for the design: I had to carve out the dragon on a separate piece of metal, then press it on to the sword while it's still hot and moldable," I explained, as I noticed the only one who hasn't spoken at all this whole trip was Fluttershy. I looked at her out of curiosity if she had anything to say or ask, but my attention to her caused her to fluster and turn away. I got the impression that her name also connected with her personality: _it was cute, really._

I looked down at the sword and returned it to its home. "Well enough of that, as much as I like looking and talking about it, I have to get answers for multiple things from the _princesses_ ," I said seeing Twilight coming into the room.

"Hey, and speaking about the princesses, how do I address them?" I asked in a whisper to Rarity who seemed the fanciest one here. She turned to me and smiled. "Your highness and show good mannerisms."

"Ah, makes sense."

Twilight came up to me and informed me about the arrival of the princesses. "The princesses have said they will arrive soon, for now, can you tell us more about yourself?" I wrapped the sword around my waist and looked at them, feeling confident enough speaking with them. "Sure."

She smiled gently as she lifted her curiosity and glared at me enthusiastically.

"Great, to start off, how old are you? I assume you must be quite old" She asked as her friends gathered closer around me. I laughed a bit and shook my head. "Not one gray hair or wrinkle yet, Twilight." This was a no brainer, I leaned forward and answered truthfully.

"I'm Twenty-one."

"Wow, really? You're actually a few years older than us!" Dash enthusiastically commented. _I wonder what this means?_

"Is that so? Nice." I replied curious about how the age matched those voices, maybe only Applejack's and Rarity's voices fit the age. Besides my questions, I'm glad to know that we're closer in age than I thought at first. As a matter of fact, I felt almost a new feeling of security emerge after hearing that.

"Alright, my turn!" Rarity began as she stood up and placed her hoof on my pants, "What's with all the clothes? Such a strange and bulky outfit mustn't be comfortable to move around in."

I cocked an eyebrow and looked down. As Rarity stated correctly, I was dressed in black baggy pants with a vest over my t-shirt, and some black work boots, I looked at my hands and noticed the gloves which exposed my fingers. I studied myself a little more, I still had the same spiky hair I've always had, yet the hair wasn't as surprising as the fact I was ready for some assignment involving quite the fair use of the things in this vest. I'm surprised I didn't notice the vest sooner, I guess in my overwhelming of such a new world I didn't see or feel it.

"What the hell!? I'm dressed in my…" I studied it a bit more before gulping. "…OPS outfit…but how?" I exclaimed, getting the attention of all the ponies.

"Op…s?" asked Rarity, with a confused expression which reflected on everyone's faces. I snapped into regretting I ever saying that out loud.

"What's that?" They all asked making sink in my seat.

I felt stupid and even more guilty about having told Twilight I was not a bad person when in reality I could consider myself a revenge-driven maniac. Like I said, I had remembered what I was meant to be depressed about, and this was it. I wanted to explain the story so badly, just to see if could get it through them and then never speak of it again but doing so might make them lose the trust I've formed between them and me. I wanted to lie again but if I lie too much I would just be stacking lies upon lies and become a trustless liability. I was running out of options.

"Well…it's…um…" I struggled to speak, how would I explain the death of so many without scaring them away? I looked at all their faces once more and easily seen on them was how they were becoming a bit restless for the answer. I gulped and my mouth opened slightly. "I'm a…

"What's the matter?" Fluttershy asked with a whisper pushing me to talk.

"I'm a mur-

Just as I was about to break it to them two bright flashes of light appeared and a voice that sounded ever so heavenly and motherly compared to the ponies I've met as of now, spoke.

"Well now, Twilight, who is this stallion you wanted to introdu…? Said one of the voices as the light began to dim out, revealing two ponies, well maybe a little too oversized compared to the ponies by my side. They were the princesses no doubt about it, two alicorns that resemble light and darkness. _Yin Yang_

"Oh, about that! He's not really a stallion, he's this weird species called a human!" Twilight explained with enthusiasm. "Oh, and he's a bit assertive, but he's very friendly!"

I don't know how many of Twilight's words got through those in front of me. They stared at me and I stared back at them too. We quite literally entered a staring game on instant. Twilight cleared her throat to get our attention but it failed. I recognized a warning through stares very well, I learned these from so many, and my brain was just reacting how it should: defensively.

 _Oh boy…she didn't finish that last sentence…and what's with the angry looks?_

"Celestia…? Luna…?" Twilight asked and I gulped as I realized there was something wrong.

 _This ain't good._


	3. Chapter 3 - New Friends

#3

The stare off wasn't ending even when I blinked and chose to cast a serious glare back at them.

"What with the looks?" I asked, my serious glare talking over, not flinching or retracting at their sight.

They both stared at me with a malicious intent I couldn't explain, but it did unnerve me slightly. At first, like any well-mannered adult, I wanted to go up and greet, introduce myself to these beautiful beings, but that's all gone now. My insecurity began showing as I jumped back and became defensive by instinct when the bright one's horn lit up: Celestia's.

"Hey, hold up, what's this!?" I quickly placed my hands up hoping for mercy but that wasn't the smartest choice. I quickly felt my body lock in place as I probably startled them with my quick movement. I tried to move against the binding magic, but all I got was a more aggressive pulse of magic that formed around my body and locked me tighter.

"What the hell!?" I yelled out as I tried to move my body, although it felt like I had just been covered in cement that dried instantly. "I can't…move…damn it!" I growled as I locked my eyes on the princesses. This wasn't what I had expected.

"Princess Celestia, Luna, what are you doing!?" Twilight asked with obvious objection, but it was no use, they didn't stop their magic. Judging by her tone, this probably wasn't planned for me. I felt that stress from earlier at the clinic comeback with full force as my temper shorted and I managed to close my fists despite their magic still standing strong on every part of my body. As soon as I managed to finally move my arm slightly, I was slammed to the ground by their magical force. I was in a traumatized state for a few seconds before I remembered that I was the innocent one here getting his body paralyzed. That thought was enough to provoke my anger.

"Damn it, I just wanted to talk, and this is what I get, fuck that!" I growled, gritting my teeth as tried to get up. I placed my hands to the floor and tried to plank up against their heavy magic. It worked. I could feel sparks starting to go off around my body as I probably short circuited their magic with my stubbornness.

"STOP IT!" Dash yelled trying to stop the princesses but she was unable to move them like Twilight. Applejack and Rarity both too shocked to speak stood close to Twilight and Fluttershy hid behind the couch. I looked at them, reminding myself of how they actually tried to make the effort to get close to me, something no one would do for me back when I needed it, and now that I get the chance, they suffer for it. _Well fuck that too!_

"WHAT DID I DO WRONG!?" I yelled out as I slowly and heavily lifted myself to my feet going against their magic. It was becoming slightly easier to move as my stress kept turning into adrenaline. I stared at them before noticing all the looks off the corner of my eye; fear and confusion on each of their faces. My head immediately processes the fact that they rejected violence, and that's exactly what's happening. I was just fueling whatever was inside of me as I finally decided to let my anger show in my glare towards them. I noticed the dark one flinch as I lifted my fist up to my chest and growled.

"How is he…?" Luna questioned, applying more strength to her magic. I almost let myself go on that pulse of magic but caught my fall and pushed some more. I could feel the stares on me as I grunted and brought a knee to support my body. I wasn't done yet, and they're damn mistaken if they think I'll let my body lose itself.

"I don't know, but keep up, we can't let him hurt anypony!" Celestia persuaded as she also gave in more power. I didn't care about whatever they were saying, all I could see was two ponies trying to hold me down for no damn reason. I finally managed to get both legs to support me as I stood up, I balled a fist and tightened my anger hoping to have one last shot at stopping them.

"Let…me…go!" I panted out before feeling something pick up around the room: a breeze. They just tightened their frown and I felt the instant sensation of what felt like a pain erupt from inside my chest. It was them, no doubt about it, and I've finally had it with them.

"BEN! HANGING IN THERE-

A loud clash was heard as I flew back, onto the wall, hard. Twilight not even given the chance to assure my safety. The wall behind me cracked and my mind went blank at the sudden impact, _that was a cheap shot_. I felt my body loosely fall to the floor along with the debris from the wall behind me, and my sword slide out of its holster and onto the floor spinning to the center of the room.

Everything was quiet for a few moments, nothing was heard besides a few hooves tap as they rushed over to me. I felt my body slightly get picked up before loosely falling back down, I was in such a lost state that my body and mind where frozen, I was brain dead.

"B-Ben…WHY DID YOU THAT?! WHY-WHY-WHY?!" Twilight yelled, while Rarity and Applejack still remained completely speechless and Fluttershy cried behind the couch.

Celestia and Luna looked around and then looked at each other briefly, "Twilight you did know what you where housing, right?" Asked this Celestia. I knew the answer to this one, _an innocent, 21 year-old war veteran, who was assaulted and thrown to a wall_ , _probably looking 99% dead_.

"NO! AND I DON'T CARE! You didn't have to kill him!" Twilight cried as she began whimpering and sobbing. Dash stared at the sword on the floor, fear trembling all over her as she picked it up. _Am I really dead? Is this my consciousness from the afterlife?_

Luna looked at Twilight and back at my motionless body, I listened brain dead for the reason of my death. "Twilight, that is a demon, he would have killed you at any moment, couldn't you feel all that evil aura radiating from him?"

 _Me, a demon?_ That's about as stupid as everyone thinking I'm dead. Although, I appreciate her worry for me, this would be the first time anyone's worried for me in years. A demon wouldn't feel like this, now would he?

"No…he…I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE!" Twilight cried as she fully burst into tears as so did everyone else except Dash, and the princesses. Dash turned to them, sword at hoof.

"He…wasn't evil…HE SAVED ME AND OUR FRIENDS FROM TIMBER WOLVES AND TRIED TO HELP ME WHEN I WAS INJURED, HE WAS OUR FRIEND! AND YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE OF A STUPID REASON LIKE THAT YOU CAN KILL HIM?!" Dash lashed out causing the princesses to flinch as she let the sword fall to the floor in a series of clanks and tinks. I opened an eye at the sound of metal colliding with the floor, I won't let anyone think they could easily take me out without a fight. I wasn't dead, I had full control of my body, and everypony in this room will see how I deal with my enemies.

"HUH?! SAY SOMETHING!"

I quickly felt my feelings turmoil inside me as I tried to control this massive headache. Never have I been in a scenario like this before, this new feeling was pure adrenaline and not instantly losing control. In my head, a small chant was screwing itself deeper into my brain as I felt my blood stream into my mouth:

 _Ponies, Violence, Equestria in danger because of me, DEMON, FRIENDS...FRIEND!_? GET THE FUCK UP!

 _Loud and clear_.

As they argued, I slowly reached my hand out for the sword, ever so slowly still I felt the handle with my fingertips. I quickly opened my eyes and picked my sword up, placing the tip under Celestia's throat, in a split second. Gasps were heard as they saw that I was a walking corpse and the tables have turned. I stared into Celestia's eyes with no mercy in my own to assert my seriousness. She looked back at my eyes with fear all over. Luna and the others stared at my scene. I stood straight and didn't move, my arm and sword stretched for her throat. I felt more magic upon me but it had no effect. I quickly reached into my vest and pulled out a bowie knife and placed it under Luna's throat, she was sitting in a perched position like a dog as she froze. My actions had been second to none, they couldn't react. I could hear them breathing slowly and the trembling of the other ponies. I could tell that blood was running down my face and that I was probably drenched in it. It seeped through the edges of my mouth and gave my mouth a sour taste. I opened my mouth to speak.

"You've got some nerve fucking with me like you did," I said actually pressing blades of both my drawn weapons onto their fur making them shiver, their shiver agitated me greatly. "Oh? I didn't think you could feel any emotions after your cold-merciless assault."

"B-Ben…" Twilight softly whispered in shock with Dash.

The sun and moon growled as I stared them down. They were cute too, but at the moment, the last thing I wanted was to gawk at such. I watched them try to match my own stare before a smirk ran up my face and a chuckle escaped. _Real sane I must say._

"Twilight knows what happens next." I smugly said as I remained focused on them. They lost the frowns as they tried to look at Twilight and me equally.

"W-what?!" The bright one asked before Luna followed. "W-what's that suppose mean?!"

I smiled as I turned to Twilight who stared at me with hope on in her eyes, but just as easily as I could see her hope, I could see she was skeptical about what I was going to do. I turned back to face my two captives, serious business shown all over my face.

"You made Twilight panic and probably lose her mind, just like her friends," I began as I looked around at all the terrified ponies; some crying and some too stunned to speak. I looked back at them.

"But I told Twilight how I handle my problems," I said as I drew back my blade and holstered each one before extending my hand towards Luna who had been sitting on her bottom since I threatened her. "I always give my hand to my opponent."

She stared at my hand, not knowing how to react as she looked to Celestia and back at me. Her sister could only provide a frown which was not surprising. I looked deeper into Luna's eyes as I kept my hand out.

"I have faith in Twilight, she told me you could help me with my situation, so I can still respect you a bit," I said, my hand not retracting. "And because I feel we got off on the wrong foot-hoof-whatever, I hope you take my hand as a sign that I forgive you."

She looked at my hand before sighing and lifting her hoof placing it on my hand. "Fine but restrain yourself of using your weapons."

I gripped her hoof firmly but gently, which surprisingly left her in a small moment of nervousness before I tugged gently. She got on her hind hooves before standing with all fours.

"You're surprisingly gentle for a demon." She said almost wanting to whisper. I retracted my hand as I looked at Celestia. "Maybe you shouldn't judge without asking."

I left her at that as I turned to the ponies around me and noticed their fearful and terrified faces before face palming myself. _Damn, I did it again._ I got on a knee as I went to check on Twilight first and for the sake of being positive, I weakly smiled.

"Heh, it wouldn't be the first time today I got attacked, right?" I chuckled before she shivered as she looked at me, her eyes gleaming from the tears that she held back. She made this face that sank my humor boat and drove me into a small depression as she began sobbing again but this time gripping me tightly from my shirt, or whatever the vest allowed her to grab. Christ, she really was worried. I froze in place as I found my arms stroking her mane to calm her down.

"Shit, I'm sorry Twilight for all this, for everything, I don't know why this is happening." I apologized in a gentle voice hoping that would do. The princesses looked at each other and then at me as I let Twilight free to go but she remained locked on tight. I looked up the ponies and sighed as I looked back at Twilight. "Come on, you'll get my blood on you."

She leaned her face away before using her hoof to rub the side of her face. She looked at her hoof, almost saddened by the sight of blood on it. She levitated a towel and drenched it in a sink at the far end of the room before bringing it over to me. I grabbed it off of her magic and wiped the side of her face clean slowly before washing off my face. She finally took a few steps away from me and sat freely on the floor.

I looked up at the other ponies that were a bit less disturbed, but still tense. "Well, that was intense." I shrugged with a smile not really knowing what to say. As much as I expected them to be terrified, they actually neared me; worried and wishing me safety, while Dash did her best to pull off a smile.

"Geez, don't ever make me cry again!" She exclaimed with a nervous chuckle before sniffing back what she meant. I smiled as I nodded. "I'll do my best."

"Are you really a demon, Ben?" Twilight asked as she sat down next to me on the floor. I watch as everyone joined me on the floor and tried to make the best of if it. "A demon?" I pondered the question and answered as honestly as I could, finally feeling the courage to let out what I couldn't.

"Metaphorically yeah, I could be, but physically, no I'm not," I stated as I looked over to the princesses which had not broken any eye contact since that scene I caused. I smirked as I placed a fist over my chest. "I'm human and a badass one too I must say!" I cheerfully expressed with a lot of humor in my ego.

Dash smiled a little at that little joke but a negative atmosphere had formed in Twilight's home and possibly because of me.

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, as messed up as that just was, what was up with the both of you earlier? You called me a demon and that an evil aura radiated from me?" I asked them as they joined us on the floor. They seemed to have calmed down to a civil point and didn't greet me with the looks from earlier.

"Before that, pardon us for our rude and violent act against you, you aren't what we naively assumed you to be. We don't know how to make this up to you, if you please, forgive us," Celestia apologized, still skeptic about me and never breaking eye contact. I nodded and took a deep breath to show I was already calmed down. I wasn't annoyed with them. To see them have a change in attitude was what I had hoped for and now that it happened, I could breathe easier.

"I already forgave the both of you but can you please explain what you meant by demon and evil aura?" I repeated to try to understand why they attacked me or what the hell they meant for that matter.

Celestia turned to Luna and Luna replied with a simple nod. I watched as Celestia turned back at me and explained herself.

"When we arrived here, we immediately felt the strong presence of an evil pressure from around an object in the room. We noticed the color of the aura that circulated you and recognized it of that of a demon's." She explained before looking to Luna. "As we speak we can feel that aura, and it disturbs us, me and my sister that is."

I looked at myself for a moment, then to the five ponies to my right and then to the princesses. I don't know if they're able to see my actions as the aura or something, but I was getting a bit moved by those words. My expression became gloomy and I couldn't seem to get rid of it, I had myself to blame for this mess I got myself into. _Even if it was unavoidable_.

I thought a bit more, just to see if I was right about where I was about to take this conversation. There was no use in hiding it now.

"I'm sorry, but I do believe I know what's causing this aura," I said breaking the silence. They all looked at me, wide-eyed and full of questions. I felt my heart sink and the same lump from the clinic form in my throat again. _Oh well, I was bound to reveal it sooner or later_. I took off my vest, sword, and boots, and took out everything in my pants to expose a large number of knives, a fiber wire, knockout chemical, and one pistol. There was one more compartment in the vest, but I had pulled out enough to make my point. They all curiously looked as I pulled weapons out of everywhere on my clothes.

"Ben…what's all this!?" Twilight asked with worry expressed all over her. I looked at her and sighed as I placed my hands on the pile of weapons. I came ready to make a killing, didn't I?

"Well…" I began as I moved patted the things with my hand.

"I lied to you about being a "good" human, I'm actually…a…" I hesitated for a moment but I had to let it out if I could have any chance at making everything right. As dark as it was, it was true, to put to ratio, only one in millions would say it isn't.

I gave it some deep through again before gulping and picking up one knife from the pile. It was throwing knife of all thing. Long and thin, sharp as a razor. I saw my reflection on the face of the knife and nodded.

"I'm a murderer…"

They all gasped and looked at me as I imagined them looking at me, the princesses were surprised as well, even though they knew about my "evil aura". Their looks were not surprising. Oddly enough, Fluttershy quickly was the first to question it.

"But you seem so peaceful in front of us and you helped Dash when she was hurt!" She responded, saying something finally. Her saying that made me feel like I was still welcomed. I smiled at her but it faded when Twilight questioned my past. I looked her in the eyes and nodded.

"Well, I'll talk, but it's not a happy story," I warned but they all seemed more than eager to hear me out. I took a moment to look around before sighing and clearing my throat to begin.

"Well, when I was younger, at around 11 years of age, I was forced into military training due to a shortage of members, so I was sent to a camp and forced to train hard for four years. At the end of the four years, I was sent off to living life peacefully…but that never happened, since a war broke out against terrorists and the country I was in. I was sent in as an OPS soldier to infiltrate because I specialized in said field. The war lasted six years, and during that time, the blood of thousands stain my name and this sword, even the blood of innocents, even young ones I regret saying."

They all look at each other in disbelief and I slowly buried my face in my hand as I dropped the knife back onto the pile. I wouldn't cry but the things I'm saying are shameful beyond belief. I looked up and continued; I was already here, might as well finish strong. I got an odd feeling of De Ja Vu the moment I remembered "home" in my head.

"Then, I returned home but I was haunted by the actions I took in that war. I never made friends and my parents died while I was away." This being the first time I actually connect dots, I'm finally starting to get through the mystery of what happened before waking up in that forest. My words stuttered, and my mouth got stuck as the image began getting clearer.

"Then…then…" I paused as from the mist, a loud muffled explosion erupted in my memory. _Then that happened._ I quickly felt my chest, more precisely the area around my heart. I was feeling pain in that area, pain from a memory, a pitiful memory.

My eyes widened as I quickly took off my shirt and began to look at the area where my heart is, only to see that there was what appeared to be a small scar, about an inch long. I looked up at them, they all seemed to blush at my action but were still worried.

"Then I died…" I whispered to myself. As insane as that sounded, it seemed almost like the perfect explanation for this whole madness. Although, this isn't a heaven or a dream, it's so full of pain and ponies.

"WHAT!?" They all yelled in unison.

"I got shot by someone! Outside my home! Right in my heart!" My body felt incredibly tense as I began to ponder what was going on. I put my shirt back on and stepped outside quickly, despite all those who called my name. My breath was far from reach and I fell to the ground motionless with my back against the tree/home. My vision started to become blurry and my head felt heavy, I was slowly becoming more and more weak, my breathing turned into quicker and shorter intakes of air.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Oh man, I need help! Someone fucking help me!" I groaned as my head felt like it was melting from the inside.

" _Shh…Ben…calm down…I'm here and have been here from the start…prepare yourself, I'll be coming out soon to help you deal with it all._ "

My heart went to a speed that was inhuman as that voice chuckled. The voice wasn't from a pony or female, it didn't even feel human, but it made my headache even worse. I had no time to think about it when my heart was nearly ripping my chest open.

"Ben?! Ben? Are you alright?" I heard a voice call out, but that only made my mind even more numb. Sounded like Dash. I couldn't hold it anymore, everything was so meaningless by now, I slowly began to lose it, until…

"BEN!" That was Twilight, no doubt about it.

"Is he alright?"

"I don't know."

(Worried Chatter)

My eyes bobbled open.

"What the hell happened?" I asked as I began to pick myself up from the hard floor I was on. I opened my eyes to find that I was back in Twilight's home, and it was back to its clean state. I looked at my hands and at my vest and boots which were on me again and around me to find out that everyone was here even Pinkie Pie had come back, an obvious look of feeling blue showing over her.

"You're awake, good, you gave us all quite a scare."

I looked to my left and noticed Celestia using her magic on me before looking at the rest. An odd thing for her to say after attacking me.

"Wha…what are you doing?" I asked as she began to manipulate my face with her magic. _Woah, magical telekinesis_.

"Just healing you enough for you to get back up, and I also got rid of that horrible headache you had." She answered back in that motherly tone from way earlier. I lifted an eyebrow before smiling at the shock.

"Heh…really? Thanks, I really needed that," I responded cheerfully. "You see, speaking about past events isn't easy." I added with a few chuckles.

"Especially yours," she replied. "All done, I did it to the best of my ability."

I looked at my hands and felt my face before realizing, I was as fine as ever. It seemed their magic was nothing to scoff at.

"Wow, thanks! I feel like I was never hurt in the first place!" I admired.

"So, you were killed…by some other?" Twilight asked, still hurt by that mentioned scene from earlier. I hadn't remembered it till now and nodded, coming to some terms.

"Yeah…right in my heart, he shot me, pow…" I said with a weak sound effect.

"I-I'm so sorry to hear that…your whole story is tragic…"

"Not all…but most."

"How can you even smile?" Twilight kept asking and I sighed before smiling.

"What is there not to smile about? I've haven't been treated with such kindness in years."

I stood up and stretched a little as Twilight remained silent. Stretching seemed to have a positive effect as I noticed every one of the ponies stared even the princesses. I smiled and decided to play along. I'm a pretty optimistic guy on good occasions, so making those around me feel better was a part of me.

"Am I that attention worthy, you all can't help but stare?"

Everypony quickly looked away, even the royals. I could tell they were blushing but I stopped and told them I was just playing around, just to not move too fast. They all seem to give me the " _are you serious?_ " look. As I laughed it up, Twilight appeared to my right.

"Ben, we all just wanted to say how sorry we are to have forced that out of you, but in all honesty, we will always see you as a friend of ours, we promise," Twilight reassured with a smile and her friends agreed giving me a heartwarming feeling that made me feel so loved and actually accepted. But still, how could they easily say that to someone like me? Did I even deserve it?

"How can you all say that so easily? Even I'm skeptical of myself." I said hoping they actually thought about it, but they didn't. They nodded with smiles before Twilight placed a hoof on my arm, gentle like before.

"You've been out for a few hours, and we did speak among each other about you and what you did." She informed, making me realize how much time I was out for. She sighed as she leaned in closer. "And as horrible as you say your acts were, you know it was wrong and you regret it, and you even died…that's a miserable life to live."

I picked my head up in faith. She was understanding of me, and that meant so much. I watched and listened as she smiled at seeing my eyes widen.

"I still believe you're something else, besides that." I felt so inspired, a smile slowly fading into view. "And I wouldn't turn you down as a friend, it would be criminal to not be your friend."

"Ben, we also promise to be by your side, no matter your past or your mistakes, you will always be seen as invaluable member of Equestria." Both the princesses remarked. By now my smile was stretching across my face to the point it hurt. This was either insanity or just too hard to believe, I've never felt this joyful before, really.

"Wow, I've never really had any friends that lasted, so this will be a new experience," I said to them nearly to the point of bursting out in an insane amount of joy.

"Wait a minute," I paused in all my mental rejoicing. They quickly directed attention to my question.

"If I died, why am I here?" I asked but still rejoicing internally.

The princesses look at each other then back at me with a more depressing look. Luna moved to face me straight up, although, I still had to slightly lower myself to get to eye level with her. She sighed and looked me straight in the eyes and revealed what should be a sad reality. "You somehow managed to break through your world's realm and entered ours, but upon doing so our world is now immune to letting others like you in, meaning you're the last of your kind."

Luna stated that as she looked down to the floor, she seemed to have figured that out while I was out. I wondered about the idea of a new life and being the only one of my kind to exist. I could see that Luna was depressed at the thought of this. Without much thought, I quickly embraced her in a hug, as surprised as she was, there was no other way to convey how happy I felt.

I kept her embraced for a good moment, as I held her it hard not to focus on how soft and warm she was. I had one last thing to say before I let go. "I don't care if I'm the only human here, I just care about now and my new friends, I've never had friends but I'm sure that I'll love it here and thank you, Luna."

I let her go, she blushed heavily as she replied with "Y-you're welcome". I thanked everyone else, and stood up, and placed my hand in a fist in the air, and spoke…

"Well, this seems real enough, so from this day on, I promise to protect my friends and to never leave their side, to enjoy their company and cherish them. Thank you all again."

It was something that I had to do. Now I had a purpose compared to before and it was odd but satisfying to commit to something new.

Celestia looked at me with a smile and moved herself by me before placing her hoof on my side. _Another soft touch_.

"Ben, welcome to Equestria!"


	4. Chapter 4 -A Royal Challenge

#4

The day traveled by quickly, the princesses left to go run important "royal business", Applejack stated something about bucking trees, Dash said she would go practice some "radical" moves, and Rarity saw to it that she would try to finish a large order of fashion designs. Some busy ponies I see. I had to give myself a reminder that I was in a world that was pre-existing before me, so of course ponies would have things to do before I was a thing. It was a bit hard to accept but it was growing onto me.

"Well, I guess it's just us…wait, where did Pinkie go?!" I asked immediately noticing that Pinkie Pie was gone again, the two ponies left, Fluttershy and Twilight, simply shrugged making her disappearances seem like a common event _. Strange by all means._

"Okay, that's odd. But now, as hard as it is to take in, I really need to figure out where to plant my foot next without sinking, so what is there to do here?" I asked changing the conversation since I knew they weren't going to give me a straight answer. Well, if I'm adopted into this new world, I'll have to get to know it. They both looked at each other for a moment and smiled.

"There's a lot to do here in Ponyville, but for starters, we would recommend you go visit and get to know the place better." Twilight recommends. _Yeah, that's what I meant._ I nodded before the shy one picked her head up, almost instantly.

"Yes, and we'll be here to guide you." Fluttershy finished with a smile that I'm glad she could pull off after the commotion from earlier. I smiled and thanked her for the support. She became flustered again and hid her face with her mane. "You're w-welcome" She replied back blushing a great deal. _Cute_.

"Ben, about earlier…with Celestia and Luna…"

"It's over now, and if they can hold their word, then I'm good, honest." I answered her so she didn't have to suffer explanting what has already been told. She nodded for a while before shaking her head.

"I don't know how to apologize for what has happened, and it hurts to know I can't make it up to you right away or do something."

"You don't need to apologize when you've done so much already, and you've never wronged me."

"That's what everypony says, but it doesn't rid the guilt I feel."

"Well then, we might as well get to know each other some more."

"Huh? How's that going to help?"

"It'll help in the long run, I'm sure of it, but about Celestia and Luna, from the little I know; I know friends that start off on the wrong foot, have a chance to become the best of friends…or worst of enemies. So far it's all been good."

"Well…I guess that'll do for now."

I told her so. Fluttershy came up from behind and opened it for me to start off my adventure. The glare of the outside blinded me as I walked towards the outside.

"Alright let's-

I forget the door here is smaller than what I'm used to. I backed away rubbing my head as I ducked slightly and slid out. _Huh, maybe this'll be a problem._ Twilight laughed at my sudden knock before I turned over to her and she rapidly lost it.

"Uh, sorry about the inconvenience, I'll do something about that later." Twilight nervously giggled trying to avoid laughing at me. I gave a nod before chuckling with her giggles. "No worries, my head can stand a small knock, how about we go on that tour?"

"Yes, I'm sure you'll love it!" She assured quickly.

We exited Twi's "royal" home and proceeded to explore the town some more. Twilight pointed to areas and labeled them, while Fluttershy helped but kept rather hidden behind Twilight. I think we practically circled the whole of Ponyville because by the time we came back to where we started, the sun was about ready to set.

"Wow, that knocked the wind out of me," Twilight panted dropping down to the ground, exhausted after all of our walking. "Me too," Fluttershy agreed joining her on the ground, leaning on her.

"Not me!" I bragged, laughing out loud a little. They looked at me and at the setting sun peacefully. I as well faced the setting sun before dying my laughter to nothing but a silent stare to the sunset.

"I never woke up." I said to them.

"I know this is hard to believe, but this is not a dream, this is reality." Twilight reminded me once more. It hurt a bit, but there was a reason I'm moderately accepting of this scenario, one that's depressing. Yet, that depressing scene is what's helping me remain in control in this world.

I turned to face Twilight, showing a gentle smile by my part. " If Celestia and Luna launching me to a wall didn't wake me up, I should have gotten the point then and there."

"Then, why are you smiling…? I mean…it's good to smile, but I wouldn't be if I'm as hurt…" Fluttershy asked in a quiet voice. I looked at her before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

"I left behind…nothing."

"W-what?" Fluttershy followed up, worried. I nodded while biting my tongue.

"Sadly…I never had nothing in the end. And when I did, it was taken from me. Like Mom and Dad…friends that I wish I got to speak to before they passed…it was all taken from me." I expressed, not pained by saying such things, but relieved. I smiled as I quickly shifted to change the mood. "But, I've always had a dream."

"Ben…what's your dream?" Twilight asked. I looked at her curiously before noticing her worried look. I thought about it. I thought a good few seconds before giving in.

"To finally pick up a pen and begin writing on the pages of this book that is my life. I want to live a good life."

They stared at me a good while before I chuckled.

"Simple, I know, but it's possible! I know it is!" I turned excitedly to look at the sun and raised my hand towards it and created a shadow of my hand behind me that stretched feet upon feet. I calmed down, lowering my hand and sighing, turning to them once more.

"And…being able to speak to you two…that's part of it…"

"That's…really sweet, Ben." Twilight commented with Fluttershy nodding, too nervous to speak. I smiled and gave the both of them a firm reassurance.

"You're welcome and believe me when I say I'm not going to let myself go. This is me, the me that's always wanted to meet others and be friends with many!"

"I'm glad." Twilight mentioned with a smile. We gave each other a small look before looking away with some level of gratitude towards each other.

After a few minutes, Twilight quickly changed her expression.

"Well, this is strange…" She stated. I swung my look towards them.

"What is?" I asked as I faced them, they were still leaning against the side of the house. Fluttershy was leaning against Twilight, resting, while Twilight moved her head around, looking around for something.

"What are you looking for?"

Twilight turned to me, "I'm sure that Pinkie Pie would have sent-" She quickly cut the sentence short, widening her eyes and raising her hoof towards me. Her face flaring sirens and _red alerts_.

"LOOK OUT!" A sudden cry emerged from behind. I picked my head up, feeling some chills down my spine before I came to senses.

 _What!?_

I took a rapid double intake of air as I quickly turned around to see a gray blur going over my head. Without thought, I quickly jumped and flung my arms upwards to catch the object. I got that feeling in my gut of when you feel satisfied in having done something right, as in catching a blur going over head. The object landed in my hands at such speed it knocked me down to the ground on my back. I quickly put the object to my chest as to avoid it escaping my hands or getting hurt.

"Thank all for Sunday night football," I groaned, I was on my back again. I blinked the daze away and sat back up, studying the object I had just caught as I cradled it in my arms. It upon first glance that I realized it wasn't an object at all, but a pony of all things; a gray and blond pony. Twilight and Fluttershy appeared beside me, both worried before it all quickly turned into facepalms/hooves. I just stared at my catch as I noticed the pony with its hooves and wings over its eyes.

"How did you fall from the sky?" I asked trying to be friendly, the pony dropped its hooves and looked up at me. This pony was indeed a female, but besides the obvious, something else caught my attention: her eyes. Her eyes seemed to stare at me but faced in different directions, they were also blondish like her hair. I would have stared more if she hadn't embraced me first.

"Thank you for saving me! I would have crashed into Twilight's place again if you hadn't caught me!" She exclaimed in a cheerful tone, her voice was strange but fit her physical look somehow. I looked to Fluttershy before looking at Twilight near me. _Again?_

"Derpy, you need to be more careful, you could have hurt yourself or Ben!" Twilight warned harshly. _I wasn't going to ask about the name, it seemed everyone here had something going on in that field_ _._ I quickly cleared my throat and shifted a bit.

"So…hey Derpy, why were you charging at me like that?" I asked placing her on the ground and picking myself up. She quickly rose up and started digging around in the satchel she had before pulling out a muffin, smelled fresh too. I became slightly distracted by the edible she held.

"Here you go, that's why!"

I snapped out of distraction and raised a suspicious eyebrow. I looked at the oven-baked treat, and back at her. She seemed proud of having a muffin as a reason for coming at me.

"Umm…I don't get, what you're saying is: you charged at me because of a muffin?" I asked confused and trying to hold back a smirk which I ultimately let show. She opened her eyes and looked at her hoof before blushing slightly and scratching her head.

"Wha…oh, oppsies, sorry that's my dinner!" She giggled putting it away and taking out a small envelope, handing it to Twilight. "That's the real thing, okay, got to go back, more letters to deliver!"

She bid her farewell and flew off, but I don't think this is the last time I'll be seeing her. I waved goodbye as she left, she turned to look back and waved back but lost her balance doing so. I flinched slightly, but she caught herself midair and blushed some more, flying off with a smile. I slowly regained my composure and chuckled awkwardly, _another _strangely cute pony__. I turned my attention back to Twilight who had already opened the envelope and was reading it.

"So, what's the news?" I asked, waiting to see what's next on an afternoon in Ponyville, EQ(Equestria).

They both looked at each other curiously before looking at me briefly. They didn't waste any time in telling me to go over to Sugar Cube Corner, one of the areas I was shown to by during my tour. I was a bit rebellious about it and asked.

They looked me straight in the eye.

I began my journey over to Sugar Cube Corner, strange thing was that night had befallen Ponyville and that it was quiet all over. I began to feel uneasy, everything was turned off and not a sound was heard. A quiet place? _Why am I here_? Once I finally reached the house I was addressed to, I noticed everything was turned off here too and that nothing seemed to be active. I looked at what Twilight described as Pinkie's place, my head processing what was the meaning of this.

 _What the hell? Why was I sent here, everypony seems to be asleep?_

I wanted to leave but going against Fluttershy and Twilight's word would not be too kind, especially when I was trying to get along with them. I sighed at the fact I was blackmailing myself childishly and placed my hand on the handle, latching on to it. I inhaled a large breath of air and opened the door hoping I wasn't intruding. Not to my surprise, it seemed empty.

I let my breath out, there didn't seem to be any ponies. I took one step forward and closed the door behind me. My hand searched around for a switch of some kind but found none. It was beginning to look like no one was here so I decided to play my last card.

"Hello?" I whispered ever so quietly.

"SURPRISE!" yelled many voices from all directions. I jumped at the sudden light and voices that filled the room with my hand slightly reaching to my waist. My body froze and I didn't react for a few seconds, my eyes just looking around at all the ponies that surrounded me. I gave a faint laughter as I waved at the horde of ponies. This looked weird by my part, I never really thought I'd show fear to this.

"Umm…surprise indeed but what are we celebrating exactly?" I asked very much surprised and a little terrified. Then, among the crowd emerged Pinkie pie with a party hat that she managed to put on me somehow. She looked up at me with a huge smile. I tried to muster up the most realistic smile I could, but it was nothing compared to her painfully exaggerated smile.

"WELCOME TO PONYVILLE! I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR PARTY, WE MADE CAKE, MUFFINS, SWEETS, OH MY GOSH! THERE'S SO MUCH MORE! She stated in a single breath. I stared at her with an actual smile now, I couldn't believe how fast she was at taking, but also, and most intriguing, I was more impressed that I had a party for arriving at Ponyville: _this truly was a surprise._ I looked around before laughing a bit more and turning back to merry pony.

"Wow! Thanks Pinkie, I wasn't expecting anything really!" I thanked her causing her to smile with glee. I turned to face everyone else, I've seen some of them on my tour with Twilight and Fluttershy but never asked for their names. "And thank you all too! HOW ABOUT WE CELEBRATE THIS RANDOM OCCASION!?"

A large amount of cheering erupted and we all settled in for an out-of-the-blue party. My main goal was to get to know as many ponies as possible and get my list of names to grow, but it seems that the first pony has found me instead.

I was eating a slice of cake-damn good too-when I was approached by strange looking pony, she was another female, but she didn't look like the rest in terms of fashion. She had a punked-out mane and tail, and wore huge rounded shades, she also had a musical note on her flank, _I'll ask Twilight about that later._

"Hey, dude, what's up!?" She asked. She seemed to be nice enough for her look, _I like that._

"This party right now!" I replied, putting my cake down on a table and turning over to her.

"Yeah, you got that right! Say, I heard you're the one that handled about nine Timber Wolves, am I right!?" She asked causing me to focus my attention on her, she had a smirk on her face that meant she knows it's me. I wondered who could have let it spread, but then again, I don't think it required much thought.

"Someone's been talking. But yeah, the name's Ben, and who are you?" I asked back, she lifted her shades with her magic to reveal her deep-crimson eyes. I flinched drastically at the sight and quickly made up for it, placing my hand behind my head and smiling, I looked undoubtedly stupid doing this. She gave me an awkward look and giggled a little.

"Well, my name is Vinyl, Vinyl Scratch, I'm the local DJ, and it's cool to meet the one who took out those Timber Wolves, they're pretty creepy things to look at." She said looking me straight in the eyes. I couldn't look her straight in the eyes without staring so I decided to not look in her direction. That wasn't a good idea, she immediately noticed my acts and questioned me.

"Hey, are you alright? I'm not scary, am I? Considering you're new here," She questioned looking at me with a about-to-become gloomy look on her face. Such a reason surprised me, she seemed to notice my reaction since she looked back the same way. I wasn't at all scared of her, but never, never have I seen such eyes that seem to look so deep and full of lust and flair. Even if she isn't lustful, her eyes gave off the wrong idea, although that's a compliment coming from me.

"No! Not at all, sorry if I made you feel that way- I struggled to find my words -it's just…I've never seen anyone with such beautiful crimson eyes, they really contrast with your body." I complimented as I focused on her sudden eye expansion, she looked away for a moment before looking back. A small blush exposed over her face and a weird somewhat strange wavy smile.

"You really think my eyes are beautiful?" She questioned as she scooted closer to me. I began to feel strange in some sort of way. I don't know how to describe the feeling, but I felt like I was lingering on a decision of life or death: life was the obvious answer although the outcome of this choice will end up doing something to me.

"Yeah…I've never seen someone with eyes like yours before, that's kind of why I didn't look you straight in the eyes…I was afraid of staring," I explained as I began scratching the back of my head in all the awkwardness of it all. She briefly did something similar with her hooves that just added to the atmosphere.

"Thanks…that means a lot," She shyly answered with her blush. I don't know much about the female mind, but I knew when they blush and thank you for it, you must have done something right. I smiled back, positive about her in every way. "You're welcome, and thank you too for your company, that means a lot to me too."

She glanced her smile towards me once more, giving her eyes an extra glow to them which made feel almost like I had accomplished a milestone. She blushed slightly more and she nodded. "You're welcome, oh hey, if you got the time someday, maybe we could-

"DJ, come have some cake!" Pinkie yelled from the other side of the room causing both of us to look up to get rid of all the feels. She looked over to me with a smile before lowering her shades with a nod of her head. As odd as it was for her to be wearing shades indoors, it allowed me to void my thought of what I just witnessed and did for a few seconds.

"Well, nevermind I guess, we'll speak later, I gotta eat something or I won't hear the end of it!" She giggled as she took her leave to get cake. I looked at my slice and decided to finish before thinking about what just happened. A smile crept its way on my face, as I reminisced in my mind those eyes and slowly dozed off, wondering what she didn't get to finish asking. I'll let my imagination fill in the blanks as I dozed off.

"Ben…"

"Ben!"

"Hello!"

I quickly snapped awake and looked around to see who was calling me. _Bullshit, that dream was nothing but a blank void, I hate those dreams_. After a few looks back and forth I didn't see anyone, at eye level at least, but upon looking down I noticed Dash hitting my knee with her hoof.

"Oh, hey Dash, how's it going?" I asked as I looked around the party was still going but it was dying down slowly. _So much for getting to know everypony_. Dash looked up at me then began to hover, she had a pretty tired look and seemed to be falling asleep in mid-air.

"I think I'm going, I'm pretty tired after all that practice, so I'll see you tomorrow," she yawned. I also shared the same feeling of sleepiness but being the guest of honor, I couldn't leave just yet.

"Yeah, see ya," I replied as she left. I turned my attention to the rest of the party, well it was more of a small group of ponies talking than a party now. Pinkie Pie was finishing a slice of cake, while Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight conversated. I looked at my slice of cake and back at the ponies with a smirk.

"This new life will be an incredible adventure, just got to hope I don't screw it up," I chuckled as I looked at the group with a smile that showed my satisfaction. A small giggle emerged from behind and my sleepiness evaporated instantly.

"Is thou honest?"

I quickly turned to face the familiar voice to see Luna there with a smile on her face. This was a new approach coming from her considering last time she threw me around like a rag doll. I looked at her, surprised by her presence, I haven't seen her at all this whole party.

"Oh, Luna, I didn't see you there, in fact, I haven't seen you this whole time, is everything alright?" I asked trying to conversate or at least start something on the right foot. She took my question with gratitude.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking, but the royal business got ahead of me so I was a little late to the party, sorry I didn't make it in time," She apologized, having noticed that the only remaining ponies were the obvious ones. I shrugged in response.

"Nah, it's okay, huge responsibilities require big sacrifices," I wisely expressed, smiling while feeling bad for her: _Honestly, Twilight wrong about them being fine._

"That's kind of you to say…" She said before looking at my body and analyzing me with a bit of difficulty. "Do you really forgive us for what we did?" She asked, bringing that up again. I though for a bit and nodded.

"If your reason was to protect others…then I've done the same in my past. It's a noble act Luna."

"There's nothing noble in hurting innocents."

"I know that very, very well. But to act on the notion of protecting those you love and care for, that's nobility."

She thought before smiling and agreeing. "Thank you for those words, they take off some of the guilt I feel. I'll make sure sister hears these words as well so she may find peace in them as well."

She was smiling, showing I was going in the right direction, but then, by surprise again, she quickly changed it into a smirk causing me to flinch my torso away from her.

"What's with the look all of a sudden?" I asked, safely keeping my face away from her. She giggled a bit before leaning in closer to me, she went as close as up to my ear. I could hear her gentle breath and feel a bead of sweat begin to form.

"Now that I've got that through for now, you've caught my attention with what you did earlier at Twilight's home."

"I did…?" I asked. She only gave one simple nod.

"So, if I were to offer you a challenge, would you accept it?" She asked of all things racing in my mind. Although, she did manage to interest me above all, last time I heard the word challenge I was caught between three guys with machetes, and as far as I know, I'm still standing.

I slowly leaned back in, she hooked me and now I expected something out of it. I wasn't worried about her being almost on me or the sweat on my face. This was starting to become interesting.

"Sure, I've never turned down a challenge in the past!" I answered and glad I did because she put on her "Game" face, causing me to grin back in excitement. I recognize a 'game' face the moment that curve at the end of a grin gets sharper and the eyes become narrower.

"From what Twilight tells me, you have many attributes in that body of yours…" She studied my body as if approving some criteria. "And from my first impression of you, I would like to test out one specific part of you that interests me. How about it?"

I stared at her curiously before looking at myself, trying to see if I saw what she saw. I of course didn't find nothing, but a smirk still found itself on my face as I closed a hand into a fist. "Like I said, I never back down from a challenge! Bring it on!"

She glared her grin at me, as if everything was going according to some sort of plan.

"Great, now listen, I want you to meet me in Canterlot, Twilight should be able to take you there via the train. Once you get there I'll be waiting, there I'll tell you the challenge," She explained sounding as if I was already going to lose this challenge, she had that smug tone.

"Okay deal, what are we wagering in this challenge?" I asked lifting my hand to shake on it, but only received her absence as she stared awkwardly at it. I looked at my hand before retracting it, with awkward chuckles. _She doesn't seem to understand the concept of shaking on something._

"Ignore that," I urged as I wafted my hand letting her continue. She looked at her hoof curiously before looking at my hand and shrugging.

"Alright, and we'll decide the reward once we see who wins the challenge."

I nodded to that, it sounded reasonable and fun.

"Alright, it's settled, meet me in Canterlot in the morning and inform your friends about the event too, have a lovely night and sleep well. I'm sure Twilight and her friends could provide you with some housing, they won't refuse." She happily waved her hoof as she disappeared into a light show. Almost instantly I reached a hand out to stop her, but she was long gone; it seemed this was her main priority. I would have at least have enjoyed some bonding time, maybe some other time. I quickly threw myself off my chair and onto my feet and ran to the group of ponies talking and started to explain what Luna told me.

"WHAT!?" They all yelled in a crescendo. I felt like a huge wave hit me as they started throwing questions at me left and right.

"CHILL OUT! All that she said was that I could invite you all, also that there's a prize to be decided for the victor!" I stated over-excitedly causing them all to be quiet for a moment. The silence didn't last long as I heard two voices from behind me.

"Really? Can I go too?"

I quickly turned to face Vinyl and Dash both looking over-excited, my face morphed into a smile.

"Of course, the more friends the merrier!" I stated as my grin started to slowly emerge from my smile. "But I thought you two left earlier?" I asked them.

"Nope!" Stated Vinyl, then we all focused our attention on Dash. She flustered nervously and shrugged.

"I kinda fell asleep once I left through the door," she giggled, causing us all to laugh. I turned my attention to Pinkie Pie and thanked her for the epic party, she just smiled back with her trademark smile. I turned to face the group.

"Okay, listen up, Luna said I should meet her at Canterlot early in the morning, so I need a place to rest for the night," I said, immediately everyone raised their hooves but quickly put them down blushing uncontrollably. I looked at them all and laughed, well it's cute for them all to want to house me when they barely knew me.

"Okay, well I guess I'll choose since you all want me to come over, let's see?" I pondered with my hand on my chin.

"Why not Fluttershy's home, she takes care of many big animals, I bet she can take care of you!" Dash informed, as she nudged Fluttershy forward little. I could tell she was awfully embarrassed but still willing to provide a roof over me. She looked at me and waved her hoof as she chuckled nervously. "S-sure, you can stay with me."

"Thanks, Flutters," I thanked, giving her my own nickname for her. She nearly lost her mind when I gave her that name. I watched as she trembled and aimed a hoof to a wall.

"I…my home it…it's over…"

 _Oh god, this isn't going to end well._

I waved my hands in front of myself to stop her from over thinking that fragile mind of hers.

"It's okay, I'll just follow you there," I quickly said, hoping to stop her embarrassment. She quickly nodded and smiled in the same wavy way Vinyl did earlier, _wavy_.

"Ben?" Twilight called.

"What is it?"

She looked to a side before clearing her throat.

"Shouldn't you rest a bit before taking up on challenges or moving around?"

"I appreciate your concern, but I like to play my chips down first."

"Huh?"

"He's referrin' to poker Twilight." AJ made the reference clear to Twilight and she nodded slowly, not getting the point. "He likes to be the first to make a move." AJ cleared up further and Twilight let out her understanding.

"Oh! Alright, but even so, please find time to rest, it's good for mental health. Especially after waking in a new world…"

"Thanks Twilight, but I honestly feel like just enjoying myself with this."

"Okay then, we'll meet at the train station an hour before the sun rises," Twilight instructed as we all dismissed each other and headed our own ways, except me and Flutters, who were heading to the same home. We made it to a path where I followed behind this Fluttershy pony with my mind decoding and analyzing her.

"So, Flutters, you're supposed to take care of animals?" I asked, breaking the nerve-wracking silence. She jumped, and gave a small squeak, causing me to stare at her for a few seconds before I reassured her it was me who spoke. She looked at me almost terrified as she shivered and hung her head low in embarrassment.

"Umm…yes," she replied in a super quiet voice. I just smiled: _Her shyness was beyond anything imaginable._

"So, is that why you have that symbol of three butterflies on your flank?" I asked again hoping to adjust her to the conversation and find out exactly what those things are. She picked her head up with a tiny, barely-noticeable, smile, I guess she liked being asked that.

"Oh…you mean the cutie marks? Yes… th-they represent your talent and passion," She responded, with more words than in her last sentences. I thought about that name for those symbols, it made sense to some extent and had a cute name.

"Oh, so they're called cutie marks and represent your passion…that's awesome!" I replied, causing her to smile slightly wider. After that she spoke a bit more about me and how I was a lot like a huge bear, _oh man_.

We finally arrived at the home, which was filled with bird houses, and other homes for small creatures. I stared in amazement: _she's dedicated to this._

"Wow…you really have a passion for this," I said as she opened her home.

"Well…its nothing really," she replied, causing me to flex an eyebrow.

"Nothing? I highly doubt that Flutters, you're being too modest," I countered as she indicating me to come into her home. Before entering, I paused as I looked around the campus of her home slightly, pondering why it was so quiet?

"Huh? I don't see any animals, or creatures for that matter, do you not safeguard at night?" I asked turning to her, observing the empty bird houses. She giggled almost by response as she blushed gently.

"Oh don't worry, they're safe, but I can't really take care of them right now." She admitted making me pick my head up curiously. "What's up? Are you hurt?"

She instantly shook her head with a smile. "No, it's just that this time of year…" She paused before blushing greatly as she looked into her home. "Uh…maybe it's too personal to tell." She ended.

I smiled with a nod, hiding the fact that I was actually shocked it was that time of the season already. I knew a bit on this topic, coming from as semi-ranch life and breeding animals, but it was weird now considering I can speak with them. I sighed as I walked over to her.

"Alright Flutters, well, I'll be able to sleep soundly I guess."

Upon entering, I noticed how big it was, it was big enough for me to run around, and do much more than Twilight's home: _not that I would though_ , _and not taking away that I only saw a small bit of Twilight's place_. I was amazed by the size of the home, but it was probably expected considering that she was a veterinarian/pony-animal-care-taker.

"Okay…listen Ben…you will sleep…um…in the room next to mine, it should have a bed big enough for you," She told me as she made her way to her room. It was late, very late, midnight more precisely, so I wouldn't impede her sleep. I looked at her as she made her way to her room and smiled.

"Thanks Flutters, and sweet dreams," I said as I walked over to my new room.

"You too Ben, goodnight." She replied without stuttering causing me to pause for a moment before entering the room. _Maybe she was different in the privacy of her own home_.

The room appeared to be bigger than I expected, but that wouldn't be the first time I'd been surprised today. The bed was another surprise itself, it looked like a queen size with perfectly clean sheets and the room looked like it was suited for another pony.

"This room was recently cleaned and organized," I noted to myself as I laid down on the bed, I had no PJ's so I just took off my vest and shirt, along with my boots and made myself comfortable. I laid there thinking about tomorrow and what the challenge might be. Luna looked like the creative type.

"Luna would have to have known something about me before just offering a challenge, so it could be a stare off…nope, oh well, I'll find out tomorrow," I mentally chuckled as I began to doze off again.

"Oh man, tomorrow's gonna be one hell of a day!"

Ominously, as Ben let his consciousness fade, a new presence was echoing around the room with a devious chuckle. " _Yup…_ "


	5. Chapter 5 - A Game of Magic

#5

"Ben…"

 _Not this again_. I shifted over to the other side, turning my back to whoever was calling me.

"Ben! Wake up, it's time to meet Twilight."

" _Twilight…?_ " I thought for a moment, trying to figure the meaning behind her name. In a few seconds, I smiled at seeing her again in this semi-asleep state, she was cute like always. "Twilight…"

Fluttershy stared curiously at him after he suddenly whispered Twilight's name. "Still dreaming?" She asked with a smile, hopping onto the bed. Once on, she slowly let her eyes do the work as she traveled around his physique. She had only managed to slip one look at his body before, and that was when he unexpectedly showed it off at Twilight's castle, but now she could gaze at it from up close.

"Oh my…" She whispered as she studied his chest slowly rise and lower, it was strangely entertaining and almost addictive in a way. She gulped at the sight, it made her feel safe and protected yet strangely stargazed. After watching the show, almost as if on purpose, Ben shifted once more but this time towards her. The red on her cheeks blew up at seeing his body move towards her, the space between them had become warm with the heat that both their bodies radiated.

Fluttershy stared at him before finally letting her eyes travel down his body. And, without a doubt, she was stunned into silence at sight. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with a hoof. "W-W-what happened!?" She asked him, but he didn't respond.

What was so scarring? Well, the pun in the last sentence should be enough clue. There, on his rib, was a line that traveled from his arm pit, to his waist, in ridges. Of course, the thing is sealed, but that was an injury that Fluttershy had to hold back instant tears to. She never saw it back at Twi's, but it was mortifying so up close.

"Ben! Wake Up! Please!"

I felt my body rocking back and forth now, as the images of Twi just faded away and a glare began burning into my eyes. I lifted my hand and placed it against whatever was shaking me and stopped its movements. I couldn't open my eyes cause of the glare, but through my hand I felt two things: warm water and whimpering.

"Who? What's this!?" I squinted my eyes and shook my head to get the glare and blur out of my vision. And to my shock, I was holding Flutters by the mouth with my whole hand. "Oh no!"

I quickly removed my hand, making sure it didn't get anywhere near her. "Flutters! Did I hurt you!? Are you okay!?" I asked trying to see if I had hurt her, to which I found no signs. And I was right, she shook her head before using her hoof to wipe away a warm tear.

"But you are hurt! What happened to you!?" She asked, to which I thought about sincerely, but couldn't find any clue to support her with.

"Uh…what?" I asked, looking my bare torso and shrugging. She almost wanted to frown but stopped half-way and aimed her hoof to my side.

"That! How did that happen!?" She asked again, a bit more aggravated than the first time. I looked at it a good few seconds before looking back up and shaking my head.

"No! Flutters! That's from a long time ago! I'm fine, I promise!" I assured her before slapping the scar and showing her it was painless. Her mouth trembled as she stared at it.

"How did that happen to you?" She asked again in a sorrow whisper. I looked at it and smirked as I scratched my scalp. It was complicated since I did this to myself, way back when I was almost months into conflict overseas. I faced her, smiling, trying to assure her I was still fine and that she could stop worrying.

"I was a bit stupid, you know? And thought it would be smart to sneak into a place full of evil humans and take a picture."

"E-evil humans? Humans like you?" She asked before I nodded. "Yeah, and I took a picture with the flash on, stupid me."

Flutters was shocked as expected, I myself didn't expect to get skinned by crazy people back then, luckily, I was rescued before I lost my coat of skin.

"They…did this to you?" She asked, and again, I nodded.

"Yup, but thankfully, good humans outnumber the evil ones, and I was saved before…" I looked over at Flutters horrified look and back at my scar. "…before something really bad happened." I said with a smile.

"Did it hurt?" She asked. I looked at her before shivering at the thought of my misfortune happening again. I sighed as I shrugged.

"Honestly, I can't remember the pain, but yeah, it hurt."

She stared at me before looking at my side.

"For a picture…that's wrong!"

I agreed but she didn't know how it was really, when the picture could have been the death of many. But still, I liked her support and used my hand to pick her depressed look up.

"It was a damn terrible picture too!"

She whimpered some more before I finally decided to do what's best and give her open arms. I embraced her and gently wiped those tears.

"Come on, I'm still here, with you, so hey, I'm alright with that, are you?" I asked being the most I could be, and I guess she liked it.

"Yes…I am," She whispered back before rubbing her soft fur against my bare body. I gulped with a smile as I tickled the fur on her chest that fluffed out, making her blush and equally giggle.

"Stop that, it tickles!" She laughed as I let her loose to move, but she remained on me as I sat on the edge of the bed. "You're cute, ya know?" I complimented her before she froze and looked up at me.

"Why would you say that!?" She asked, her face turned to the pinkest red I'd seen to date and closed her eyes to avoid seeing me grin. I laughed at her before tickling her some more on her chest, making her open her eyes and hold her breath as embarrassment surrounded her.

"Now, Flutters, why would I lie to someone as cute as you?" I asked as I gripped the uplifted fur on her chest and slightly pulled, making her yelp. I froze as I retracted my hand.

"Oh, sensitive?" I teased before I noticed her refusing to give me her eye sight and looked away as if trying to hide something. I was on the verge of teasing again, but a warm sensation surged through me as I felt my pants soaking in a warm liquid. I looked down before looking back up at Flutters, her eyes tightly shut and holding her breath.

 _…?_

"Yo, Flutters, did I-

"TWILIGHT! CANTERLOT! CHALLENGE!" She quickly spat out and triggered a full mental breakdown. I quickly jolted from the seat I had on the bed, startling Flutters who was now in the air, observing me as I quickly put on my shirt, vest, and boots. I tightened the gloves on my hands, rubbed my sword's grip, and looked at her with the widest grin I could pull off.

"It's challenge time! Let's go!" I enthusiastically commanded as I got out of the room. I was all up for a challenge, and I hadn't even thought about it till Flutters brought it up. I was racing out the door, before the rubber of my shoes burned as I braked. I was quickly stopped by a smell, something warm and sweet. I slowed my pace and peered into the source of the smell: the kitchen.

"Umm…what's that?"

"I-it's green tea," She nervously trotted over, her tail between her legs to cover whatever she hid down there. I turned to my fist that only wanted to win and gritted my teeth as I refused to procrastinate.

"Darn, I'm so fired up! Can you make me some later once I've got this challenge over and done?" I asked hoping she would say yes. Her ears shot straight up and she turned to me.

"S-sure, do you like tea?" She asked. I smiled as I raised tightened my fist.

"I love tea! Or yeah, I do," I chuckled at my sudden outburst. Flutters didn't mind, she smiled sweetly with that blush still strong, and nodded as she took a sip of one near the end of the table, using her wing like a hand.

"G-great, I'll make sure to make some once you've got this event over and done with," She kindly accepted. I stared at her in some admiration for how straight forward she spoke after taking a sip. Tea works. I swung around to the door.

"Okay, let's go to the train-I took a small pause of realization-umm…where is the train?" I asked realizing I didn't know where it was but Flutters seemed to though. She giggled before looking over at me

"Just follow me, but before that, how about some breakfast?" She inquired as she trotted over to a table with food already served. I didn't realize how hungry I was until then, so I decided to sit down and enjoy the meal. It appeared to be scrambled eggs with toast and a side of apple juice. A well-cooked meal. I stared at the food making sure to save the colorful scene in my head.

"Wow, thanks, I haven't had eggs in years, let alone a well-prepared breakfast." I thanked, taking the first few bites. It wasn't like the eggs I've tasted before, these were tastier and were wonderfully textured and cooked.

"Wow, these are great! Did you put something in them?" I complimented, she blushed as she looked at the eggs on my plate.

"No, just salt and some spice," she replied, as I finished the plate. The food didn't really last considering it was what I guess is a pony-sized meal.

"Well then, you're just a good cook! You may have just found a weakness of mine!" I complimented downing the refreshment, she looked at me with a calm smile before quickly looking away and blushing a bit more. She probably realized she was giving me an awful lot of attention.

"Thanks," She shyly thanked looking at me with the same smile. I like it, her smile, her shy ways, and her overall cuteness brought about a good vibe around her.

"No problem, and thank you again for letting me sleep here," I smiled back. She looked at my plate and at me before smiling a bit wider. A good way to make someone feel better is by showing you love their cooking. "Maybe, I should have made more, it seems you like it."

I looked at her before running the napkin across my mouth and smiling.

"If I had known you were an amazing cook, I would've begged you to let me stay here after the party last night!" I kept praising, although, I didn't show the response I hoped for. I got the blush but she actually thought about my words sincerely. I smiled slightly as I crossed my arms and stared at her.

"Are you considering it?"

She quickly looked up and blushed a bit more. "I was just thinking about trip to Canterlot."

"Right…" I teased before placing my hand on my lap and feeling the moist part. I smiled, I couldn't explain why, but I was smiling at have I had accomplished this morning. I couldn't decide if this was right or wrong, but within a moment, I turned over to Flutters with some funny feelings in my stomach.

"Flutters," I called, and she turned to me. I couldn't do much but smile a bit more. "About what happened in the room…did I really get to you?" I asked before she sank into her seat.

"A…little…why are you smiling like that?"

I chuckled some more as I watched her peer her head from under the table edge. "I can't help it, you make me feel like smiling! I've never seen anything as shy and cute as you."

She looked at me before rising a bit more from her hiding place. "That's good, right?"

"Right, but still, I'll stay away if you need it, this is the time of season after all." I said holding back some laughter that came from how red her face just became. She began breathing slightly quicker as she turned to me.

"W-what? Y-you know!?" She asked, and I shot back with a smug smirk.

"Well, I use to breed animals together on a farm of mine…I kinda know how this whole thing works." I informed her, watching her gulp before slowly looking down at her seat and covering her face with her wings.

"This…this is embarrassing." She said, her voice trembling. I lost the smirk for a smile as I slouched on my seat.

"To you maybe, but it's cute, really." I said, playing it cool to calm her down. She lowered her wings to expose her heated look of embarrassment.

"What part?"

I grinned back as I placed an arm on the table. "The one where you leaked onto my pants."

"NUUUU! Don't say things like that!"

"I'll keep saying it!"

"NO! It's weird and only couples do that!"

"Come on Flutters, friends should be able to mess around with each other too. No?" I asked with a smile, knowing she wouldn't object to that. She looked away, not wanting to answer. I persisted with a smile.

"F-fine…only because you're my friend."

"Flutters, I'm that and so much more…" I said with relaxed tone. She blushed as her muzzle wrinkled up and she looked away.

"What…? What does that mean!?" She asked. I shrugged. "Give it some time, and all will be answered."

She stared at me, clearly wanting a better word of wisdom. _Fine_.

"Well, just expect things from me, I'm not really someone who passes up on chances." I said before smiling at her blush. "And you're a chance, I won't let pass by."

"WE'RE NOT A COUPLE!"

"Give it time, we'll get there soon enough."

I wasn't really taking her or myself seriously, I just liked seeing her like this, it's friendly fire. She looked away and didn't come back this time. _It was fun while it lasted_.

"Alright Flutters, come on, I was just playing around, I just wanted to make you smile or something." I honestly said, not smiling as wide as before. She looked back.

"Why do you play like that?" She asked. I shrugged with my smile.

"To be honest, I don't know, I like seeing your shy face, and you're cute too." I said, trying to compliment. She smiled before sipping some tea.

"Thanks…I guess y-you're kind of fun too…" She complimented back before covering her mouth again and forcing a smile from me. "You're welcome, and thanks, glad you feel the same way."

Now, that was serious. She lowered her hoof before shyly smiling and nodding. "You're welcome."

We gave each other a small glace before I distracted myself with my agenda. Flutters quickly picked up on my look and got up.

"Okay, how about we see to it that we make it to the train station?" She offered as she got up and moved to the door.

"Alright! Let's go!"

I was either romantic or just a goofball, but hell, I can wing it pretty well with ponies. Through the whole walk, I couldn't help but remind myself of Flutters moment back at her home, I'm pretty sure she'll stick in my mind for a good while. I'm glad.

After a small discussion about Flutters hobbies, which I started to get rid of her blush so she wouldn't look so suspicious when we arrived at the train station, we arrived. Everypony I've met was there except Derpy but she's probably working the mail.

"Alright, looks like everypony is here, let's start moving!" Twilight announced as the train pulled up. What a sight it was too.

"Okay, here we go…" I whispered as the door opened. The train was friendly looking and didn't seem to pose any significant threat or danger. Although, it was very _decorative_.

We all entered the train and took our seats. I sat next to Flutters since we sat down in order. The train was pretty cool considering all the trains I've ridden either led to pain or torture. I made myself comfortable and leaned my body forward to tighten my gloves again, wondering.

"You okay, Ben?" Asked Vinyl as she leaned from her seat, which was to my right.

"Yeah, I'm just excited, a challenge from a princess isn't something you get every day," I replied, she nodded her head in agreement. "But I'm confident I can beat it," I ended.

"Yeah, you seem to be confident enough to take out anything," she smirked sitting back again with a reassuring smile. I smiled back and nodded, "Right you are!"

"So, Ben, how was your stay at Fluttershy's?" Twilight asked before everyone leaned in with the same words. "Yeah! How was it!?"

I smiled looking at Flutters and back to them. "Great, it was nice to sleep knowing someone is right next room, that was something I haven't had in quite a while." I positively mentioned making them smile with joy.

"Oh? Nothing interesting?" Dash asked before getting a good knock on the head courtesy of Applejack. "Ya really got to take it there, don't ya?!"

Dash rubbed her head with slight frown before Pinkie arose from her seat. "But really, it was just a boring night?!" She asked but she clearly didn't refer to what Dash was referring to.

I just lifted an eyebrow as I thought about it. It was uneventful, but that wasn't a bad thing, was it? I looked at Flutters, who returned the look my way as we both shrugged.

"Well, it was really late and since we needed to sleep, well, nothing happened. Did you expect something?" I asked making Rarity pop up from behind my seat. I turned my head to face her.

"Well, she could have made your first day in Equestria extra special," She said before turning to Flutters. "You could've at least have cuddled with him in his sleep, poor fellow has been through so much."

"W-w-what?!" Flutters muttered before looking down. I chuckled nervously at such a comment. This whole conversation was amazing; I was never able experience such dialogue back on earth and with women, I never got the chance. I liked this type of talk, I was new to it, and I could easily use my way with words in it.

"Would you have done so if I had chosen to stay with you?" I asked back at Rarity making Flutters look back, and Rarity blush as she hid behind my seat. I have turned the tables once more, and this time defending Flutters too.

"I wouldn't mind," I chuckled before petting Flutters head. "But, there's a place and time for everything, no need to rush it."

Flutters smiled warmly with her blush increasing, as she knew I didn't reject her but admitted I wanted some time with her, which is something I knew she wanted to hear. Twilight smiled my way as she used her magic to rustle my hair. I quickly shook my head and turned to Rarity who was laughing along with Dash.

"Oh my, your hair has been mutilated!" Rarity laughed as I felt my hair, it sprung out in all directions as if I had been shocked. Dash was the next comment, but at least she had the compliment of the whole group.

"I like it like this! He's ready for action now!" She said with a grin.

"Yeah!" Vinyl agreed next with her own smile.

I felt my spiked hair and nodded with a grin. "Alright! Saiyan style!"

After more conversations about how I'm gonna do this challenge and other stuff involving their personal lives, we arrived at a stop.

"Okay, we're here!" Twilight cheered. I quickly picked my head up and looked out the side of the train. At first, I couldn't see much, but then I noticed the architectural beauty right in front of me. It was like a castle in the hanging off a mountain, truly a beautiful sight. The clouds were soft and poofy-looking but light grey, meaning they'll soon darken the sunny sky. Above all, the castle shined in the distance. I got out last, my eyes never breaking from the architectural wonder.

"So, that is where Luna and Celestia stay?" I asked, distracted to the point that I didn't notice who was behind me.

"Why yes! It is beautiful isn't it?" That familiar voice emerged. My skin got the goosebumps and my body froze as magical force grabbed my shoulder. "Glad you kept your word." She turned me, smiling at the fact I held true to my word.

"Of course." I simply stated, surprised to see her waiting for me right here, at the train stop. Every one of the ponies looked at us as we were greeting each other. I took a moment to admire Luna out in broad daylight. She stood out like white on black, her appearance was made for the night, plain and simple. Still, her uniqueness made me smile.

"Hey," She greeted with a smile both rich and soft. She seemed more than eager to see me, than the first time we met.

"Hey Ya," I greeted back with my own eagerness.

"How was your first night in Equestria?"

"I got through it, surprisingly relaxed."

"Excellent, so I presume your ready for what I have planned?"

She wasted no time nudging me with her hoof and getting straight to the point. I remained silent for a moment as I thought.

"Are you ready?" She asked again. I looked her in the eye and nodded. "Just look at my hair, I'm ready!"

She glanced one look and laughed a bit to herself.

"Alright then, I'll transport us all to the grounds of the trial," She exclaimed as she raised horn and wrapped us all in a blue glow and transported us to another _place._ _"Trial?" I asked_ as I felt my feet touch the ground. I was still new to that teleportation trick, but I managed to actually land with my feet this time. I studied the place and the more I looked around, the more I saw some unique objects start to grab my attention: A sword rack, training dummies, and hay bales with spears on them. My eyes slightly widened at the sight. I lifted an eyebrow as I walked up to a hay bale and took out a spear, twirling it in my hand with some skill before stabbing it back into the hay.

"Luna, what is this?" I questioned with a small hint of disturbance in my voice. She didn't stop smiling or convincing me there was something to all this.

"This is your challenge, a sparring match!" She revealed. I stopped myself from grabbing another spear and turned to her, questions wandering.

"What?"

"A sparring match! A test of combat." She restated, I wasn't any pleased she answered my question the same.

"You want to test my combat!? You saw how your magic made me look ragdoll!" I protested and she eyed me carefully, a fire in her eyes warning or maybe even threatening me to reconsider my words. I gulped and looked around myself.

"A sparring match…?" I asked. I would be a lair if I told her I didn't want to go through with it. I picked up another spear and stared at the sharp tip and admired it before stabbing it back.

"So, you wanted to check my combat ability? Well I've fought my whole life, so let's see what you got." I said seriously as I tightened the gloves on my hands before looking up at my friends on stands and smiling.

The ponies watched with worry, that is everyone except Vinyl and Dash, they had been excited for anything. As hard as it was to believe I was put up to spar against somepony, I was here to win the game. I gave a thumbs up towards them before looking at Luna give me a smug grin, which revealed something immediately: she knew I was at disadvantage. It just then that I noticed something, Luna wasn't even on the battleground, but on a seat where she watched me.

"Why are you up there?" I asked as I looked at her. Her grin sharpened as she raised her hoof in my direction.

"I'm not sparring, but she is."

"She?" I quickly looked behind myself and noticed a pony in an outfit resembling Luna's but with bat-like wings attached to it. The pony had a serious look on and a firm stance, she wasn't here to mess around.

"Oh, and I must inform you this isn't my usual guard, she's may not be a batpony but she's got a high magical ability and is dedicated to triumph, so you'll find her quite an asset as a sparring partner." Luna rang as I watched this pony stare at me with her tempting stare.

"Uh-huh…" I stated as I looked at the pony, who switched stance and was looking at me from a diagonal angle. I, as well, placed myself at an angle. We stared each other down, while Luna explained the rules.

"Okay, now listen to me: you must never underestimate your opponent, you can't use magic to hurt your opponent but it can assist you and protect you. Telekinesis is allowed on inanimate objects, you can't severely injure your opponent, and you absolutely can't hurt the spectators," Luna stated as she observed me, I slowly closed my eyes and open them, focus taking over. The pony opposite of me didn't seem to worry, she seemed full of herself and serious equally. _All those years of fighting and now I'm here, I'm more than ready to take on a four-legged pony with magical powers._

"Oh, and I will heal all damages," She finally assured making me smirk but raising fear on the stands. "Okay…begin!"

I slowly began to pace around the training ground and once I found my place, I stopped and placed my hands down to my side. That got an immediate reaction as the pony used its magic to catapult off the ground and quickly lunge at me with one hoof out. I quickly placed my hand in front of the hoof and caught it before it hit me. I was an expert when it came to stopping and dodging attacks, it was instinct to me after so long.

"Wha…" I heard the pony say under her breath, as she quickly retracted back to her starting place.

"Don't underestimate your opponent, you heard her." I mocked, causing her to growl. Within seconds I noticed about five spears from all directions just randomly levitate. I raised an eyebrow as I wrapped a hand on my sword and watched in all directions.

"Here we go!" Dash strongly shivered in anxiety as she faithfully watched. She knew what I could do with a sword, it was a matter of just waiting for the attack.

I was as serious as I could be as I finally decided to whip out the trusty bowie knife and launch it spinning towards her. She quickly fired all spears as she used her magic to return the knife and now I had six things to get rid of. _No problem_. I swung out my sword and deflected two before maneuvering my body around the others and finally my bowie.

I quickly grew cold as I noticed how close it was, but warmth quickly took over as I noticed almost five seconds past and the knife was still a foot from my face. It was slowly coming towards me but it would take it almost a whole thirty seconds before it could even touch me.

"What the?" I reached my hand to my knife and noticed that the world had actually become slow by such a portion it was nearly frozen. I blinked a few times before holstering my sword and knife and grabbing a spear. As soon as that one spear was in my hand, the world returned to normal and I was getting stared down by her. I looked at the stands to see the same surprised looks before turning to Luna who didn't hide her shock. I licked my lips as I nodded and twirled the spear.

"Bring it!"

She lunged herself again at me but now followed by a series of more consecutive kicks, punches, and levitated spears. The same thing happened, time was moderately slow and so were her attacks. This time manipulation was almost like extreme and unrealistic focus, which was never really as effective as this. I easily dodged it all and threw myself backward, there was a force in those hooves and magic of hers. Still, what surprised me is that she can actually fight using their hooves. I looked down at my spear which seemed to have gone blunt with the massive number of hits it took, along with her spears. Time resumed again and we both looked at the spears. We glanced at each other's before tossing them aside.

"Woah, he's quick!" Vinyl expressed before getting Dash's approval, followed by Twilight's and the rest of the impressed audience. But secretly, I could easily hear one more voice.

"He…is…" Luna whispered as I quickly closed a fist, hell I can't be defending through it all.

"Okay, now it's my turn," I said as I charged at her with a fist in both hands, not yet using my sword for anything important. She quickly used her magic on my incoming fist and created a shield. _Damn!_ I stopped my charge and kicked the shield to push myself away from it. Her shield disappeared and so did my attack. _With a shield like that I couldn't possibly do anything to her._ I gritted my teeth before I got my hand on my sword once more.

"So, I'll just slash right through it," I growled getting her attention as I pulled out my sword. I flicked my wrist and she prepared herself for the incoming attack. This time the adrenaline rushed through me as my body slightly trembled before tightening up intensely.

I quickly charged again and she put up her shield, as expected. I jumped high this time and rammed the sword against the shield, resulting in a huge number of sparks flying everywhere. I could feel the sword getting pushed back but I kept applying force to the shield, it was all or nothing now. I growled as I tried my best to keep my sword on the shield to penetrate it.

I couldn't hold back letting out my frustration in a yell as I forced my sword down and my spirts soared as the shield began to crack. "N-NO!" The pony let me see her frustration as she tried to keep the shield active. I began to feel tense and my arms started to shake under the pressure. The shield was to the point of cracking down, and an idea quickly crossed my mind.

"ALRIGHT! THIS IS IT!" I shouted as I balled up my fist and swung it behind me. The pony smirked and laughed. Underestimating was wrong, especially when according to logic punching a weak point should hurt a lot. I was good at dealing with taunts but hers were making my head think off to somewhere else where her taunts were slowly fueling a wrath.

"Do you think that'll work? YOU'VE PLAYED THE WRONG CARD THIS TIME!"

"WE'LL SEE!" I yelled as I threw my fist at the shield, causing it to explode, throwing me and the pony to the walls of the training ground. _Oh fuck! I didn't expect that one_. I felt the wall quickly come up from behind and the pain surged from my spine to the back of my neck.

"Gah!" We both groaned as we fell face first after the hard impact.

"OH MY GOSH, ARE YOU BOTH ALRIGHT?!" I heard Twilight yell out. I was alright, I've been throw at a wall before ya know. I shook my daze and groaned, rubbing the back of my neck a bit. It was odd, but I fully expected that impact to paralyze me or break me, but I'm still in complete function.

"Yeah," I huffed as I started to stand up off the floor. I looked at the pony opposite of me, she was in pretty bad shape but still had some stamina in her. I stared for a while, wondering if she would stabilize soon but she seemed to wobble still. I stared at her before stretching my right arm and quickly grabbing a hold of it as a pain surged. "Ow…damn." I sighed as I turned to face her again.

She had stabilized finally and her horn was glowing. I looked at her curiously before backing up one step. Thunder started to clash and lightening lit up the arena.

"H-hey!" I yelled as I backed up some more. "I DON'T HAVE MAGIC LIKE YOU DO! STOP THAT!"

Her magic only further grew and I was quickly backed up to the wall behind me. I looked behind myself and back forward quickly.

"Oh shit, this is bad," I cursed under my breath as saw my sword stuck on a wall. Out of ideas, I tried but couldn't pull it out, it was too deeply engraved. I turned back to the pony opposite of me wondering what to do against such magical power.

"That's enough! I said no offensive magic!" Yelled Luna standing up from her perch but the pony didn't listen and kept charging her horn. I quickly look around for something, but nothing was present. I could feel the pressure of the magic she was charging up, it felt like my insides were about to melt. I growled at the fact I had pushed her too far and now I was getting it.

Running out of ideas, I quickly looked at my hands as I started to wonder a strange question. As crazy as it was and stupid, it was probably the best thing than to cower, and it might explain those sudden slow-motion moments. I tightened my hands as I inhaled deeply. _Do I have a power as well?_

My eye twitched slightly as I began processing how this would go down in my head and it was either I ended up fucked up or fucked up. "Damn it!" I growled at my position as I tightened my fists.

" _Do it…_ "

I picked my head up at the sudden reappearance of the voice. "What? DO WHAT!?" I asked out loud looking straight at the pony opposite of me still changing up.

" _Fucking do it! You have much more energy and stamina than her!_ " The dark voice yelled in my head making my body stiffen up and listen. I looked at my hands before realizing they felt heavy with something and twitching.

" _Just imagine the magic flow through you and come out your body…_ "

I looked back up and nodded as I finally decided.

"Alright, if this should conclude this battle then I won't back off!"

"BEN!" The stands yelled but I ignored it as I undid the vest tossed it aside followed by the sheath. I glared at her as I moved and put her directly in my line of fire.

"BEN! EXIT THE ARENA!" I heard Twilight cry but I continued with my decision.

I focused my attention on the pony in front of me and stared her down before posing in a position I've always wanted to do in the past. I'm either gonna embarrass myself or win this challenge discovering an incredible power. I started to feel my emotions turmoil again as I hovered one hand over the palm of another and looked at the pony. I began to enter my focus mode that involved me focusing my mind on a single opponent and going all out.

" _Ah, so this is how you'll unleash the magic? Fine by me._ "

Everyone stared at my actions and probably wondered what was going on. Luna was also among those intrigued by my actions, she didn't say any more about stopping the match. I grunted before finally screaming at the top of my lungs and felt a crazy surge of energy fill my body. I could feel my body tensing up with a feeling of power before noticing an orange-red field begin to manifest around me.

"WAIT WHAT!?" Yelled everyone except the pony in front of me.

I firmed my body and studied it. I was really doing it, I was using this technique.

"BEN, WHAT IS THAT!?" They yelled in unison. I growled as I let out the energy to announce my new technique. I had to break position as I stood straight with my hands locked as I felt my body begin to lock up. This technique shall follow me where I go, and here it is.

"KAIO-KEN!"

"KAIO WHAT!?" They shouted.

"TIMES THREE!" I yelled as I felt the huge tension in my body release. I witnessed how my aura of deep red erupted massively reaching almost fifty feet into the sky before I controlled it. I had done it. My body had become more agile and tight as I balled both of my fists and bent my knees again. As much as I had questions, I came here for one reason: to win. And maybe to see Luna again.

" _Finish it…_ "

"OKAY, IT'S TIME TO FINISH THIS!" I yelled as the energy field around me increased, radiating wind causing everyone to grip onto something. Luna and everyone else stared in amazement as I continued to power up. The pony in front of me just stared with an evil-like smile.

"ALLLRIGHTT!" I ripped out of my lungs as I placed my hands in the position again and growled.

"KAAAAA! MEEEEE!"

I could feel tension increasing in my hands, as the words escaped my mouth. Almost instantaneously a blue sphere formed in my hands, sparking violently and growing slowly.

"HAAAA! MEEEEE!"

"BEN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Yelled Twilight as she rushed to the middle of the battlefield. The pony on the other side of the field didn't stop her attack as she aimed her horn for me, blinded with rage and fired the rapid beam at Twilight.

My eyes widened as I quickly appeared ahead of her and extended my hands out at the beam.

"HAAAAAA!"

A huge beam of blue light erupted from my hands and swallowed the pony's attack effortlessly going directly to her. Time slowed down again as I remembered that I couldn't use magic to injure my opponent and stopped the attack, slamming my hand into the ground, redirecting it into the heavens and causing a huge explosion of lights in the sky, leaving the pony wide-eyed. She probably gave up the moment she realized she couldn't do anything to stop the Kamehameha. I huffed as I swallowed in a whisper, " _Thanks, Goku…_ _"_

I quickly looked down and saw Twilight on the ground next to me, shaking and wondering what had happened.

"T-Twilight!? DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" I panted as I looked down at her, my hands violently sparking as I sweated heavily. She turned to me before looking around and whimpering making me soften up as well.

"N-no…don't cry, I don't have the strength for it, honest!"

"Ben…what are you?" I heard Luna ask from her place which was up high on the stands. I looked her in the eye before lifting a thumb to her and nodding with my breath become slightly worse. Worse was an understatement, my whole body died out after that crazy use of magic.

"T-Twilight…" I grunted as my body trembled. She slowly turned to me before quickly realizing I was in a huge problem.

"Ben?"

I panted one last breath as I felt my body give up on me and my mind become blank.

"Oh…fuck," I groaned as I fell to the ground, completely out cold.

"BEN!"

" _Oh yeah, Kaio-Ken fucks up your body, now that I remember."_ That voice chuckled.


	6. Chapter 6 - How About One Date?

#6

I felt my consciousness return as drops of rain hit my face. I slowly opened my eyes. I still on the training ground, but it was raining lightly and there were many voices arguing. At first, it was Luna and Twilight arguing with someone, then Vinyl and Dash joined in. I slowly turned my body over and on to my knees, letting out a huge breath of air.

"HEY, HE'S AWAKE!" Yelled a strong male voice in the distance.

"What?"

I lifted my head to see who was yelling. It was two stallions in golden armor and behind them was Celestia. I took a sigh of relief before trying to pick myself onto my feet but stopped when the two stallions abruptly halted me. "Don't even try it!"

I paused halfway getting up and wondered why they raised their voices so drastically. "What? What's wrong?" I asked as I got back to my knees and looked around.

I quickly noticed my friends being held back some of the same golden-armored stallions, Luna was staring at me with a worried look which didn't signal anything good. Slowly, I realized that the motion of the world was going slow again. I looked at the ground, thinking about what was happening, but was quickly distracted when I felt my face twitch as I heard every one of my friends' voices scream out.

"WATCH OUT!"

Flutters voice stood out above all.

Time resumed, and I instantly recognized a hostile presence behind me. My legs tensed up before I quickly spun my body around swinging one leg under whatever was behind me and using the other to kick it as strongly as I could. I let my body slowly recoil back to a standing position, my body ready to take on whoever was next as I stared at my attacker. It was another one of the stallions, with my sword right next to him. Seeing my weapon wielded by someone else against me was infuriating and almost led me into going over and teaching a lesson in respect to all the golden plated stallions. I swiftly turned back at the other stallions and planted my foot firmly.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO DO!?" I yelled as I quickly lifted myself and ran to get my sword but was immediately stopped when a streak of lightning hit the sword. I threw myself away and looked at the sword which had been unharmed but was sparking violently. I stared at it, the offense was too much to not go unnoticed.

"I don't think so," One of the stallions said as I turned to face them all. I was starting to lose my temper but tried to keep myself in check. I gripped my fists as I took another breath, a choppy and stuttered breath.

"Okay…listen…I'll be peaceful if you answer me: what are you trying to do?" I asked again but in a more calmer way, although this had no effect as they didn't answer me. It was annoying to see them just keep a straight face. I wanted to flick them off with all my might, but what good would it do when they don't even get the offense.

"Okay…then, Luna can you answer me?" I asked turning my attention to Luna. She seemed to know what was going on as she immediately opened her mouth to speak.

"Ben, I can explain-"

"You can't speak to anyone." Interrupted another stallion. Luna looked over at the guard almost wanting to make him vanish before looking up at her sister's expression go unchanged and backed off with a frown.

I turned to the stallion, I was on the verge of losing my patience and decided to go against their word. I looked at Celestia, she seemed to look awfully similar to her guards' expressions. I expected her to answer for all this and I was going to get it now.

"Celestia, my temper is short but controlled, can you explain what's going on!?" I asked her. She looked at me, and with no problem, nodded. I picked my head up, surprised that actually worked. "Well?" I asked impatiently.

"I can explain, and I expect you to answer me as well," She strictly returned causing me to look at Luna, my friends, and then back at her. The stallions didn't do anything to stop me from conversating with her, so I guess this was my only option. I nodded as I raised my hand and aimed it towards the group of ponies that supported me.

"Fine, I'll answer anything, but don't harm them, aren't they supposed to be your friends, yet you hold them back against their will!?" I responded giving her my "or else" look. She looked me in the eye and only lasted a few seconds before she signaled the stallions to let the ponies be, and they obeyed. As surprisingly violent as I display myself to be, Twilight rushed over to me before leaping on me from the side, she quickly embraced me in a tight one. I could feel her shaking in fear, but for her to trust me to the point she ignored her fear, was assuring. I returned the hug hoping it would stop the shaking: it did.

"I know it's a bit late, but I wasn't going to react in time back then…thank you, for saving me! And I'm so glad you're okay as well!" She thanked as her hug became tighter. I looked back at Celestia, who was more shocked than stern after hearing Twilight's words. I looked down at the ground and smiled, as I reminisced what had happened before I blacked out.

"Ka-me-ha-me-ha..." I thought looking at my hand on Twilight's back. When and how did this happen to me? And that voice? I was now a super human with a power I've always dreamed of having as a kid. I gulped as I ignored it and returned my focus on Twilight. "Thank you for worrying, but I'm fine Twilight."

Celestia cleared her throat to get our attention. Twilight smiled as she let go and stood beside me. I looked at my friends before giving them a smile, causing them to let out their breath in relief.

"I wasn't holding them back…I just wanted to keep them away…"

"From me?" I asked and she shamefully nodded.

"My apologies."

"Their safety is important no doubt but assure you I haven't lost my head just yet, I'm still a good distance from that." I assured her with a smile. She only stared at me, probably wondering how I conjured that smile.

"Ben, I have to be blunt with you, you represent yourself as a dangerous, but kind being…it's baffling me." Celestia expressed taking a step in my direction. I looked back at the stallion that I kicked earlier and back at her giving an apologetic look and tone. I did kick him good…

"Yeah, I know I may be a bit dangerous to ponies who are a fifth of my size and I'm sorry, I don't mean harm to anyone but those who try to harm my friends and me," I apologized making sure I made it a firm statement. Celestia returned my apology with a smile and nodded, finding truth in those words.

"You surprise me Ben, and that's a compliment, guards you may return to your duties," She ordered. The stallions helped the other one I kicked earlier, that still seemed to be dazed, back on to his hooves and left. I looked down at Twilight who was looking pretty calm as she stared aimlessly at the horizon that was visible from here, so I decided to calm down as well.

"Ben, *grunt* I believe this is yours."

I turned to Dash who had my sword in her hooves, struggling to hold it up. I smiled as I reached over and grabbed the sword before holstering it. She wiped away a bead of sweat before taking a deep breath. "Thanks," I thanked making her smile and chuckle.

"No problem! THAT WAS AWESOME! And maybe a little scary-BUT AWESOME!"

I chuckled at her cheerfulness and looked at the princesses who both had some delight going on. Slowly, the thought emerged again, the newly acquired talent that I had discovered. I brought my hands ahead of me and stared at them.

"Hey, wait a minute, this is something new," I halted in a whisper as I placed one hand in front of me, with the palm facing upwards, and concentrated on it. Almost as if by mental coordination, a blue sphere of energy formed, causing everyone to stare. Celestia moved over to me and stared at my hand with an impressed smile. I closed my hand into a fist causing the ball to disappear like a fire going out, but it didn't cease to amaze me.

"Woah…" I whispered opening and closing my hand, I could feel the warmth of having that sphere in my hand. It was an energizing feeling. I couldn't tell if it was my confidence that was boosted after this or if this curious power affected me in a way, but I was feeling immensely stronger and agile. And, without a doubt, I was more alert and faster at reflexes, that would explain how I felt the guard behind me and reacted on the spot, that is excluding my original reflexive timing.

"So, I hear from my sister you also contain the ability to wield magic, a very, very unique magic too I must say, fascinating." Celestia commented as I smiled in excitement. I retracted my hand to my side and turned to Celestia to listen.

"That is also the reason for my presence being here, apparently a great amount of magic was used causing the sky to light up in magic, have you got idea what happened?" Celestia mentioned well aware I'm guilty, hinting me to answer her. I looked at her and scratched the back of my head feeling guilty. Although, it was the guilt that was not shameful, it was more about showing off than feeling ashamed. It was passive boasting.

"Nowhere to hide, huh? Yeah, it was me, I didn't mean to cause such an event though, sorry about that." I apologized. Celestia and Luna both gave me curious glares, as I rejoiced around with Dash and Twilight before the rest joined in.

"Hey, Ben?"

I turned around to look at Luna. "Yeah?"

"Just how did you do that?" She asked, causing me to pause for a moment and ponder the question. I did a number of crazy things today.

"The Kamehameha?" I asked back, they nodded and I looked at my hand again before closing it into a fist. I wouldn't keep it a secret when it came to one of my favorite icons when I was a young.

"Well, I guess it's of no harm; it was originally from a manga, which is a graphic novel, I loved to read as a kid but now…I made it real, to some extent!" I proudly explained, as I remembered more about my favorite manga. I managed to pull off my childhood dream and now I get to bask in my glory. "Can you explain?" Luna asked curiously. I could see the interest in all their eyes and I was in the mood.

"Alright, mini-story time," I began. I explained as much as I could so what I did made some sense to them. Every one of them had become intrigued with the summary I was giving, which made me extremely pleased. It was great to be an entertainer for those who didn't even know much about my life.

"After a few years, new enemies appear and try to find these seven dragon balls, which can grant any wish. These enemies were of the same Saiyan race as Goku, but Goku refused to do what he was originally meant to do which was to destroy the planet. He refused to listen to someone tell him he should end his friends and fought against his kind and defeated them leaving him on the brink of death, but he didn't care as long as his friends were safe and his will of fighting never ceased. After that, a series of adventures followed and even stronger foes appeared, but he never gave up on his friends and always finished strong, no matter how hard the situation was. Sometimes he would sacrifice himself for the sake of the survival of his friends."

That last part seemed to get to everyone, it got to me too, considering almost no one ever did anything similar to that in my life. That is besides my parents' struggle to keep me alive in a world full of crime and war.

"Well, that was an aspect of my childhood life, quite the feeling having made the moves real now. It's almost too good to be true." I finished. I looked around to see what they thought of the short story. They each had some questions concerning my childhood hero which warmed my heart to the brim.

"Well, I guess we should start calling you Goku, no?" Luna playfully asked, causing everyone to laugh. I laughed as well: I guess it's true in some ways. I am new to this world, and now I have some power to defend my friends with. All I need now is someone to tell me to kill them, so I could refuse it.

"The name's Ben, pure and simple."

I cut my laughing short and looked at Luna as I remembered something very important again. It seems my memory was now also spiked.

"Luna, what about the challenge!?" I asked. All the other ponies gasped in excitement as they gave signs of agreement. "Yes! A prize is to be awarded!" Flutters quickly exclaimed joyfully, joining me.

"Challenge?" Celestia asked, but no one listened as Luna placed a hoof under her mouth and pondered.

"Hmm…I guess you did sort of win that match…okay! What would you like as a reward?" She asked with a calm smile. I faced the ground with my hand on my chin and my eyes closed, pondering what to ask for. I had just one thing in mind, really. "Even if she is a pony, she's still cute though," I whispered before chuckling. I smirked as I quickly opened my eyes and smiled.

"How about one date?" I casually asked with my hand in between us and one finger raised between us. Celestia, Twilight, Flutters, Dash and everyone immediately looked the other way to find some confidence to look back at me. My spirits seemed as high as my excitement and my smile gave a huge representation of my joy. With no surprise, Luna immediately turned bright red and flinched greatly before having a mental breakdown right before me.

"Oh my, you're daring, aren't you?" Flutters asked off my side as we both witnessed Luna lose her mind. I leaned to Flutters slightly. "Maybe I should have saved it for you."

Flutters smiled my way and I smiled back at her, we still have those moments in our heads from earlier. Celestia looked at Luna and back at my smirk, before giggling as she blushed lightly. "You really do surprise me Ben, and with such an attitude as to ask such."

I looked up at Celestia before nodding proud of my request.

"A DATE!?" Dash exclaimed before getting a grin from me. She sounded aggravated, and if not, jealous. I turned to her before seeing everyone's' blank looks and shock. "Hey, she's cute and I got a thing for cuties, and as far as I know she's not seeing no one, so I'm asking." I explained before Flutters held back a laugh.

"SHE'S OUR PRINCESS!" They all exclaimed except for Flutters. I shrugged to show I didn't care, I had nothing to lose but a chance to never challenge Luna again to something. "Yeah and soon she'll be mine as well if you know what I mean." I teased back at them and they all just sunk in their own place, speechless.

I heard Luna whisper something and turned.

"So?" I asked her, but she shot those eyes towards me, and the story was unfolded.

"W-WHY WOULD YOU ASK FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!? WHAT ABOUT SOME NEW CLOTHES, OR BITS!? BUT A DATE!? I'VE NEVER EVEN BEEN ON ONE! LET ALONE CONSIDERED IT!" Luna screeched, desperately trying to get me to choose something else. I stared in shock as she immediately started spitting out more alternatives. Woah…out of character Luna. I sighed and chuckled placing my hand over her muzzle and stopping her excuses. Well damn, who would've thought she'd act this way.

"Fine, I guess I'll take the clothes, calm down Princess!" I chuckled letting her go, she looked at me before looking at the ground highly embarrassed. She straightened her posture but still remained slightly hunched over. "You just seemed so busy all the time, I thought maybe we could've spent a day together to take a break." I explained with a smile making her feel low. Celestia smiled at my words, giving me a thankful gaze.

"S-sorry, I overreacted…I'll send Rarity a tab for you," She stated, still looking down to the ground and showing her glum. I placed one hand under her chin and lifted her head up. She was still red and had a gloomy look on her face but it didn't bother me. I couldn't tell if it was regret or embarrassment, or both causing her to feel this way, but I did know I wanted her to feel better after what had occurred.

"Maybe some other day we'll spend time together, that's all I want." I said with a reassuring smile. That was honestly the main reason I asked such a thing, I just wanted to see them relieved of some stress. I lowered my hand, letting her face go as we heard the train coming back. Luna stared at me as I told everyone to get ready to go back, I looked back at her and gave one more playful smile.

"See ya, Luna and Celestia, maybe we'll all enjoy a day together, someday, I promise." I gave my word before giving Luna the "okay" to teleport us to the train station. Celestia teleported away with a laugh, while we were wrapped in Luna's magical glow.

I couldn't help but look at Luna as she worked that magic, she didn't look at us as we departed. Up till now I've pasted it on as she overreacted, but it seemed it went beyond that.

"Did I do something wrong?" I whispered as she disappeared and a train appeared in front of us. I turned to look at the castle and waved at it one final time before boarding the train to get back to Ponyville.

"Goodbye Luna…"

Luna remained alone on the training grounds, staring at the vacant spot where Ben once stood. She gulped down as she tried to comprehend why she reacted the way she did when she was planning to ask Ben for a night out as well if he had won the challenge, which she hoped Ben would win anyways. The dreams made it look easier but reality was something else far more difficult.

She gave one final sigh before looking to the drizzly sky and seeing it slightly expose rays of sunlight as the clouds moved along. She stared as she reminded herself of what Ben ended with, giving her a sliver of hope. It seemed Ben was eager for a second chance.

She teleported away, thinking of their next encounter.


	7. Chapter 7 - Two Gossip Ponies and Me

7.

"Ben?"

The voice sounded far and distant.

"BEN!"

I jerked my head up and faced Twilight. _But it was also right next to my ear_. I had dozed off, thinking about Luna and what I had done, so I probably unconsciously ignored them ever since I got on the train.

"What is it?" I asked before they sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness, you've been terrifyingly quiet since we boarded." Flutters whispered off my left and I straightened myself to show I was still active. "Oh, sorry, I was just thinking." I said before turning to Twilight and noticing I had a great number of ponies' attention on me.

"What's the matter?"

They looked at each other before Applejack finally rose up.

"Yer an interestin' fellow, that's what's going on." She said with a smile, and I smiled back.

"Oh yeah? I just shot a beam that lit up the skies, asked a princess on a date, wield a sword like a maniac, and have magical abilities." I chuckled, before placing my hand on my head rubbing out stress. "How the hell do I even have this magic?" I asked looking innocently at Twilight. She quickly frowned from the seat beside me.

"What?" She asked, and I asked again.

"How do I have magic?"

Everyone looked at each other before almost getting out their seats, Dash being the only one to actually get off her seat.

"Ben, you should know…you can't just wield magic like you did without any past knowledge." Twilight explained before I shook my head. "I never had magic to begin with, back on earth, magic was but fiction and only in dreams. I knew how to shoot that beam of magic because I've seen it, in fiction."

That was stunning to her, and she just lost all will to talk after that. I exhaled before turning to Flutters and smiling at her, and she quickly smiled back, not worrying one bit over any magic.

"I don't care about how I acquired such abilities, as long as I continue living," I said stroking Flutters mane and getting smiles from all over, even Twilight had to give one despite her confusion.

"Ya really got a thing for making a mare happy." Applejack smiled warmly before I turned to her. She looked at me and I equally greeted her sight with a smile. "I'll, and I will do my best."

She smiled with a small blush forming and sat back down. I looked down at Flutters to see her blushing, and chuckled leaning in. "That means you."

She blushed greatly and smiled just as equally as she rested on my arm, leaning on it.

The whole trip back was more questions and daydreaming. Even after speaking about it, I couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving Luna in her state, although, I guess she isn't use to such requests. She did say she's never even considered it, maybe I should have gone a bit softer in my request, but who'd change the past at the end of the day?

Stepping out of the train, the relief arrived as I saw that it was still pretty normal here. Everything as it should be as far as I know. I walked ahead of them all a bit and stared out.

"Well, looks like I've left a bit of an impression in Canterlot." I sighed, smiling a little, changing my attention from the town to the ponies.

"Obviously! Luna isn't going to forget anything that happened today!" Dash excitedly exclaimed as she flew over to my face. I keep forgetting they could be this close to my face with those wings.

I thought about that too deeply. I actually might have appreciated it if she forgot about what happened. I wanted to leave Canterlot, at least seeing Luna smile, but it didn't go like that. Instead, I left her dumbfounded and feeling low.

"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, hopefully good." I replied insecurely. Dash quickly shook her head and placed her hoof on my shoulder. She was going to give me the "bro" answer to this problem.

"Don't be like that, I'm sure the princesses get bored of being in the castle all day long, believe me, you did them a favor!" She supported back with an energetic tone. I couldn't help but smile at her persuasive kindness: _She really was something special too._ I placed her my hand on her hoof and slid it off my shoulder.

"Alright Dash, I trust you, thanks." I thanked her. She nodded her head once and smiled brightly. "No problem." She finished joining her friends on the ground.

"A date?" Twilight asked. I smirked with a nod. "My intentions were the best…it just didn't work out as I hoped." I assured them. They smiled as I shrugged off all the negativity and assured them I was fine.

I looked at the group of ponies in front of me, each one was looking at me. My smile grew as I turned to the town once more. Ponies were nearly everywhere I looked, each one communicating with each other, and enjoying the day. "Nice town, really." I whispered to myself.

"Ben, are you alright?" Flutters asked from behind me, I turned to her. I forget easily how strangely heart lifting it was to look straight into the eyes of someone who worries about you, especially if that someone is as cute as Flutters. I gave her a reassuring nod.

"Yeah, I'm just wondering what I'm gonna do now? The day just gets crazier." I asked making something up to flow along with her question as we walked out of the station. Twilight came from behind Flutters.

"Well, for one, you can go and meet some of the other ponies in Ponyville!" Twilight responded cheerfully. The idea intrigued me.

"Oh yeah, that sounds like a plan!" I lightened up balling a fist in excitement, causing everypony to look at each other. I didn't like the look they gave each other any more than they liked it.

"Is something wrong?" I asked raising an eyebrow. They all looked at each other again before Vinyl stepped up.

"Are you sure you can handle meeting new ponies?" She asked raising her shades, I looked at her confused and back at the town populated with ponies, then back at her. My mind comprehended what she meant by "handle": _ever since I got here every one of these ponies has come in variety, so they're different from each other but still kind none-the-less. Still…she also signaled my personal way of being, which might surprise ponies but I wouldn't hurt a pony unless it's necessary: I'll handle._

"I get your concern, but I know I can handle. You heard Twilight, I'm a charmer!" I reassured Vinyl, along with the other ponies. They all smiled showing me their trust, I couldn't help but smile back. _It's those eyes_.

"Awesome, now how about we give you privacy so you can go meet new ponies," Vinyl offered with a smile. The others oddly agreed and bid their goodbyes, each going their own separate ways, leaving me in the middle of the town. I watched as they disappeared, each one looking back and smiling. _That was fast_ …

I looked around myself, feeling oddly insecure without any guides or anyone in particular, they've held my hand all the way up to now, and now they've let go.

I cruised around to get a feel of the area, it wasn't loud, it wasn't quiet, and it defiantly wasn't a inactive: Perfect. I walked around the town for about a few minutes picking up some catchy names. Most of the residents were kind and a few surprised by my appearance ( _That's understandable_ ), yet I'm sure that most already knew my name from Pinkie's party.

I spent most of my time greeting until I came across this one pony. She was a unicorn and had a light green-jade color, along with a stringed instrument on her flank. I stared at her as I tried to get her attention without coming off too creepy which in itself is exactly what makes me look creepy. _Damn it._

"Hey there." I greeted from behind her. She quickly spun around and stared up at me with excitement broadcasted throughout her face.

"Oh, hey! Wow! You're tall!" The pony responded joyfully, catching me off-guard. I nodded curiously and chuckled at the straight-forward reaction.

"Um…yeah, and you seem a bit too excited, what's up?" I replied with a few chuckles. She was the only pony to actually respond like that out of all the ones I greeted. She thought a bit before taking some self-awareness and breathing in.

"Nothing much, what's your name?" she asked smiling painfully wide. I was dumbfounded by her way of being so open, but I answered either way. Although, I was slightly on a safe mode.

"Ben…jamin," I cautiously stated. "But you can call me Ben."

It seemed almost as if the excitement from earlier was derived from her face as I introduced myself.

"That's dull, but I knew who you were, just making sure you're not playing games." She stated changing her face to a blunt one. I raised an eyebrow before rubbing the area where my heart was. I couldn't agree more though; their names were something else.

"Oh my…I'm deeply hurt, and what do you mean making sure I wasn't playing games." I asked, she looked at me with an "oh really?" look before punching my leg playfully.

"I'm just playing with you!" She said changing her tune to her joyful one. "And about the games? You know how some ponies are, always trying to be somepony they're not."

I smiled at her playfulness and nodded. "No kidding."

"Yup!"

"Well now…what would your nam-" I tried to ask but she quickly cut in.

"Lyra!" She quickly shouted out.

 _I didn't finish my question._

"You sure you're not playing any games with me?"

She shook her head with confidence.

"Huh, so Lyra?" I asked back. That would probably be the best sounding name I've heard all day.

"Lyra Heartstrings!" She clarified with a cute smile.

I stood there pondering the name, it was cute and meaningful. _I liked the name a lot._ This was becoming the strangest conversation I've had all day as well.

"I like that…a lot." I whispered under my breath. She turned to me with a smile before looking at my waistline.

"You do?" She asked.

I broke my small daze and returned to Lyra who was holding a long gray stick with her magic. I quickly realized the shine of the metal and placed my hand on my waist feeling an empty holster. I quickly looked at her, as she began playing around with it.

"How did you…?"

"Wow, this is extremely light," she complimented as she started to play fighting with it. I quickly panicked internally as I tried to reach out but backtracked to avoid injuring myself.

"Hey, don't do that! You'll hurt yourself!" I warned her, but she didn't listen. She began to swing it faster like a rebellious child. It seemed she had this odd problem with noticing the obvious danger. I didn't have a choice but to catch the razor she was messing with before someone gets hurt. It was stupid, but that suited me well. I threw my hand out the moment it swung near me and caught it, but of course, at a small price.

"Oww…that stings," I whispered to myself, squinting my eyes while looking at the collusion between my hand and sword. It looks like I successfully stopped imminent harm to Lyra but I couldn't say the same for my hand.

I could feel a small liquid begin to drip from the side of my hand. I looked at my hand closely and saw the sword had pierced the glove, and lightly slit my hand. I didn't mind a normal cut, but it seemed Lyra couldn't and I wouldn't blame her when she was nearly wholly to blame. I felt the sword gain weight as Lyra released it from her magic. I grabbed the handle of the sword and put it away instantly, before looking at Lyra who had a stream of tears going down her face.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She repeated becoming more tensed every time she said it. I quickly took it upon myself to calm her down, but that wasn't easy.

"Hey-hey, I'm alright it's just a small cut." I said trying to comfort her. She looked up at me and at my hand which had created a tiny pool of blood under it.

"No, it's not alright! I hurt you!" She cried becoming even more depressed than before.

" _Shit, what now?_ " I thought until I looked at my hand again and quickly took the glove off.

"What are you doing?" She asked, still crying as I ripped off the other sleeve of my shirt- _it looked ugly missing one to being with_ -and wrapped it around my wound. I squeezed my hand as tight as I could to stop the blood from pouring out. I waited a few seconds, before crouching down and revealing my hand.

"Ta-da, no more blood." I stated with a smile, causing her to give me that odd wavy smile. _Oh, what a great magician I am_. I smiled and placed my glove back on to hide the cut. I got back up and looked at her, she was still sobbing but not like before.

"Don't cry anymore, I don't like seeing you like this." I explained before placing my clean hand on her cheek and wiped her tears away, she changed her expression to a smile instantly causing me to smile back. I would have continued comforting her but a yell from behind stopped me.

"Lyra! I heard you crying! Are you alright!?"

I lifted my head quickly and turned to see a pony behind me with a rather angry expression. She braked in front of me kicking up the dust from the ground onto my face.

"What have you done to Lyra!?" The pony demanded, I waved my hand in front of me to get rid of the dust before looking at her, quite surprised at the sudden appearance.

"It's alright Bonbon, he didn't do anything to me." Lyra said trying to defend me. I lifted an eyebrow as I thought about that name.

"Bonbon?" I asked out of confusion, was this a nickname or real name?

"Yeah, and what happened!?" She asked taking a step forward and landing her hoof on the small pool of blood. My attention focused quickly on the blood that was now all over her hoof.

"Eww! What is this!?"

I looked at Lyra and she looked at me. I didn't know if answering her directly would be the best approach. I quickly opened my mouth to explain slowly but Lyra had other ideas. "It's his blood!" She exclaimed, causing me to back up a little. _Damn, you couldn't be any more direct._ Bonbon was speechless for a moment before…

"EEEEKKKKKK! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

I quickly jumped up, got out the sleeve and wiped the blood away. Bonbon had her eyes glued closed and refused to open them as I cleaned her hoof. I let the sleeve absorb the blood on the ground as well, Bonbon continued to keep her eyes closed. I quickly asked Lyra do moisten the cloth somehow and she did so. I carefully cleaned her fully and analyzed the hoof to make sure it was blood-free and for the most part, it seemed completely free.

"Hey, it's all gone now, you can open your eyes." I said putting the cloth in one of my pockets. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at her hoof, at the ground, then at us.

"What kind of prank was that?!" she yelled starting to tear up too, like Lyra earlier.

 _Ah, shit, not this again_.

"No-no-no-no this wasn't a prank, I got slightly injured, see," I said taking the glove off and showing my hand, she covered her mouth with her hooves and gave a shocked look.

"Are you alright!?" She asked looking at the red line on the palm of my hand and wiping away a tear with her hoof. I retracted my hand to look at it one more time but it still looked the same. I put the glove back on and cracked my knuckles.

"Yeah, it just stings a bit." I casually answered.

"How did this happen?" She asked giving us a puzzled but worried look. I tried to cover up for Lyra but she always has different plans to mine.

"Well, you see I-"

"IT WAS ME!" Lyra blasted out like a microphone near the sound system.

I quickly placed my hands on my ears and kept them there until my small shock had passed, I've never heard such a high-pitched scream.

"Damn!" I let out as I shook my head to get rid of the shock. I looked at Lyra who had Bonbon comforting her.

"It's okay, I'm sure you didn't mean harm." Bonbon comforted, hugging Lyra who was in tears again, while I just stared in amazement. _No harm my ass, and how did they manage to tell each other what happened so fast!?_

"How did you…? Never mind." I said as I focused my attention on both the ponies in front of me. This Bonbon pony was something too, her flank had three sweets on it, a fancy mane and tail, and a whitish shade.

I didn't know how to feel; sad for Lyra's experience, or glad she had friends who support her. I stood back up and looked out to the community. It seemed I had once again caused a disturbance among this peaceful place.

"I'm sorry, you know, for causing some drama." I apologized looking back at them, they both looked up and gave me the confused looks. "I'm new here if you didn't know and I don't really know how to live along ponies very well, but I'm trying my best. This is kinda new to me."

Both the ponies in front of me seemed to became curious as I continued with what I wanted to say. If I could come off as a sincere person, with a good attitude, then I might just get some new friends.

"Still, I'm fine, now, are you two are best friends or something?" I asked with a smile. It felt weird speaking like this considering this was my first time speaking like this to strangers I met on my own accord. Bonbon neared me from the left and Lyra from my right, I was confused for a short moment before they smiled.

"Of course, we're besties!" Lyra cheered.

"Yeah, Lyra and I are friends!" Bonbon cheerfully claimed.

"Yeah, and you're the one Vinyl and Dashie speak so much about!" Lyra said causing me to stop and think. How did Vinyl and Dash get involved with this conversation?

"Vinyl? I can understand Dash but Vinyl?" I questioned causing them to give me "ARE YOU KIDDING?!" looks.

"If you ask me, I'm sure she has something special towards you!" Lyra said, becoming even more excited with every breath she took, while I just stood trying to capture everything coming out of her mouth. She spoke so much love that it was preaching at this point.

"What if she… (Muffled speech)"

I gave up on trying to make sense of what I was hearing and looked up to see Bonbon with her hoof in Lyra's mouth, becoming purple. "Hey, you might wanna let your bestie breathe…" I warned as Lyra looked like she was struggling for air and Bonbon quickly retracted her hoof, leaving Lyra grasping for air.

"Oh no, I'm sorry Lyra!" Bonbon apologized as Lyra coughed a little before smiling again, I just stared at their antics as Lyra opened her mouth wide.

"Don't worry Bonbon, I've taken bigger things in my mouth," Lyra responded proudly, my mind went completely stale, and Bonbon quickly placed her hoof in Lyra mouth again blushing strongly.

"SHUT IT!"

 _What the fuck was that? Now that's some pride_.

I stared at the duo, as Bonbon began bickering about Lyra's strange way of being explicitly open. I began to lose my mind slowly until I began laughing my heart out at how random their conversation suddenly became insults, getting both of their attentions. Their arguing was so childish.

"What's so funny!?" They both sternly asked. I managed to calm myself enough to give an answer.

"You two…- I gave a chuckle as I tried hold back -are the cutest pair of friends I've seen." I said as they both blushed uncontrollably.

"WHAT?!" They shouted in unison. I laughed some more before aiming a finger at them. "It's true! How do friends go from arguing about each other's habits, to talking about the weather!?"

"YOU'D BE SURPRISED!" Lyra confronted before I shrugged getting Bonbon to react.

"Well how about you and Vinyl, I'm sure you're cuter together, in fact, I'm sure I heard her talking about you in her sleep yesterday! You're Ben, aren't you?!" Bonbon fought back before Lyra inserted her hoof into her mouth.

"Yeah, I thought so because-

"Now you SHUT IT!" Lyra exclaimed. My face froze with my laughing face plastered on it with shock. I wanted to hide from embarrassment but equally stay strong.

"Yeah…I'm Ben," I whispered as I fell on my bottom, Lyra released Bonbon who began coughing and gasping for air. Lyra moved to face me face to face. She had this worried look that was holding back a gossip pony from being released and I knew so, so I avoided making eye contact.

"Hey Lyra, can you put your hoof in Bonbon's mouth again?" I asked, Lyra just chuckled and pet Bonbon's head. Bonbon clearly didn't enjoy it the first time. I decided to give up on understanding anything and threw myself on my back to face the cloudy sky.

"Oh man and this is just my second day here…" I sighed rubbing my face with my hands. I was never expecting such a comeback from this Bonbon pony, although she has got a way of secretly making me ecstatic.

"Umm… Ben, are you alright?" Asked both Bonbon and Lyra surrounding me from each side. I closed my eyes and gave a grin, before I grabbed both of them, one in each hand, and flipped onto my feet.

"Ha-ha! I'm better than alright, I'm better than excited, I'm officially fucking confused about life!" I exclaimed full of glee. Of course, I was confused, this life was so confusing I actually got a female pony talking about me in her dreams. And to believe I actually considered getting a pony to like me sounded as confusing as well. Although, I'm use to making acceptations.

"Oh, you're a strong guy!" Lyra exclaimed from one side of my body. "And acrobatic!" Bonbon exclaimed from the other, both blushing brightly. I blinked a couple times before nervously chuckling.

"Oh sorry, I got a little excited," I chuckled putting them down, realizing what I was doing. Lyra looked at me with a wide smile, while Bonbon looked away to calm her blush.

"WOW! Your strong, and agile!" Lyra complimented punching one of my legs with her hoof. "But, I have one question though," She inquired looking up at me, I crouched down in front of her.

"What is it?"

She giggled a bit as she lit up her magic and grabbed my pants.

"Well, why do you wear these things on you?" She asked using her magic to tug on my pants. I look at her and then at myself. I thought and spoke the first thing that came to mind.

"Well, if I didn't wear this then you would have disappeared before I even had a chance to introduce myself." I said laughing a little, but Lyra found nothing funny in it.

"Why?"

I paused for a moment before getting back to her. That was the only backfire.

"Umm…well…you see…" I began trying to explain my reasoning, but I didn't find a single way to explain it without being explicit. It was an odd thing explaining this to a pony, although the main reason might be because she's female. I began to stutter over my own thoughts, nervously trying to explain something I shouldn't have brought up. I felt something go over my mouth. I looked to see Lyra with her hoof over my mouth, and her expression that got my heart racing.

"Don't put your hoof in my mouth." I demanded in an innocent whisper making her giggle.

She leaned in close enough for me to hear her whisper a few things.

"I won't, and I know what they're for, and honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing you without them." She giggled.

I felt my heart practically skip a beat, a huge gulp in my throat, and a blush spread across my face. Lyra glared with a little with a blush on her face as well. I let out a small chuckle as I awkwardly scratched the back of my head. I didn't know how to respond. I was stuck between screaming or disappearing. "You really are something else Lyra…I…I'm lost for words…my second day here, Lyra, my second day." I explained, causing Lyra to laugh a bit. I didn't realize how physically close to each other we were until Bonbon reappeared.

"What are you two doing?" She asked, I shook my head and looked at her, she seemed to tilt her head to one side in confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked playing dumb, Lyra also looked at her as we both played along.

"Well, to put it in simple words, you're practically breathing each other's breath!"

I quickly took the time to look at the scenario. Lyra had her hooves on my shoulders with her face about millimeters away from mine.

 _When the hell did this happen?_

"Umm…It was magic!" I messed with her. She gave me the suspicious look before going along with it. Lyra took her hooves off me with a disappointed look on her face and glanced it at Bonbon before returning her sight to me.

"Ben, we have to go do something we scheduled today, so hopefully we meet up some other time." Bonbon said giving me friendlier look than before. Both gave me cheerful goodbyes, as they trotted off into the town.

I waved back and looked up to the sky.

"What the hell have I fallen into?" I asked the ominous sky before looking at the sun to see it was way past noon. My head slowly processed something: a memory. It replayed in a blur as it began focusing in.

 _Hmm…something I was supposed to do but forgot_ …

 _…tea…TEA!_

 _And so, our hero runs back to Flutter's home in search of his damn tea, but what awkwardness awaits with that extremely shy pony…_

FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON _MLP_ : TTBLAIA


	8. Chapter 8 - A Demon In Plain Sight

#8

"Flutters, it's me, Ben, I'm here for the tea!"

The door to the house opened quickly, revealing the yellow pony and her huge jade eyes, wide with joy. I've never actually looked at Flutter's face directly, but now that I did; HOLY SHIT THOSE EYES ARE HUGE! And that's not an exaggeration, her eyes were black holes: Once they get you, they won't let even light escape.

"Oh, hi, come in." She kindly greeted in her quiet voice. I diverged my eyes from hers and smiled. "Thank you."

She offered me a seat and she traveled to hers.

"Thanks Flutters, I need somewhere where I can think about what I've gone through." I explained getting her attention, she hopped on a chair next to me and passed me a cup of tea. I looked at the tea, it let out a warm smell that made my mind feel light and curled my lips to smiles. A slow and thick steam slowly fumed out the swirling drink.

"Oh, that was fast." I said picking up the tea and taking a small sniff before a sip. The drink had a smooth flow to it, but that's as expected, what wasn't was the taste. I got a feeling of almost instant comfort and sorrow in my gut as the flavor swirled in my mouth. You see, this tasted like the tea my mother would make me and Dad before he went to work. The good ol' days, when school was the most annoying thing to a kid. The tea shocked me as memories just flowed back into my mind like a stream; quiet and gently.

"Woah…" I whispered as I looked at the tea make ripples as I set it down on the table. Flutters must have taken notice because she was all over my tea with worry.

"What is it? Is it bad?"

I turned my attention to her as she studied the tea in her cup, taking a sip and smelling it.

"Oh! No-no, the tea is amazing, it's just…it's similar to a tea I had a long time ago and it takes me back to when I was a kid." I explained looking at the nostalgic tea in front of me. Flutters sighed in relief and smiled for a few seconds before it was replaced with a saddened look. I also had this look of glum mixed with happiness.

"What were your parents like?" Flutters asked causing me to slowly lift my head and ponder the question. Oddly enough, I haven't considered my parents that much after I was drafted away from home. I never really knew them from my teen years and up until I got back home. But still, I had the childhood memories to go off of.

"Well…my dad was just like me; kind, faithful, caring, and most importantly, a good dad-I paused before chuckling-okay, maybe that last one isn't like me at all." I said. Flutters also giggled a little but she didn't believe the last bit I said.

"I'm sure you would make a great father." Flutters claimed. I never considered being a father, maybe because of the war and since I never actually thought about it. Although, hearing someone like her say such a thing was reassuring.

"I'm glad, I've never actually thought about being a dad but I trust your judgment." I said with a gentle smile. She also had a similar smile but hers was more… _Shy._ Since I explained my dad, all that was left was my mother, and she was similar to a certain someone as far as I can tell.

"Then there's my mother, she was just as much as a kind parent as my dad, just extremely shy…almost and if not just like you." I said turning my attention to her. Flutters blushed a little, but I guess it's because of her way of being. She smiled at the comparison, just like I did.

"They loved each other unconditionally and I'm glad they did, they always told me about "Protecting the ones you love, and it doesn't make a difference if they're different…" I guess that applies here now," I said a bit softer, looking at the tea cup which was half way full. Flutters gave a giggle and looked at her tea as well.

"Wow, your parents would be so proud of you," She said before gloomily looking at her tea. "I'm sorry about what happened."

I stared at her before closing my eyes and sighing. I loved them, and never wronged them thankfully. Their death is unknown, and that's painful enough considering I didn't even see them after I had matured into such a man. "Thanks Flutters, you know exactly what to say." I opened my eyes and smiled.

She smiled back. "You're welcome."

I was silent for a moment before gently slapping the table.

"Well, as much as I would love to talk more about my parents, there are more present matters I need to talk about with you." I said taking another sip from the tea cup. Flutters followed my lead and sipped her tea.

"Alright," She said. I took in some air as I shifted in my chair and comforted myself, I was going to be talking a while.

"As you may know, I was out greeting and introducing myself to new ponies, even though most knew me from that party Pinkie threw for me." I began, I could tell that Flutters had become interested in the way she leaned closer.

"Well, I came across these two particular ponies/mares, and well this will take a while to explain." I said pondering what to say and not to say. Flutters placed herself at the edge of her chair to listen, catching my safety eye. I continued nevertheless.

I explained a very detailed scenario, better than I expected as well. I placed a finger on the table and the tap it firmly.

"And then I ran back here for some tea." I finished.

I was expecting to give a short summary but that didn't happen, I explained every detail to the best I could. I left out the dialogue between me and Lyra, I wouldn't expose her like that to anyone, considering, she's honestly caring and thoughtful.

"Oh my, are you sure your… _hand_ is fine?" Flutters asked, returning to her seat. I sighed in relief knowing she wouldn't fall over me now, even if she did have wings, she would still nearly faint at the slightest awkward moment.

"Yeah, just a small cut, nothing serious. And that's my day, how was yours?" I asked feeling relief from telling someone about the events I've had. Flutters took her tea and sipped her last remaining ounces.

"Well…I haven't done nothing since what we all did this morning." She said placing her tea cup on the table. "Oh, would you like to do something?" I offered the chance. I looked at her as I finished my tea, the last sip was cold and didn't go down as smoothly as the others. She quickly turned to me with a blush.

"No-no, I'm fine." She assured me, waving a hoof in my face to state her point. I sighed and nodded. "Alright then."

I expected the conversation to die down slightly after that, but Flutters shifted in her seat a bit and straightened her posture.

"Although, I do have one question…make that two." She inquired, I placed my cup down and mentally prepared myself to answer any questions. Mentally preparing for a question is one of my talents, always expect the unexpected.

"Okay then, ask away," I said giving her my attention. She blushed slightly more as she made herself comfortable on her chair.

"Well…to start off, do you…umm…you know… _like_ living here?" She asked hiding her head in her mane. At first, the question didn't affect me, until I realized what she truly meant. I was taken back to this morning's breakfast and to what Flutters was actually thinking back then, and now it made sense.

"Of course I do, take it like this; I would love seeing you every morning when I wake up, not to mention get fed the best food the world can offer." I said cutting to the chase of what she was trying to say. Although, I hid the fact I knew what she meant by chuckling and giving her the idea, I wasn't on to her. She didn't hesitate a bit in showing her instant excitement.

"Really!? Oh…I mean…really?" She said springing up from her chair into the air before coming back down with a blush so strong I thought she was suffocating at first. I looked at her with an awkward smile as she began burying herself in her chair.

"Yeah, so what was the second question?" I asked causing her to emerge her head from the chair but just her head. I looked at her and chuckled a little at her actions.

"Well… I wanted to ask if… you…umm wanted to… (inaudible whispers)?"

I lifted one eyebrow as my response, I didn't hear at all what she said last, but I knew what the question was all along. I picked myself off the chair and moved over to her chair. She looked up as I placed my hand on her and straightened her body on the chair.

"Of course, I want to." I whispered into her ear. She instantly became overwhelmed by the moment, and extremely flustered. As expected from someone like her. She was a strong reminder of when dad would embarrass mom in front of me, she'd almost lose her head in embarrassment.

"I-I-I... umm…I'm…glad!" She said stuttering over her embarrassment with joy, _I guess the tea must have worn off_. I smiled at her joy before looking out through the window and seeing the setting sun. _I'd say around 7 pm if that time works here._

"Hey Flutters, would you mind if I go out? I need to do something," I asked looking at an open field of grass through the window, which would make a perfect place to relieve some tensions. "Oh, and to add on to that, where can I bathe?"

Flutters hopped off the chair and onto the air to face me, she looked at me as I stared out onto the field of open grass.

"Sure, and about the bathing…you can use my bathing room, it should be large enough for you." She answered. I turned to see Flutters and smiled. I made myself to the door, it was a simple task but the feeling of deserting Flutters in the prime of joy made it a long, slow walk to the door. I swung around once at the door and waved.

"Thanks, Flutters, I will just be doing something to entertain myself," I said as I opened the door. Flutters smiled as she began picking up the tea cups. I smiled back and whispered "take care" in my head. I stepped out on to the evening atmosphere: a soothing cold feeling.

"Now, to head to the field." I said to myself as I began walking to the field, which would take about five minutes to reach from the distance it seemed to be.

I could feel the excitement surrounding my body as the field emerged into my sight. My pace slowly began to pick up as the excitement overwhelmed me until I was at full sprint. There was a feeling of freedom that grew within me as I watched the night begin to take over, I felt alive.

"Alright!" I yelled as landed on to the field and began messing about. Jumping around here, there and letting myself fall for the enjoyment. Hell, I could have been an amazing Parkourist if I had the chance before.

"Ha, alright then." I toned the emotions down as I took in a deep breath and let it out. My body settled with the cold mist of the night and my breathing calmed to slow and gentle intakes.

The night had enveloped the area where I was and the whole of Ponyville, but the moonlight lit up the area wonderfully. I walked over to the middle of the field and began by placing my hand on my sword. I slowly wrapped my fingers around the sword's handle and slid it out, quickly. I threw a swing to my left, then to the right, diagonally, upwards, downwards, and all around.

I had learned how to wield my sword by my own accord. Took a while to get use to is, but once the basics are done, you learn the skill.

I could hear the wind being sliced by the sword as I swung it in all directions, the feeling of being able to swing my sword in any direction was unimaginably satisfying. The excitement I had felt in the beginning was now bursting out of my body, I could feel waves of energy being released from my body with every swing. That wasn't an exaggeration, it was as if I was radiating colorful heat.

The swinging was ceaseless, I felt like I could go all night swinging my sword and not be sore the next day, but even if this was how I felt, my body didn't agree.

After a few minutes, I was finally at such a rhythm, my body was just acting on its own. This went on, until a sudden familiar feeling surrounded me. I froze and stood straight up as I looked around.

"Hello?" I asked but nothing. I looked at my sword and took a deep breath. "Just you and me…"

" _Oh really?_ "

My skin trembled and I gulped as I looked around madly quick. At some point in panic, I decided to slowly process that voice. That voice, was familiar; it was the voice that helped me at Luna's match. I licked my lips and I huffed out a choppy breath.

"Who are you?" I asked in a whisper before hearing a chuckle.

I felt a small spark go off in my mind making me drop the sword and fall to my knees. It was from the intensity of the moment, that I balled up my hand into a fist full of an anonymous anger and struck the ground, cracking the hard dirt layer. I stared at my fist buried into the ground. No pain, No reason, but the ground around me was unleveled now.

"What the fuck was that!?" I whispered as I lifted my hand from the dirt, it was shaking violently as the dirt debris fell off. Sparks began to emerge, connecting each finger electrically, and a dark aura form around my hand. I stood up and looked at my body as the aura began to spread and my hand involuntary formed a dark energy ball, not like the one I produced in Canterlot. I wasn't trying to create anything right now. It was something else making it.

"What is this!?" I asked in a stressed shout, keeping my hand as far away from my face.

"Oh, you seem to have channeled something there, haven't you?"

My mind turned to static as that voice clouded my head. I quickly threw myself away from the voice, landing on my feet with my sword ready to strike. I tried to make out the figure that stood before me but all I saw was a dark-blue blurry spot. I squinted my eyes to try to see if my eyesight would sort out but it failed.

"Who's there!?" I yelled out as I tried to stay on my two feet and keep my sword pointed at the figure. Although, I was wobbling from side to side as my body weakened slowly.

"It's me, Luna, what's wrong with you!?"

"What!?" I exclaimed as I began to violently rub the blurriness out my eyes, but again it failed. The voice was that of Luna's but it didn't feel like Luna was there. I panicked as I trembled with my sword.

"Who are you?!" I asked with a voice that didn't match, the voice was like mine but just _Darker_. I could tell nothing about what was going on was right, first the dark energy emitting from me, now this change in voice.

"Ben!? What's wrong!?"

I could tell the voice that I was hearing was becoming worried and that I wasn't right. I immediately let go of my sword and tried to make out the shape of my hands: Blurry.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?" I yelled desperately. At the same time, I could feel energy overflowing my body, and my body becoming incredibly stiff.

" _I told you I'd be coming out soon…"_

" _WHAT!?"_ I asked mentally. That voice was in my head, it had to be for it to echo so loudly.

I immediately felt all the stress on my body disappear, and my vision return to normal, but I couldn't stop my heavy breathing.

"BEN! Are you alright!?"

I quickly looked up to see Luna and Flutters standing next to me, both with terrified looks. I stared at them with my own terrified expression and gulping down a heavy pain that came from not knowing what just happened.

"Ben! What was that!?" Luna asked as I slowly began standing up. I wobbled a bit but managed to stand tall.

"I don't know, but it was not a migraine, I'll tell you that." I said as I began to make a fist with my hands and bounce a little on my toes to get a feel of balance. I focused my attention on Flutters who was crying and clinging onto Luna. That wasn't the Flutters from back in the house. It felt terrible to look at her like this, it was like betrayal after she invited me to move in and I go and terrify her.

"I'm sorry Flutters, I didn't mean to scare you like that." I apologized. I didn't like the situation I was in, I didn't know what just happened and what was going to happen next. The unknown was terrifying in situations like these. Flutters seemed to lighten up slightly before slowly unclinging from Luna but not fully.

"It's…It's alright, you're okay now, right?" Flutters asked still sobbing quietly, I gently neared Flutters enough to place my hand on her mane and stroke it gently, the soft, smooth feeling of her mane was enough to put me at ease.

"Yeah, I'm sure I'm okay now," I assured her. She didn't waste any time in letting Luna go and clinging on to my neck. I couldn't say I felt as happy as she did, my mind was still wrapped around what happened and the quote I heard in my head: " _I told you I'd be coming out soon…"_

"Coming out soon…" I whispered between the embrace. Flutters let go of me and joined Luna as I studied my body.

"Excuse me?" Flutters and Luna said giving me their attention. I looked at my hand and balled it up, before looking at the two confused ponies in front of me.

"I don't know what that was, but I have a feeling it was a step in the wrong path." I warned causing both the ponies to become highly curious, and near me. I couldn't bring myself to say anything about what's going on, I can only hope this doesn't happen again.

"Listen, I'm sure I'll be fine now, that was just some crazy…something." I said trying to end the discussion on my crazy moment, it worked too since Luna and Flutters sighed in relief. I felt glad to have rid them of worry, and now it was time to get my sword.

I looked at the area where I dropped my sword, the sword was there but something was extremely different. I knelt down beside it along with my two pony followers and we all stared at it.

"What happened to it?" Luna asked

"Why is it glowing like that?" Flutters asked next.

"I have no clue." I said as we all stared at it, fascinated by the sight.

The sword no longer had a plain look to it, it was glowing, pulsing with a dark aura. Its edges became more rigid, and the dragon symbol had moved into a different position. I was amazed by what was happening, the sword seemed to have had been affected by whatever happened to me.

"So, do I pick it up?" I asked looking at both the two ponies. They both just gave me looks of worry. No answer, equals, worried yes.

"Alright then, guess I'll pick it up." I said looking back at the sword and extending my hand out slowly. I could see that Luna and Flutters were on edge, but I continued to reach out my hand.

"Okay, here goes."

I closed my eyes and quickly grabbed the handle of the sword and picked it up: nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes to see the sword in my hand, still pulsing and glowing. Both Luna and Flutters were staring at me with faces that were way too over exaggerated for simple shocked expression.

"Ha! That wasn't so bad." I chuckled as I got off my knee and onto my feet.

"Umm…Ben, I don't want to be the bringer of bad news, but…have you considered looking at yourself?" Luna added staring at me with shock all over, while Flutters had her hooves over her mouth.

"What?" I asked as I began to look at my body. It was pulsating with the same dark aura as the sword and was radiating energy like before.

"Oh shit…well at least it doesn't feel like before," I said, but yet again my voice change to that _darker_ version. I quickly placed my hand over mouth, matching what Flutters had been doing this whole time.

"Ben, your eyes have also changed and your layer has become darker," Flutters said as she flew to me, and Luna took out a small mirror with her magic and handed it to me. I looked at my arms noticing my skin had darkened a bit, and then at the mirror to see my eyes had become a crimson red. I quickly began to feel incredibly distant and I couldn't control my body, but I could feel another presence in control of it.

 **(Going 3rd person point of view, so this can make sense)**

"Finally, told ya I'd come out soon." Said the mysterious person that was no longer Ben as easily noted. Luna and Flutters stared at the mysterious new person, confused and worried as he messed with his fingers and checked how they moved.

"Umm…Ben, are you alright?" Flutters asked backing up to Luna. Luna had an idea about what was going on but didn't react at the moment as she wanted to see more of this new persona.

"Yeah, I'm alright, but don't call me Ben, refer to me as Kusanagi. I've always liked that name, not to mention I fit the appearance." The mysterious person said looking back the ponies with a grin that would make anyone want to shrivel away and hide, especially when his canines where viscously visible in his smile. Flutters backed away a little but Luna kept her position and her head up high.

"Fine, whoever you may be, explain yourself!" Luna demanded with a powerful tone and charging a great amount magic. He looked at her and increased the length of his grin, quickly moving from where he was right next to her, so fast she didn't react.

"Listen, just so you know, I'm a worshipper of killing anyone who tries to wrong me, but since it seems Ben has some sort of liking to you, you can consider yourself…spared by his word," He said with his hand on Luna's mane, Luna quickly turned to face him lost for words. He turned his attention to Flutters who quickly placed her hooves over her eyes, intriguing him. He walked over and knelt down beside her.

"HEY! YOU GET AWAY FROM HER."

"You're Fluttershy, aren't you?" He asked ignoring Luna and shaking Flutter's head a little. Flutters lowered one hoof to look at him, and quickly covered her eye again.

"Y-yes…" She answered, trembling in pure fear. He smiled slightly and harmlessly pet her head before standing back up and nodding his head. He did have it in him to harm anyone, but that was far from possible when Ben was too attached to these ponies. And not to mention, he wouldn't harm anyone who hasn't wronged him or Ben.

"You're also someone Ben has strong feelings for." He said walking away and positioning himself in an area where both Flutters and Luna could see him. He looked to the moon and stared at it.

"But as I said, there's a problem in which I need the both of you to listen too." He firmly said, balling his fist and hunching over slightly. Flutters cautiously removed her hooves from her eyes and Luna lifted her head.

"Okay, well then, now that I've I got your attention…" He said causing the dark aura from before to surround him. Luna and Flutters stared at him more intrigued than before, but still kept their caution.

"I'll inform you lightly about what's going on," He said standing straight and crossing his arms, both ponies couldn't do anything but listen.

"I'm Ben to a degree, but not the one you know, I'm his sorta merciless, demonic, and blood thirsty side…or in other words, his Demon." He chuckled.

"WHAT!?" both Luna and Flutters yelled causing him to grin again.

"His demon, surprised?"

"SO, YOU'RE THE ONE ME AND MY SISTER FELT BACK AT TWILIGHT'S HOUSE!" Luna yelled, recalling how both her and her sister assaulted Ben for this guy. She couldn't be anymore pissed at this _Demon_ for making her attack someone innocent, but what more could she do?

"Right, I'm the demon that can kill even the strongest of gods! Well, try to, at least, haven't even tried to yet." He chuckled. Luna and Flutters backed one step back at such a crazy statement.

"Gods?" Luna asked expressing her confusion. He nodded and aimed a finger at her.

"You'll find out later, and another thing, this you might want to remember." He said lowering his grin to a serious look, causing Luna to pay close attention.

"Just trust me on this, a great evil will befall this land and even more will come after that, I've been getting these small signals of danger since yesterday, and I can only say they've been getting closer, slowly but it's something to keep an eye on." He said, waiting her a response.

"What!?" Luna let loose her outrage, not buying it. "You expect me…us to trust you!? After taking over Ben's body? Scaring us all? AFTER LEARNING YOU'RE A DEMON!?"

He stared at her, wondering if she was serious before nodding.

"Fine, but if my hands end up bloody, don't say I didn't warn you." He said closing his eyes and inhaling a large amount of air. Ben's body began to glow brightly as it reverted back to its normal form.

(Switching back to 1st person)

"Are you two alright!?" I asked as I slowly began to recall everything I had just heard. Luna and Flutters both seemed to have some mental reprogramming going on. I took in some air and looked up to the sky.

Any sane person would freak out and almost call a bluff. But after this day and all the madness within it, should I really be surprised?

"A demon…" Luna whispered to herself and I turned over to her quickly.

"Why is this happening?" Flutters followed and I gulped.

"Well…I've lived to serve and protect before, and I guess I'll have to live up to my purpose again…" I smirked looking up onto the moon that was past halfway across the night sky. My smirk only lasted until I realized what I was saying.

"Holy shit…"

 _Somewhere deep inside Ben's mind, someone is saying something at the same time as Ben_.

" _Well, I'm a demon, and I guess I'll have to live up to my purpose as well…"_ The voice chuckled as it faded away.

" _Holy fuck_ …"


	9. Chapter 9 - A Guardian Demon

#9

"HEY! CALM DOWN!"

That got their attention quickly but each one had different reactions to my demand. Flutters calmed down, or did her best to, but the one next to her was about to bury me alive. Luna didn't seem to be taking my presence too kindly, her face represented enough anger as it is and the fear of her going off was enough to make me consider twice about opening my mouth again. She trotted up closer to me and leaned her head closer to mine, staring at me with eyes of intense suspicion.

"Luna, what are you doing?" I asked her. she didn't budge or blink.

"Luna, stop that."

"… (Staring Intensifies)"

I slowly began to back away but before I could even move an inch away she sprang up on her hind hooves and placed her front hooves on my chest. She had the same look in her eyes but my mind was more wrapped around, " _What the fuck is going on!?_ "

"I'll tell you what's going on…YOU HAVE A DEMON INSIDE YOU!" She yelled shocking me with her loud voice. I quickly placed my hands over my ears, hearing her voice bouncing around inside my ears.

"Gahh! Damn! I think I'm deaf!" I yelled as my ears felt like folding in on themselves. Compared to Lyra, Luna's shout was deafening and ear rupturing.

"No! You're part demon!" She fought back. I growled as I looked down at her eyes directly.

"THEN DON'T YELL IN MY EARS!" I yelled back nearly losing my balance, as I tried to keep my head as far away from hers to keep her from falling on me. My head was beginning to hurt from all the yelling, I could feel the energy drain from legs and upper torso. My body began to slowly lean backward and my mind went blank soon right after.

"Oh shit…" I sighed.

"What?"

Thump*

"Oh…that's what you meant." Luna said with a slight blush across her face, I, on the other hand, didn't know if I should move her off me or let her get off on her own. She was on me, chest to chest and face to face. After a few seconds, no one moved. I lifted an eyebrow as I was left to believe she wasn't ever gonna get off. I began moving my hands around trying to find a way to remove her. Although, without the intention of getting her off, I ended up looking like I was just feeling her body and caressing her soft fur.

"Umm…what are you trying to do?" Luna asked with her blush increasing to the next stage of red. I quickly stopped exploring ideas and froze. " _WHAT AM I DOING!?_ " I asked myself in my head as I looked at my hands and figured they've basically been moving around her for the past few seconds.

"I…uh…I'm not…I mean…" I didn't have any words to explain myself, but I guess Flutters did.

"I think he wants you to get off him," Flutters quietly pointed out looking away but at times glancing at us. Luna immediately flew off me and to my side. I could feel a wave of relive hit me but at the same time I could feel disappointment.

" _Aww_ … _she's so cute when blushing…"_

Cute!? What are you on about!?" Luna questioned giving me an embarrassed look, I immediately flipped myself onto my feet and stared at Luna with a shocked look. I swear I didn't say anything, but Luna made it seem as if she heard my thought.

"Are you reading my mind or are you just that good at reading expressions? How do you know what I'm thinking!?s" I asked thinking about what a mind-reader she is. Luna looked away with an angered look covering over her embarrassment and Flutters flew upwards next to me and looked at me with a strange look.

"Yes, I do have the ability to read your thoughts and to even communicate telepathically." Luna answered, causing me to rethink about being too close to her. She'd read anything in my head and that wasn't a good thing considering I'm me. I backed up a few steps for my mental security.

"Alright…that's interesting, but you seemed to be a but mad about my case." I said trying to get rid of what just happened by distracting her, even though my mind was still twitching over what I just said in my mind. I stared at Luna as she answered me but my head was stuck between how soft her body was and how she was so warm. It was hard to avoid thinking when I wanted to test out this mind reading some more.

" _Damn, she's so soft and warm_ … _oh, I'm so fucked._ "

Luna quickly looked away with her blush refusing to diminish, I easily took notice as I began rubbing my head trying to get rid of those thoughts, although I think it just made it worse.

"Stop reading my mind, Luna!"

" _I wonder what she would feel like in bed?_ "

"LUNA, IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!" I exclaimed placing my hands out, as the Lunar pony began to stare at me with easily the most tear-jerking look of embarrassment. she looked as if she was about to full-on cry of embarrassment.

"DON'T CRY PLEASE! I'M SORRY FOR THINKING ANY OF THAT, IT'S JUST YOU'RE…"

I stopped myself from using my voice to say anything like this.

" _Special in a way_ _…_ "

I finally gave up on saying anything and let my mind say the rest. I could feel my feelings go in all directions, ripping my conscience apart. Luna stood in her spot as I began to drop to my knees and my hands, I knew she had been listening this whole time to my crazy thoughts. Something firmly grabbed my shirt and lifted me with force.

" _Just kill me now if you want…"_

"No, that the last thing I want to do."

I gulped and cleared my throat.

"Really?"

"Ben, I've treated you like a fool since you got here, I put you in danger, I attacked you, and not I've even invaded your privacy…you're not an object and I've ignored that. " Luna said lifting my torso up with her magic, allowing me to face her eye to eye. She didn't maintain her eye contact too well, but it was enough to let me know she took kindly to what I had been thinking: how?

"N-no, it's alright, you've just been critical-

"NO! After I turned you down in Canterlot, I didn't feel right. So, I came to find you," She said with blush so deep it was suffocating. "And I don't know why, but…I…I…just…just accept this from me!"

I immediately felt a huge push on the back of my head and a warm sensation fill my body as I felt her lips press on to mine. My eyes widened in shock and my body fully deactivated, as I just went along with the moment. _Holy fuck_. It felt like minutes had passed but it really was just seconds, until she released me from her magical grasp. She still had her blush, but with a smile this time, I felt my shocked expression turn into a smile, as small chuckles escaped my mouth. We stood there staring at each other until.

" _I'm truly fucked…aren't I?"_ I asked myself mentally and thankfully, it didn't seem like Luna was in my head again.

" _I am._ "

"Funny…" I laughed gently.

Off the corner of my eye I could see a certain yellow pony take steps back, nervously and fearfully.

"I…I need to go!" Flutters quickly said darting off, me and Luna immediately broke our gaze and looked off to see her leaving. I quickly reach out my hand half way in her direction and opened my mouth to stop her but nothing came out.

"Fluttershy…" Luna whispered as she stared at the ground, and then at the moon being past midnight.

"Oh no…"

"What is it?"

"Ben, you must check on Fluttershy, my sister will be looking for me if I don't return before sunrise...we'll see each other again! I'll make sure of it!" Luna said as her horn began to glow, I looked back at Luna as she disappeared with a flash leaving me alone with the neon moon.

"Will do…" I said as I quickly picked up my sword, which was now in its normal form, and made my way to Flutters home at full speed, not a single thing taking my mind off what had happened. My mind was trying to understand it, from the dark and evil that was apparently my inner demon, to Flutters running off. Deep down I knew why she ran away like that and I had no idea how I was gonna fix the situation.

Flutters invited me to stay at her home which wasn't for no common reason. I knew so. It was almost, if not, betrayal what I had just done. What have I done?

I made it back to Flutters home in no time but the house seemed to have everything turned off. The fact that everything was off didn't stop me from trying to get to her. I quickly walked up to the door and tried to push it open but it didn't budge. After a few tries, the door still wouldn't budge open and guilt quickly filled me as I banged my head on her door in frustration.

"Damn it Flutters, why do you have to be like that!?" I whispered as began to slowly back away from her door. I knew she was in there and that she wasn't in the mood, but I couldn't just stand at her doorstep with a guilty conscience all night.

"She's quite sensitive to being left out." A voice that was too familiar spoke out from behind me. I turned around to see the source of the voice and what I saw was something truly all too familiar. The figure that stood was a near replica of me but he just had different features, like his red demon eyes, darker skin, sharp canines, street fighter clothes, and a well tamed hair style, from the look of it, maybe shorter as well. I stared at him with a cold look as I quickly recognized him by the voice.

"What do you want!?" I asked him in a rude manner, he looked at me and then at the house.

"If you want, I could take a look for you, and I already said to call me Kusanagi, respect the name!" He said keeping his eyes on the house with a toothy smirk. I immediately became intrigued by his offer, but to negotiate with a demon sounded like a crime and I just found out about him not ten minutes ago.

"Why would you want to help me? Aren't demons supposed to persuade the good into doing evil deeds? " I asked again hoping to find his catch in all this. He didn't hesitate in giving me an answer as he somehow levitated to a window and closed one eye and looked through the window with the other.

"Well yeah, but you see, I'm your demon, so it's my duty make sure you remain alive and provide assistance when necessary, all most like a…Guardian Demon." He said a grin grew on him and he chuckled at whatever he was seeing through the window. Somehow, everything that came out his mouth made total sense while sounding like the craziest thing I've ever heard.

"What the hell does that even mean!?" I asked him.

"Exactly what I said, I'll keep you alive at all costs."

"So, you're not really a threat to my friends?" I asked lowering my shoulders as a sign of trust. I truly felt okay with this, he looked true in all his ways. I had a bullshit siren in my head that wasn't going off, I relied heavily on my personal opinion.

"Nah, but if I have to, I'll be one." He said continuing to look through the window. I thought about him and the fact that he wasn't actually a threat to anyone, but what surprised me was that he was somehow meant to protect me and that I own him in some way. I didn't want to trust him logically but personally, he doesn't seem to be lying according to my conscience.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." I said as my evil stare faded into a friendlier one, he immediately took notice and chuckled back. I would have never had expected any of this, but now that it's happened I'm glad to know I have someone to talk too that at least resembles a human.

"So…you're the voice in my head?" I asked and he quickly chuckled before nodding.

"How'd ya guess? But yeah, and so far I've saved your ass, only once" He grinned back before looking down at me. I looked up at him before nodding and slightly smiling. "Thanks."

He smirked and looked back into the window.

"You know, I think Flutters will be alright." he said dropping onto the floor from the window. He used the similar nickname I used for her. I looked at him as he walked up to me, curious about what he saw.

"How do you figure?" I asked him. He aimed his finger at the house with a friendly smirk.

"Listen to me, she just needs a more…physical "love" shown to her, she's lonely," He answered as he went on to make an energy blade with his hand and carefully picked the lock on the door. _Damn! Demon Magic!_ I stared at him curiously before he smiled.

The door clicked open.

"Woah…"

"You might wanna try out that "Love" thing," He said slowly opening the door and giving me the "go" to move on in. I slowly walked in to see that everything wasn't actually off and that the kitchen light was on. I looked back to Kusanagi to see him giving me a soldier's goodluck farewell, as he morphed into an aura and flowed right into me. It was a strange feeling, I could actually him flow into me and add firmness to my body.

"Uh…Thanks," I whispered as I looked up to Flutter's room and walked over the door slowly. I couldn't imagine what I was going to do but I knew I had to somehow apologize and make her feel more "loved". The thought of actually trying to convey such an action was intense and that's if she even wanted to speak. I slowly placed by hand on the door that lead into her room and took a big breath before knocking.

"Hey, Flutters, are you alright?"

She didn't answer but what slowly emerged from the door was a small sob. It was expected but not what I wanted to hear.

"Please don't cry, come on Flutters, I can't even think straight with you ignoring me like this!" I explained looking at the door.

This time my words did reach out, the door slowly began to creak open as her face came into sight. Her look represented a million emotions, but her tears were spears into my heart, how did I even manage to make her cry? I've tried to avoid this at all costs. I couldn't stand to see her crying, it was like watching a suffering child and standing idle.

"How did you get in?" She faintly whispered. I squatted down next to the door and tried to come up with something.

"When I'm worried about someone, nothing is an obstacle…but I didn't break your door, just so you know." I said giving her a small, but meaningful smile. She didn't have any choice but to smile back. She slowly began to open the door even more until she emerged from the room. She seemed to be a little embarrassed but that's usual, what wasn't usual was the look in her eyes: It seemed to whisper something that I couldn't understand.

"I'm…sorry!" She squeaked out, immediately throwing her hooves around my neck and hugged me tightly. _That's probably what they were whispering_. She didn't stop in letting more tears come out, but this type of crying wasn't wrong, it was relieving. I couldn't stop myself from returning the favor and tightly hugging her back.

"Hey, Flutters, don't think I don't love you, because I do, okay?" I said releasing her from my hands as she did the same. She gave me a small smile followed by a nod that indicated good things to come. I gave her my own smile as I wiped away her tears with my hands. We spent a small moment there as we calmed down and exchange our smiles before it clicked in my mind that I probably need to stop staring.

"Uh…sorry for what happened out there, scaring you and making you feel uncomfortable," I apologized before she looked away.

"I was just a bit overwhelmed." She said and I giggled.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She thought deeply before showing me her post sobbed look. "You…like me, right?"

How could I say no?

"Of course, I do, I wouldn't have rushed back here if I didn't."

"Then no, I'm happy with that."

I sighed and nodded before realizing the time.

"I…I should go take that shower now and head to sleep." I said getting up to my feet and looking at the direction the bathroom was shown to me earlier. Flutters looked up at me, before telling me how to function the bathroom: Although, I already knew how to work a bathing room but to be kind, I let her explain.

"Thanks, and sleep well." I thanked as I headed off to the bathroom, she wished the same back before heading off. Once inside, the only things I could recognize in the room was the tub and the sink, pretty human-like if you ask me. The next few things were probably Flutter's personal items but I left those alone for self-explanatory reasons.

"…this is actually more familiar than I thought," I whispered to myself as I began stripping myself of all the clothes I had when the thought hit me hard as fuck. I didn't have any spare clothes.

"I could easily wear the pants, shirt, and boots again, but the socks and underwear would need a replacement," I whispered as I got into the bath tub which was more than big enough for me, but the thought about what I was going to do distracted me. I thought about it for a while, almost meditating, before it finally an idea stuck.

" _Oh! I can't wear them until I wash them, yeah, I'll just wear my pants over my manhood, as for the boots, I can just go barefoot as I wash them!_ " I thought putting my mind at ease with my idea and enjoyed the shower as I turned one of the nobs to begin.

It was a satisfying and well-deserved shower after everything that happened today. I began putting on the pants and being highly careful to not catch _anything_ on the zipper.

"Okay, there we go." I said as I zipped up my pants and balled up my shirt with the rest of the clothes: separating them for tomorrow. I made my way to my room and by the way things looked, Flutters had gone to sleep. Inside my room, I dropped my clothes by the side of the bed and let my body fall on the bed.

"Ahh…" I sighed in relief as the mattress felt like it had a breeze going under it. I quickly felt the need to pass out and I guess that's what happened as I felt my head become lighter and feel blank. As soon as I was about to actually go and fully pass out, a tiny knock jolted me awake. _Huh?_

"Umm…Come in?" I said looking at the door as it slowly opened to reveal the yellow pony with her eyes not looking me directly. She wore a type of sleepwear and had a look that meant she needed something.

"Hey Flutters, you okay?" I asked rotating my body to sit on the bed. She carefully stepped in and hopped on to the bed which made my thoughts go into turmoil. She carefully studied me with an odd look of curiosity as she circled me, she did so until she softly placed her hoof against my chest.

"Oh my, it's smooth…and hard," she said staring to playfully tap my chest with her hoof. I felt an urge to laugh my ass off as she began tapping my stomach, tickling me essentially, but she was completely clueless of her actions. Although, that wasn't like the embarrassment she had already implanted on my face and mind. _Is this what she came in here to do!?_

"So, this is what you feel like." Flutters said as she let me go, allowing me to breathe. I let out a small chuckle as I still felt that effects of her constant tapping.

"Okay, now that that's over, do you need something or did you come in here to tickle me before sleep?" I asked with a chuckle, trying to get to the point in her being with me at the moment. She quickly looked down to the bed sheets and began to stutter over her own words again.

"Oh…yeah…umm…I-I just wanted to…know… if… I…could…well you know, if you let me,"

I didn't understand a single word she was muttering but I knew it was something that would make her act like this, something she wasn't use to.

"It's okay, just ask me," I calmed her, reassuring her that I wouldn't take anything she said wrongly. She must have felt really embarrassed about her question, her blush was even visible in the moon light. She looked at me hanging her head low as she rubbed her hooves together.

"I just wanted to know…If I could…sleep in here…with you?" She said, rubbing her hoof on the bed and with her head looking down in embarrassment. I wasn't at all surprised considering that the demon had actually told me she needed a more "Physical" type of love, and it wouldn't feel right saying no. But not being surprised didn't stop me from feeling all jittery and excited.

"Sure! It's thanks to you I have a roof over my head in the first place." I gladly answered caressing her soft fur with my hand. Her happiness was about as noticeable as her shyness, she quickly moved over to my right side and made herself comfortable.

"T-thanks." She said laying down on the soft mattress. I, as well, laid down and smiled at knowing that Flutters was actually happy compared to before. It was a good feeling, to make someone happy, even if it was in the strangest of manners.

"Don't mention it, I'm sure it gets lonely here from time to time." I said getting comfortable as well, before realizing that I would actually sleep next to someone I was actually fond of. I became lost as I stared at the ceiling thinking about how it would be like in the morning, although I was interrupted by the faint breathing of the pony next to me. It stunned me. I could feel her breath hitting my shoulder, and her hoof gently going over my arm. She somehow managed to near me closer without me taking notice. I took it as a simple gesture of wanting to be close, I had no problem with it.

"Hey, Ben…?"

 _I nearly jumped there, I thought she was asleep._

"Yes?"

I felt her pick herself up to sit on the bed and looked over to me. I turned over to face her but remained laid down as I looked up at her.

"H-how does a kiss feel like?"

I paused before blinking aimlessly at the ceiling and turning back to her. I kinda expected such a question considering the events, but this seemed like the weirdest time to ask it.

"I really don't know, it was so quick I didn't get time to understand it…but it was soft and warm…" I responded looking at her eyes reflecting moonlight as she looked down at me in the dim lit room. I smiled smugly as I get some thoughts about what was going on. "Why?"

"I…was curious…" She nervously reasoned.

I felt comfortable talking with her, and since I felt warm with her presence near, despite it being my second day here, I would actually like to try something. I had some idea of what I was planning but I needed to make sure first it wouldn't kill her with embarrassment.

"You know…we're in bed together, so it wouldn't be strange to try it," I said with a small smile as I placed a hand on her chest fluff.

"W-what? You mean here, alone…?" She asked and I smiled with a nod. She only stared and thought off to a side, gulping and wondering.

"Hey, I'm just as inexperienced as you are, and no one will be around to mock us…" I persuaded with a soft voice that even I was impressed slightly with. My brain was divided between right and wrong, but at the moment they all crossed paths at this point. Flutters shivered as she looked away.

"O-okay…you promise you won't tell?"

"I promise." I said before I felt her body land over mine. She had me face to face, and I was glad to see she was accepting of it. I felt the warmth of her body act on mine as we shared a small moment to look into each other's eyes. I won't lie, I was nervous as all living hell, but the fact that I had privacy with her, assured me I could go about this any way I wanted.

"This is embarrassing…" She giggled.

I smiled as I grabbed her under the mouth gently. "Don't worry about it, it'll pass…"

I pulled her in towards me, and she followed through with it. The trust she had for me, after a short time being here was something, but I wouldn't let it deny this moment. I pressed my mouth gently on hers and felt an instant adrenaline surge through my body as well as comfort, as if I've accomplished something with my life. _I probably did_. It was as if I had been poisoned into numbness, I grabbed her head and pressed tighter as her body heat increased. It didn't take long for my head to go through and in a turn of events, my tongue pierced through her lips and met hers. She shivered for a moment but eventually just let her body join in and loosen.

 _Warm,_ _that_ was the only word surfing in my head. She was amazing. And now that she had gotten into it, I couldn't say if I'd get carried away or hold my ground. How did I get the most timid of them all to do this with me, even after all I've done, said, and shown? I don't know, like I didn't know how I had changed so quickly. I felt her pull back slowly and I showed my respect.

I opened my eyes to find her smile, a blush, and her eyes showing a new feeling. I blushed as well, there was no way I couldn't when she was on top of me with such a smile.

"I didn't know you could use your tongue…" She giggled quietly.

"You learn quick," I chuckled back with a satisfied smile. She looked me in the eyes with satisfaction as placed my hand on her head again. I brought her head down and gently kissed her one on the forehead.

She rested her head on my chest and yawned.

"What will you do tomorrow?"

I didn't plan anything, so I said the first random idea that popped up.

"I guess I'll pay Applejack a visit, but for now let's enjoy the moment," I whispered, closing my eyes and feeling that same way from earlier, but this time joy filled me up as I drifted away into dreamland. I felt her slide off and get comfortable next to me.

"Alright Ben, goodnight, and thank you."

"You're welcome Flutters and thank you too. Goodnight."

 _Hmm…I wonder what bucking trees is like?_


	10. Chapter 10 - Eggs and Toast

#10

"Ben, HEY! Open your eyes!"

I slowly opened my eyes to spot a demon on the far side of the room, he held in his hand a ball of clothes and on the other a wooden pole. It took me a few seconds to rub the blur away from my eyes before recognizing the clothes as mine and that the pole in his hand was actually a sword, a wooden sword.

"What are you doing with my clothes? And what's with the-"

I quickly flinched away as he flung the ball of clothes at my face. I extended my arm and caught the ball before instantly getting the scent of lavender as it polluted the air. "What the?" I began curiously unfolding all the clothes and studying them. Odd, they had all been cleaned and washed of all stains.

"Did you wash them?"

I admired the smell of clean clothes, and when it smells like lavender. He slowly looked to the door which seemed about half open, and from the door I could hear a gentle voice singing. The voice was slow and calming but the fact that it was Flutter's voice gave me a small thing to wonder.

"No, she washed them, seems you impressed last night" He said throwing me my sword, I reacted quickly, reaching my hand out catching it by the handle and placed it down by the bed.

"You…saw that?" I asked a bit timid about him knowing.

"Well what did you want me to do? Look away? Interrupt…Join in?"

"Fine, and how were you even watching us?"

"Through your eyes, I'm inside of you remember?"

That forced me quiet for a moment.

"You mean I'll never have privacy again?"

"As far as I know, no."

I stared at a wall before looking at my sword. He appeared last night and now he was here again, and had done no wrong between that time period, on the contrary, he's been useful. I pondered it, whether to accept he was just another new thing about coming here, or if he came with me from the old world, as outlandish as it was.

"Are you…something that I brought with me from the old world, or are you just something new from this world?" I asked unsheathing the blade halfway. He was silent for a moment.

"I've been with you since birth."

"Birth?" I asked. "So, when I was born, so were you?"

"Exactly, everyone has demons, normal and petty ones, then there are those with big enough ones to show themselves."

"Then why didn't you show yourself back then?"

He looked off to a side and cleared his throat.

"Want me to remind you how many you killed?"

I instantly sheathed the sword with a strong grip.

"That…was you?"

"It was both of our faults, but in the end, we can't change the past, now can we?"

I gulped and agreed. He had a valid point, and one I can't prove wrong. I remained silent for a few minutes, lost in the thought of the lives I've taken before it became to quiet for him. He moved over to my side of the bed kicked my leg gently to get my attention.

"Get up."

I glared at him and he kicked me again, slightly harder this time.

"Don't look at me like that, you were never a lazy guy, get your ass up."

I stared at him some more before I sprang up onto my feet with the ball of clothes in my hand.

"Well then, I guess I'll go change." I said as I proceeded to head to the bathroom, only to be stopped by a heavily placed hand over my shoulder that spun me around.

"You're not going anywhere…without one of these." He said pulling out a toothbrush from his back pocket, I curiously stared at the brush as I took it from his hands and studied it.

"Where did you get this?" I asked feeling the bristles of the brush: stiff. He looked out the window and smiled childishly.

"I took it from a creepy smiling pony, it's new though, and don't worry, she didn't see me." He chuckled making the whole situation sound trivial. I wouldn't condone stealing anything but since it was necessary, I didn't mind.

"Thanks."

"No Problem." He said throwing himself on the bed. I turned to him and smirked. "You know I'm confused as fuck about you, right?"

He shrugged before smiling, laying on the bed and looking at the ceiling. "Yeah, but you won't question it, just take me for who I am; your demon."

I looked at him before sighing. "Whatever, but we're gonna have to talk at some point, you were the reason I got thrown against a wall on the first day."

"They were being assholes! Now go and change!" He ordered. I left the room feeling rather jittery inside, maybe it was after last night, and Flutters. I smiled as I entered the room and looked at my smile in the mirror, he actually made me laugh. This was a new me, one that I'm proud of, and don't have to worry about. I sighed as I laid out the clothes in front of me.

I opened the bathroom door, fully attired and headed back to the room to check on the demon. I slowly walked back thinking about how life was going as of right now: ponies, a demon, magic, friends: It was out of a dream. The fact that I have a demon by my side, talking ponies that are cute, magical power, and having friends, was all too new for me, yet, I wouldn't I have it any other way.

Before I knew it, I was at the door with the strange feeling that something was off. Flutters had stopped singing and she didn't seem to be active. I quickly turned to the door that was now fully opened and showed the shadow of a small pony and a taller figure, I could only assume the worst as I slowly crept to the room.

The first thing that came into sight was Flutters who was looking up at Kusanagi, while her whole body shivered in fear. He on the other hand, just stared down at her with cluelessness shown across his glare, both didn't look away from each other. I quickly concealed myself on the other side of the door and watched what happened.

"B-Ben, you…ch-changed again." Flutters shivered slowly backing up, Kusanagi slowly placed his hands ahead of himself in caution and began to slowly back, back onto the bed. Despite him showing no threat, he held a straight, serious glare on him as he backed up.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, I've said that already, haven't I?" He said sitting back down on the bed, Flutters stopped backing up but remained alert. I would have intruded by now but I wanted to see how he would handle this and if it gets out of hand, I'll go in. I figured this would be a small test of his word.

"Yes, I-I remember, but you threatened Luna and you're a-a demon…and you got Ben hurt!" Flutters reminded him, backing even more but she quickly hit the wall behind her and stared intensely at him. I wanted to step in right now but immediately stopped when Kusanagi got off the bed and walked over to her slowly. He got close enough for her to react by placing her head down with her hooves over her eyes, he didn't do anything for a few seconds until a grin appeared on his face.

"I did and I am, but even if that's true, I wouldn't hurt you for one or two reasons," he said reaching down and picking up Flutters, she quickly removed her hooves and stared at him, confused and terrified out of her mind. He lifted her up to the sunlight shining through the window to see her clearly. I was as shocked as Flutters was by his actions but something was telling me this will end well, so I stood my ground.

"W-what are the one or two reasons?" Flutters asked in a quieter than a mouse whisper looking down at him, nervous out of her mind. He chuckled a little before bringing her down and sitting on the bed with her in his hands and on his lap.

"For one: Ben has vouched to protect you and everypony, so I must, in some way, also do the same." He said, still keeping Flutters in his hands with a firm grip. Flutters didn't react at the instant but her attitude changed, her look gave it away.

"A-and what's two?" she asked looking at the silhouette made by him. He quickly turned Flutters around to face him, she looked at him wide-eyed as he stared into her eyes.

"Two: For a demon, I'm not as bad as I look." He chuckled finally allowing Flutters to go free, she didn't seem to know whether to trust him or not but I could tell she wanted to believe him, _I would after that_. _Not as bad as he looks when he looks like me_. I smiled as I accepted his words.

"That sounded about right." I said finally emerging from the back of the door, startling Flutters causing her to jump into the air while Kusanagi smiled at my sight.

"About time you showed." He said getting to his feet, grabbing his wooden sword and walking up to me. I smiled at his gesture and turned my attention to Flutters who was as about as lost as ever.

"If you're Ben, then, who are you!?" She asked pointing her hoof at me then at him, we gave a quick glance at each other before he aimed his thumb at himself.

"I'm Kusanagi, Ben's demon, and he's Ben, but you already knew that." He said twirling the wooden sword, on the other hand, Flutters slowly floated over to me, keeping her eye contact on him.

"Is he really not going to hurt anypony?" Flutters asked in a whisper. I could tell Kusanagi wasn't the type to hurt innocents but he was the type to be daring over anything, aside from that, he really wasn't a threat as far as I've seen.

"I trust him, and don't worry about him hurting anyone, he'll probably hurt anyone who tries to hurt us." I said with a smile, petting her head. She seemed to relieve some of the stress in her but still kept her caution up. Kusanagi took kindly to my trust in him. He picked up my sword and handed it to me.

"Thanks." I grabbed it and putting it onto my waist. I didn't know how I was going to explain this to everyone else, but for now I'll enjoy his company. Flutters seemed to improve her view on him from his actions and landed back down onto the floor.

"Oh yeah, and about your vest, I put it away, along with all the weapons in there, don't worry though, they're safe." He said looking at my torso. I didn't notice I didn't have it on, but I had to admit I felt way lighter and comfortable knowing it wasn't on me.

"Thanks, I wasn't gonna use it that much anyway, not like there's any wars going on here." I thanked him. He laughed a bit before looking away and nodding.

"Hopefully." He said ominously, triggering my gust of questions which Flutters halted with her sudden uprising of joy.

"How about I make breakfast, um…what would you like?" Flutters turned to the new company, quickly getting his attention. He swirled around and glared suspiciously at her.

"Break…fast?" Kusanagi asked with his hand under his chin. I quickly turned my attention to him along with Flutters, both of us had equally confused expressions as we looked at him.

"Yes…breakfast, the food you eat in the morning." I said trying to make sense of his confusion.

"Hmmm…" He hummed nodding his head in agreement but not saying a word.

"Have you ever had breakfast? Food?" Flutters asked nearing him with a puzzled look. He shook his head with a hand on his chin.

"No…I've never tasted food before, I've tasted blood though, it's quite nasty." He said, looking at the floor, seriously trying to comprehend food.

"Yeah…that really isn't breakfast." I corrected, walking up to him and getting next to Flutters, who look a little disturbed by his answer.

"Umm…I can make you some eggs and toast instead, right?" Flutters asked with a faithful smile. K nodded before finally dropping his hand from his chin.

"I know what eggs and toast are but…what does it taste like exactly?" He asked, looking straight down at Flutters. I could tell Flutters was becoming anxious from her terrified smile. K had a strong stare and it wasn't like mine at all, it was deeper and more bone chilling.

"Hey, why not find out?" I said distracting him from Flutters, he turned his attention away from Flutters causing her to let out a sigh of relief. He smirked before smacking a fist into his palm almost as if ready to go into a brawl.

"OKAY, LETS GO EAT SOME EG-!"

"FLUTTERSHY!"

Everyone immediately became silent and didn't move when the house door swung open. I quickly recognized the voice of that of a southern accent pony. Kusanagi quickly drew his wooden sword and put it up in an attacking position, while both me and Flutters stared at each other, each one signaling each other to go check on the guest and rejecting it each time.

"FLUTTERSHY?! WHERE ARE YA?!"

Flutters gave a quick sigh as she slowly peeked out the door before fully exited the room. Her face was enough to put me on edge and retract myself away from the door.

"Oh…hey Applejack, you don't look so happy." She nervously chuckled with the same terrified smile from earlier. Kusanagi and I both threw ourselves behind the bed and peeked over it cautiously as we both gave each other a share of our confusion.

"OF COURSE I AIN'T HAPPY, SOMEPONY CUT DOWN ONE OF OUR TREES!" She yelled, I could tell Flutters was gonna have a hard time calming her down, but that didn't grab my attention as much as the sword that Kusanagi had in his hands. I glared at him.

"You had something to do with that, didn't you?" I asked, he didn't answer but instead immediately placed his sword away into a holster behind his back that I didn't notice before and put on an annoyed look.

"She doesn't so sound friendly!" He exclaimed rolling himself across the bed and running towards Flutters, I had no choice but to go after him.

"HEY YOU STOP THAT YELLING, I NEED SOME DAMN EGGS AND TOAST AND YOU'RE IN THE WAY!" He yelled sliding out the room with his finger pointed at Applejack. I quickly slid out the door along with him and stared at Applejack who had her mouth hanging in shock and anger.

"Who the hay are you!?" Applejack asked giving him a frustrated look. He didn't take her actions too kindly as he immediately balled his fists and gave her his own stare, the only difference between his stare and hers is that his is a death stare by default. Applejack flinched her body upon looking into his eyes directly and backed a step.

"You must be Applejack, no?" he chuckled. "You're a very lucky pony, you would've been nothing but ashes, if it wasn't for your relation to Ben." He taunted letting his fingers open and close in anxiety and his to-be famous grin appear. I wasn't at all surprised by his choice of words, but Applejack was, as she quickly lowered her anger to a shocked look. Flutters was about as equally shocked but she didn't express it in her face but in her shaking.

"Darn, ya don't have to be like that!" Applejack said back, but Kusanagi wasn't going to take that, he instead crouched down in front of her and drew the wooden sword from his back, showing it to her. I could immediately feel that this wasn't going to end well and so did Flutters, she practically covered her entire face.

"Listen, your tree isn't there anymore, but instead you can have a look at this here wooden art and finery!" he said sounding like a game show host announcing a prize. Applejack's anger immediately showed as she grabbed him by the collar with her hooves and pushed her head to smack on his.

"YOU CUT DOWN MY TREE FOR A TOY!?" She yelled but it had no effect on him, he instantly grabbed Applejack and picked her up and placed her to his side locking her with his elbow. I quickly took a step forward but was immediately stopped when he stuck his hand out to my face.

"HEY, PUT ME DOWN!"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, but instead I want to show you why I cut your tree down!" He said flicking the sword in front of him. I never noticed the design on the sword till now, it wasn't an easy project to complete. The sword looked like mine, but its design was completely different. His had a sun on one side and a crescent moon on the other side, immediately sparking my interest in why he would choose such a design.

"Okay-okay, just put me down, please," Applejack said lowering her anger to disappointment. He just chuckled and opened his arm causing her to fall to the floor awkwardly. She pouted and sat down next to Flutters who tried to comfort her but she wasn't in the mood to be comforted.

"Alright then, show me what ya did…" Applejack demanded, sighing at the end and putting a saddened look on. I glanced over at her and my curiosity lowered slightly at seeing her disappointment but only slightly.

"Hey, Applejack, I'm sure your tree was put to good use, let's just hear him out." I said lowering my hand to stroke her mane but immediately retracted it when she sprang up and rapidly looked at me and Kusanagi.

"What the hay?! Who… yer… WHO'S THAT?!" Applejack yelled switching her sight between me, Kusanagi, and Flutters. "They didn't tell me Ben had a twin, a rude one though."

Kusanagi looked at me and I at him, as Flutters grabbed Applejack's attention and turned her to face us. He didn't waste time in holstering the wooden sword which was still making my mind itch, apart from that it also seemed to put me in a state of caution. I dismissed my thoughts as he spoke.

"Now listen, at some point I'll have to introduce myself to everypony but I don't want you all getting ahead and introducing me before I do, got it?" He said giving us the same "or else look" I have. Both Flutters and Applejack nodded obediently, I, on the other hand, chuckled as he placed his hands together and grinned.

"Alright…now we will discuss this over some eggs and toast." he said, switching to a calm tone, immediately disappearing from our sight leaving me along with the two ponies beside me surprised.

"Where did he go?" Flutters asked as she looked around moving her head side to side while Applejack and I looked at the location where he was standing before disappearing.

"He's gone?" Applejack added on using her hoof to lift her hat to scratch her head.

"Oh…he's here, He-!" I began but was quickly interrupted when his voice emerged from another part of the house.

"I don't think this is as an egg, but hey, it on the plate."

"What?" We all said running before looking over the edge of a wall to see the demon holding in his hands a small bunny who was trying to break from his grip. I stared at him in disbelief realizing he would eat a bunny alive as he neared the bunny to his open mouth, the bunny covering its eyes and shaking violently in fear. Before I could say anything to stop him from eating it, I heard Flutters scream from behind me.

"EEEKKKK! DON'T EAT ANGEL, HE ISN'T AN EGG!" Flutters yelled quickly stopping him from nearly chomping down on the poor little bunny. If she had stopped him a nanosecond later, that bunny would have been decapitated for sure. He quickly stopped and pulled the bunny away from his mouth and stared at it with a confused and angered look.

"Why didn't you tell me you weren't an egg!?" He asked, waving a finger at the bunny, the bunny as well giving him an angered look with its arms crossed. I couldn't wrap my head around everything that was happening but I now learned something new: Kusanagi isn't that smart when it comes to identifying things. I revealed myself along with Applejack and walked up to Kusanagi who had been staring the bunny down. The bunny was also staring up at him with a stare that matched his exactly. Kusanagi finally had it when the bunny stuck its tongue out in a tease.

"THIS BUNNY WANTS TO DIE!" He yelled putting the bunny down and quickly drawing his hands forward and aiming them at the bunny. I quickly recognized the position of his and rushed over to stop him as sparks began to form around his hand and a dark energy ball appeared.

"FINAL!"

"WHAT!?" Flutters and Applejack yelled as they threw themselves to cover, while "Angel" hopped away.

I quickly got in front of his attack and balled my hand swinging it into his stomach causing him to gag as he cringed his fingers. He quickly reacted the same way, he balled his hand and buried it into my stomach as well causing us both to stand there with pain pulsing throughout our bodies.

"DAMN! YOU HIT HARDER THAN I EXPECTED!"

"DAMN IT BEN! I COULD'VE ENDED IT IF YOU HADN'T GOTTEN IN THE WAY!"

We both pushed ourselves away from each other holding our areas of impact and laughing the little air our lungs had left, insanely.

"You watch yourself K," I said, addressing him with a new name. "Or I'll hit you harder next time, Hehe…"

"Next time you'll take that Final Flash to your gut dumbass!" He said as we grinned at each other, and awkwardly fist bumped at the end. I honestly had never taken an open punch to the stomach so forcefully but it felt like a burning flame in my body had been given an overload of fuel and I could tell that K felt the same way by his grin.

"Is it safe to come out?"

I quickly turned my attention to the two ponies and bunny peeking over the table with wide eyes. I instantly remembered what had happened before we ended up with a printed fist on our shirts and gave K the slap of his life behind the head causing him to rub and stare at me.

"What the hell man!? I thought we were even!?" he exclaimed giving me a gentle punch on the shoulder.

"EVEN!? YOU TRIED TO KILL A BUNNY! NOT ONLY THAT, YOU COULD HAVE KILLED THE FLUTTERS AND APPLEJACK YOU DUMBASS!" I shamed him back, whacking him again behind the head again. He immediately became defensive and came back at me.

"I JUST WANTED SOME EGGS AND TOAST, THAT BUNNY NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT NOT BEING EDIBLE AND HE'S AN ASSHOLE TOO!" He yelled back whacking me behind the head causing me to rub my head in pain.

"HOW THE ACTUAL FUCK DO YOU MISTAKE A BUNNY FOR AN EGG!?" I said locking his head with my elbow and rubbing his head violently.

"HEY BEN!" K yelled from his locked position.

"WHAT!?" I yelled holding him in place.

"FINAL!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

"STOP FIGHTING YOU TWO BEFORE I THROW YOUR BREAKFAST FOOD AWAY!"

"WHAT!?" We both exclaimed looking up at Flutters.

… _oh shit_ …

Both our eyes widened and we instantly stopped and froze, as we looked up at Flutters who had an angered look that sent chills down both our spines. We immediately let go of each other and sat down on the kitchen chairs, giving her our maximum attention.

"Oh my…I didn't mean to scare you two." She said losing her angered expression and picking up Angel, holding him tightly. I let go of my breath along with K and placed our heads down on the table.

"Wow…ya got that fancy magic like Ben!" Applejack exclaimed hopping onto a chair across the table, K and I perked up immediately and looked at each other. We gave each other an awkward stare before looking back at Applejack who was cocking an eyebrow.

"You could say that," K started putting his hand out and creating his dark energy sphere. Flutters quickly hopped on a chair to observe him. I acknowledged his gesture and followed.

"But, I guess…I'm kinda like Light," I said placing my hand out and creating my bright blue energy sphere.

"And I'm Dark." K finished, both of us closing our fists making the spheres disappear. Flutters and Applejack gave each other a glance before looking at us.

"OH! Like Princess Luna and Celestia!" Flutters excitedly explained placing both hooves on the table making the table shake.

"Oh yeah! They do kinda have some similarities!" Applejack said slamming her hooves onto the table too, leaving me and K with our hand on our chins, pondering.

"I haven't thought about it that way." I said lowering my hand and looking at the two ponies before turning my attention to K, who had wide eyes staring at the wall behind Flutters. He must have taken it seriously to look so serious.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked reaching my hand out to get his attention, he broke his stare and looked at me with a serious expression and then back at the two ponies in front of us.

"NO! I still have no idea what an egg tastes like!"

"GOD DAMN IT, SOMEONE GIVE THIS DEMON AN EGG!" I ordered.

Flutters rushed over to a refrigerator, that I never noticed before, and swung it open.

"I'll get to it!"


	11. Chapter 11 - Breaking Physics

#11

It wasn't long before K had a plate of eggs and toast in front of him. We all stared at him as he picked up the fork next to the plate and carefully stabbed the eggs. I stood with my back leaning against a wall, a bead of sweat crawling down the side of my face as he managed to finally pick up a piece of egg and looked at it as if he had been threatened. Flutters and Applejack kept their attention on the piece of egg as he neared it to his mouth, his sharp canines being a huge center of attention.

He finally managed to put into his mouth and give it a few munches, but despite him tasting it, he didn't express any feeling.

"So, how is it?" Flutters asked, leaning over the table a little with the best smile she could create. K closed his eyes and gently stabbed another piece of egg and aimed it at Flutters causing her lean away. I pushed myself off the wall and leaned onto the table waiting to hear his opinion, with Applejack also leaning in closer with her ears perked straight up.

"…you wanna know something?" he asked, opening his eyes with a smile lighting up his face, causing us all to become alert, even Angel leaned forward.

"What?" Flutters asked.

"For my first time ever eating food, I'll admit, it went beyond my expectations." He said placing the fork in his mouth and eating the piece of egg with a satisfied smirk. I immediately smiled along with everyone else as he began picking piece after piece and finishing the eggs and toast.

After finishing the meal and drinking some water, which he hesitated to drink for at first, he looked up at me with an all-too curious look. I looked back at him with the same look as he looked around at the ponies who were now looking at him the same way before he turned back to me.

"Hey Ben, do they, by any chance, know about your actual eating habits?" He asked. I didn't get his point at first, but he began to signalize foods with his hands that I knew all too well: Chicken, Ribs, Burgers, and other American favorites. I quickly shook my head and waved at him to lose the idea, but he pressed on it more.

" _Tu sabes, Carne, Pollo, Hamburgesas, no jueges con migo_ (You know, Meat, Chicken, Hamburgers, don't play with me)" He said switching his language to Spanish which caught me off guard but allowed for me to communicate without the ponies knowing anything, h _opefully_.

" _Si lo se, pero a ellas no estàran bien con eso_ (I know, but they might not be alright with it)" I replied back causing him to nod his head in agreement, or so I thought.

"What are y'all two sayin' to each other!?" Applejack suddenly asked, slamming her hooves onto the table, get our attention. Flutters agreed with her as they looked at us two waiting for an answer.

I didn't want to lie again so I waited for K to answer for me but regretted it immediately when he gave a _dumb_ smile. I gave him a stern look but that only made his smile widen. I couldn't explain how much I wanted to punch his face in when he stuck his tongue out and turned to Flutters who was slightly amused by his actions.

"Hey Fluttershy, did you know Ben has a strange thing for meat?" He said causing Flutters to look down for a moment before getting back up to him, not getting it. I looked at Flutters, who was actually interested in what he had to say, before switching to Applejack who had a worried expression on her face, she probably got it. I refused to look at her and turned my sight back at K. Even If I felt like I could adjust to not eating meat, I honestly would have problems doing so since my meals back then were 95% meat and the other five was anything edible.

"What does that mean?" Flutters asked with her face the slowly began to grow fearful as K turned to me. I didn't like how she was starting to react and coming closer to her new discovery but K was just enjoying himself, preaching about me. I already knew there was no turning back from all the questions that are bound to come and gave up on trying to stop him.

" _Oh well, may as well let him preach_." I thought as I leaned in to hear how he was gonna spill it. He smiled when he noticed me, and extended his arm out for a fist bump.

" _No te preocupes, se lo que hago…mas o menos_ (Don't worry, I know what I'm doing… more or less)." He said giving me a reassuring nod. Somehow, I couldn't find a way to not bump him, it was probably because he was the only one I could actually "Fist" bump.

"Ta bien (Okay)." I said bumping our fists. He immediately turned back to Flutters and Applejack, who were a little more than over-curious, and opened his mouth.

"Okay, to start off, Ben probably has so many secrets that he probably has an album about them, just letting y'all know that now." He said with some excitment. I instantly chuckled a little realizing how right he was, I had plenty for a year's worth of telling, maybe because my life was secret in general. My sight was quickly moved to the ponies who were observing me carefully.

"He isn't wrong." I said with a smirk, looking over to K, who had retracted himself back to his chair and was signaling me to continue with his hand. _Well, I'm bound to get caught either way_. I sighed as I turned to the ponies.

"What K meant earlier was that I'm an Omnivore, you ever heard of it?" I asked giving Flutters and Applejack time to ponder the question. After a few seconds Flutters raised her hoof leaping out of her seat.

"Yeah, Twilight once said something about that, she says it's rare to find one near here!" She said with an excited tone, Applejack added with an agreement. I looked at them more calmly now.

"Oh, so you know about our eating habits?" I asked causing Flutters to float back down with her hoof on the side of her head. My smile grew a little wider as I saw that they had no idea.

"I don't know…" She replied looking at Applejack, who was just as clueless as she was. I cleared my throat and got their attention to reveal the answer to their questions. They all turned to face me.

"Well, an Omnivore is a hybrid between a Carnivore and Herbivore," I explained. They quickly reverted their looks of excitement and looked at the table, still puzzled.

"Carnivore…?" Flutters asked still looking at the table.

"Yeah, Meat, Chicken, that stuff," K said kicking his feet up on the table ledge. Flutters quickly placed her hooves over her mouth in unison with Applejack and Angel. I looked away for a moment before turning back wanting to chuckle at the reaction but I held myself straight: _This was how I expected it to be_.

"Ben…that isn't true…is it?" Flutters asked giving me a look of faith. I hated to have to answer her, especially with her looking at me like that, but I can't just keep building lies anymore.

"It's true." I said straight forward. Flutters and Applejack became too stunned to speak or conversate. I turned my sight to K, he glanced at me before lifting his leg up high to the ceiling.

"HEY!" He yelled slamming his heel straight onto the table, terrifying Flutters and Applejack. Flutters maintained her balance on the chair with her wings but Applejack fell backward and rolled to the wall and Angel fell off the table.

"I thought you said you would accept him for who he is?" K reminded them, lowering his leg and lifting himself off his chair. Flutters looked up to me with her mane covering most of her face, only allowing me to see one of her eyes and a half smile.

"I know and I wouldn't lose trust in Ben, it's just something I didn't expect from him, that's all." She said smiling back at K. He glanced at her for a split second before quickly turning his attention away from her and to me, looking a tab bit uncomfortable. If knew any better, he probably looked straight into her eyes.

"Yeah, I knew that!" He said not looking back at Flutters or Applejack and placed his hand on my shoulder. He whistled a bit before chuckling. He was probably thinking about Flutters and her eyes, no doubt about it.

"Yo, Ben, I've gotta go, see ya!" He said disappearing into his dark sphere and flowing into me. I couldn't feel his presence around me anymore but it was clear he was inside me from the over powering feeling that surged through me. Flutters and Applejack were now next to me and had their casual looks on.

"Hey Applejack, what are you doing today?" I asked, knowing she would respond with a work-based activity. She gently smiled and lifted her hat off the floor, where she had a tumble, and put it on.

"I gotta "Buck" some trees for the morning." She said looking up at me with a hopeful look, meaning she knew I would go to help. I cracked my knuckles and smiled.

"Alright then, I need to pay you back for your tree anyway." I said returning back the smile.

"Great, we've got enough time to do it before noon!" She announced with her joy popping.

"Nice!" I chuckled at her joy. I looked back at Flutters who gathered a satchel from a corner and placed it on her back. She was going places.

"I need to go get some things!" She said, loading some coins into a pocket of the satchel. I smiled and nodded.

"Alright then, I guess we're all off, bye Flutters!" I said dismissing myself and going through the door of the house to expose myself to the world. The weather was perfect like the days before, but I tell the weather would get stormy later on: I've always had this knack for predicting the weather and I've never failed at it. Applejack got ahead of me and signaled me to follow and we walked off.

We walked far, and after walking for about twelve minutes, I decided to test my luck with the weather on Applejack.

"Hey, Applejack, wanna play a little game?" I asked looking straight ahead of me, despite her turning to face at me. She, of course, had her eyebrow higher than the other as she stared at me.

"Umm…yeah, sure, what's the game?"

"Well, I'm just gonna test my luck against your knowledge." I said chuckling, still looking forward, even so, I could tell Applejack was confused.

"Yer gonna do what?" She asked. I guess she doesn't get smart talk. "Exactly, listen to this," I said pointing my finger to the sky and squinting at it.

"Do you have any idea when it's gonna rain?" I asked finally looking down at her, she gave me an awkward look before sighing.

"Not for a few weeks, according to the Princesses. We had a tiny drizzle yesterday though but Dash was busy watching you go at that guard." She said turning her focus to the sky. I grinned widely and chuckled loudly.

"The princesses word against mine, oh boy! This is gonna get interesting." I said sparking Applejack's curiosity, she quickly inquired about what I meant. I just gave a quick glance to the sky and started walking backward to face her while still continuing on the way.

"You see, I can tell it's gonna rain tomorrow in the afternoon." I informed causing her laugh to herself strongly and shake her head in amusement. I found her faith in me amusing. My smile grew wider with every second of her laughing at my talent.

"I know yer daring, but not insane!" She laughed, huffing huge breaths of air and wiping away a tear or two. I shook my head and twirled myself around to face in the same direction as her.

"Okay then, wanna bet on it?" I asked growing a grin but Applejack wasn't fazed one bit.

"Sure, and ya wanna know what?"

"What?" I responded hoping for a good prize.

"If ya win, I'll let you do as ya please with me, not that you'll win anyways." She said way too over confident, her words made my mind go to some places where it shouldn't be but that just made me more tempted to bet.

"Okay, and if you win, you can do what you want with me, how about it?" I said betting my own body on the line but I guess it was the right approach since she stopped and raised her hoof to me. I knelt down and placed my hand around her hoof and gripped it firmly.

"Deal!" We said in unison and continued on the way to her place.

(A few minutes later)

" _Someone told me long ago,"_

"What?"

" _There's a calm before a storm, I know!"_

"What are yer singin'?"

" _It's been comin' for some time, when it's over so they say, it'll rain a sunny day, I know! Shinin' down on that water!"_

" _I want to know! Have you ever seen the rain?_ "

I continued my rendition of "Have you ever seen the rain?" by Clearwater Revival, it was one of the songs I could sing very well and use in a time like this. I could tell that Applejack was impressed despite not wanting to take the taunt. We continued down the path to her home and in perfect timing too, since I reached the last lyrics of the song when we reached the entrance to her "ranch".

" _Have you ever seen the rain, comin' down on a sunny day."_

"Wow, where'd ya learn a tune like that?" Applejack asked as we walked into a passing of apple trees and into a clearing where a barn was visible.

"My dad used to play it to me when it rained outside…hmm…if only I had a guitar," I whispered that last phrase causing Applejack to instantly turn to me and over-excitedly speak.

"WHAT!? Ya can play guitar!?" She asked giving me a huge smile. I couldn't deny my impressive skill with any instrument: Guitar, Drums, Piano, etc.

"Yeah! I might even impress you with these magic fingers." I grinned, smoothly moving my fingers in a rhythm. Her smile increased as she turned around to find a bunch of buckets in front of her.

"Maybe you'll show me…what the…oh…I guess we gotta to do this first." She said quickly sliding a bucket over to me. I saw the bucket sliding towards me and lifted foot it brought it down on an edge of the bucket, flinging it into the air, allowing me to catch it.

"Looks like you're ready!" She said impressed by the little move. I held the bucket in my hand to show that I was ready for instructions. She nodded before looking up to notice the sun nearly hitting noon. Her expression changed in a second and she started giving instructions rapidly.

"And then…"

"Hey-hey-hey! Calm down! Maybe we might still make it if we just do it faster!" I calmed, trying to stop her from losing it. She stopped for a few seconds and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, We might…AHH! Who am I kidding, we won't make it by noon, they are expecting a load by noon!" She said giving up on chill and entering a panic mode. I decided to leave her to her panic and start on doing the job.

I walked up to the nearest tree and threw the bucket down. The tree wasn't that thick but seemed to have a shit-ton of apples, so I thought of a way to drop them. I made a fist and gently punched the tree and once I got my aim and balance, I threw my hand behind me.

"Okay, let's hope for a good result!" I yelled throwing my fist to the tree causing it, along with many other trees, to shake violently. I stared at the tree with an awkward silence for a few seconds before…

Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap x 1000*

"What the hell…" I whispered as I noticed every bucket was full to the brim with apples and that none of the apples had hit the ground.

"Sir Isaac Newton, wouldn't approve of this." I stated as I kept my fist imprinted into the tree and a small smile being to grow on my face. I stared at the dozens of buckets full of apples and noticed that all the trees had dropped their apples. I then focused at the sun to see that I hadn't wasted even a second doing this.

"HOW THE HAY DID YOU…!?"

All I could do was shake my head and hope life would answer in the future.

"Don't ask, I'm not even sure what I just did, let's just get these apples ready for shipment."


	12. Chapter 12 - A Realm Of Light

#12

After the small distortion of physics and compliments from the ranching pony, we headed to the drop point and delivered the apples to many places around Ponyville. For every bucket of apples we dropped off, Applejack collected a few coins. _These must be the "Bits" Luna mentioned._ After all the deliveries were made, which were just five, we took rest on some benches in the center of the town. We looked out to the community as ponies of every color roamed about joyously. They waved to me and I waved back with a smile.

As joyous as it seemed, the sun beamed heavily on us, forcing some heavy breathing from the both of us. _So much for"perfect" weather_. I swear it's summertime if those seasons apply here. My mind was still telling me it was gonna rain but my body objected to that idea as sweat poured down my face. I turned to look at my company, who was also having a hard time with the climate. She looked out at the collage of ponies as beads of sweat rolled down her face.

"Hey, so what was the rush for?" I asked looking up to see we were not even a minute past noon. Not a minute was wasted, and we still came earlier than expected for the deliveries. She awkwardly chuckled as she turned to me.

"Yeah, sorry bout that, I didn't think we could make it, but ya somehow managed to get them apples rounded up in seconds!" She was tossing a "Bit" up and down with her hoof, trying to distract herself from the heat. I nodded as I recalled the crazy happening from earlier, before chuckling at the realization that I spent some time with her. Applejack wasn't like the other ponies as far as I knew, unlike them, she was more like the one who keeps the group from losing their minds and keeps it real.

"Yeah? Well, at least I got to spend some time with you. It was fun running around with you." I complimented, trying to be nice, although, I probably overdid it with those words. She quickly stopped the coin on her hoof and pause for a moment. It took only a few seconds before she looked up at me with a set of _cute_ _eyes_ that were daring to me to honest.

"Really?" She asked. I can't lie to any eyes that looked like that, and I didn't have intentions to. I gave her my infamous "Do you really need to ask?" smile and flicked her hat upwards with my thumb to see her face better. I chuckled at her surprised look before a smirk made its way to my face.

"Yeah, hopefully, we do it some more." A small blush emerged from her cheeks as she looked away to hide it. She flustered and fidgeted around with the coin on her hoof. I laughed gently as she had a moment with herself before giggling along with me.

" _She was cute, then again, they're all cute_." I thought to myself as I stared at her and she stared back softly. I couldn't deny that I felt something towards these ponies but this is the type of stuff that I would get verbally assaulted for…then again, I don't live in that world anymore. My daze broke as I reminded myself I was staring and looked away with a smirk making up for the awkwardness. She mirrored my move with a smile and we each laughed to ourselves.

It was peaceful for those few moments, thankfully. But after a few minutes of resting on the benches, something quickly pierced my mind. It was a small tickle at the back of my head making me shiver. It didn't get any attention from Applejack, at first, until the tickle evolved to a spark. I stood up from the bench and looked around to see if I could find where the feeling was coming from.

"Ben? What's wrong?" Applejack asked standing up as well and looking around. I didn't know how, but I felt that same feeling that someone is gonna attack from somewhere, except I didn't know from where this time. I continued to look around at a slower pace but still couldn't seem to get the location in my head. I growled as I closed my eyes and focused with my head. This time, there was success. It happened so fast and painfully that a spark erupted from the back of my head.

"BEHIND ME!" I quickly turned my body around to face the hostile presence but all I saw was a strange array of colors as a strong force, forced me to the ground. I quickly fell on my back with something heavy attached on my chest. A bucket, of all things, made its way on over my head somehow, blinding me from seeing what was on me.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOIN' TO BEN!?"

"WHAT HAVE LYRA AND BONBON TOLD YOU!?"

I felt those words bounce around in the bucket making my face cringe with agony as I tried to understand what was being asked. I quickly moved my hands up to the bucket and lifted it slowly, slowly revealing a pony with the same punked mane as before. I stared at her for a few seconds, asking myself why she was so agitated, before I slowly began to make out a large figure behind her. _Huh_? It didn't take long for both of them to quickly become clearly visible. It was Vinyl, standing on me with a face that only demanded answers and behind her stood K, his face only showing the pure intent of murder. His eyes were wide open and in his raised hand he held his wooden sword, covered with his dark essence.

My eyes quickly blinked wide-open as I saw the sword quickly swipe down. Without a millisecond to spare, I grabbed the pony with one of my hands and pulled her towards my chest as I quickly lifted my torso and reached my other hand out to catch the sword. The sword collided with my hand and a huge pain jolted through my body as I tightly gripped the sword. The pain wasn't instant, but after a second, damn straight it fucking hurt.

"AHH! NOT AGAIN!" I grunted through my clenched teeth, in the intense pain as slowly I began to see pints of blood roll from my hand down my arm and onto the ground. In all my agony, I didn't notice I had let go of the pony that I was holding on to. I looked up to see K, his face showed all the disbelief he could muster up as he quickly lifted the sword from my hand and put it away behind his back. He knelt down my side almost as if trying to understand.

"W-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING TRYING TO CATCH THAT!? Damn it, hold on!" He was pretty serious in his tone and grabbing my hand firmly, squeezing it tightly. I stared at his eyes as they turned completely red and a huge amount of his dark aura surround my hand. I didn't know exactly what he was doing but it seemed to completely alleviate the pain and stop the blood from gushing out. He continued this for about half a minute. I looked up at him when his dark aura disappeared, his hands were still on mine but his grip was slowly weakening. His head hung low, looking at the floor as sweat-drenched him completely, he huffed a choppy breath every second. He had somehow taken a toll for what he did.

I tried to reach out for him but he quickly threw himself onto his feet. It was obvious that he couldn't stand well. I looked at my hand to notice how it seemed to have not taken any damage, not even a scar was present, just a cut glove with a smooth piece of skin under it. I quickly looked up to K who was trying to give me a straight look but just couldn't, almost immediately I stood up to face him, my face representing my worry. He slowly reached his hand out and shook his head.

"Don't worry…about…about…oh shit…" He muttered as he burst out a large amount of blood from his mouth, as his eyes became blank. I watched him as I watched that red liquid drip, it was terrifying to see blood coming from a human, or at least a human look-alike.

I quickly threw my body to catch him as he leaned forward unconsciously. He was completely out. I turned my body and looked at not only the two ponies in front of me but at the whole town of ponies staring me down with mixed emotions. It didn't take long for some familiar ponies to emerge from the crowd, Twilight, Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, Flutters, Lyra, and Bon Bon: they were the only ones to actually come close.

"WHAT HAPPENED!? They all asked in unison, I didn't have any time to waste and quickly gave my own orders.

"Twilight can you teleport us all back to your place? NOW!"

"Yes!"

I hated having to yell at her but right now I had someone dying in my hands and I was not about to let that happen now or ever, it's happened way too many times before and now it would begin again if he dies. It didn't take long for everypony near us to become wrapped in a purplish glow as we began to disappear one by one.

Poof*

Everything came into vision as I quickly looked around for something to lay K on, the nearest thing was that sofa I sat on when I first got here, and I placed him there. He was still motionless but the energy he was giving off said he still had some life in him. I looked around at the ponies, who all showed signs of worry and confusion. I knew they wanted answers as well but there was no time for that right now.

"Twilight, do you have some type of healing magic like Celestia does?" I asked hoping for the best but hope became smothered when she looked down and replied briefly.

"No…" Despite the let down, she quickly came back with something positive.

"But I do have a book that has the spell for it, I'll find it!" She quickly assured before teleporting away from me and over to a shelf not a few seconds away. "Okay-okay, lets see, where are you!?" She mumbled as she despratley looks around for the book.

My face immediately turned to K who was still dripping blood from his mouth, I walked over and used his shirt to wipe away the blood. I didn't know what I was gonna do anymore as I slowly began losing hope and gripped tighter to his shirt and clenched my teeth together as memories began to jump back into my mind.

-Back in the days-

I saw all the graves I had to place one rose on, more than a thousand. More than a thousand soldiers in front of me, some still crying, pleading to go back to their mothers and fathers. Others holding in their hands a picture that summarized their life before this war. I walked past all these people begging for mercy as I emptied rounds into the injured enemies that were down alongside my allies. I ignored my comrads who begged for mercy from me and walked away.

After many empty magazines and dismembered limbs all over I caught up to this one soldier: Rookie class Roger. He was shaking violently as he held in his hand his small diary, the diary of his whole life in the war. He thought it would be cool to have written about his war time for the world to read it and remember him, maybe it was his excuse to become famous. I sat down beside him and took the book from his blood-stained hands. He managed to pull off this famous smile that had got us free meals in sixth grade and sometimes got us an extra meal in the barracks as his head fell back hitting the dirt beneath him. I could feel my imaginary tears go down face as I ripped off his dog tags and looted him of all the twelve pictures he had of his family and us. I quickly put them into the diary and placed everything into a compartment in my vest. He was my friend, but I never really gave him my attention, whatever stupid reason. Now I regret it.

"Maybe…one day… I'll be able to cry out all the tears I didn't cry today," I said with agony and shame as I stood back up and left him behind as I began to walk away.

"I promise to read it one day, my dear friend."

-Back to the present-

I never did read it because I didn't want to remember how he died, especially when I considered him friend once he died. I never did say it to his face.

"I won't let anyone die anymore," I whispered to him as I brushed away those memories and lifted my head to face K who was still motionless. I felt emotions drop as I stood back up, balled my hands, and took in the deepest breath I've taken in this world.

"LUNA! CELESTIA!" I yelled causing every pony to shiver in terror. I desperately needed them now especially since they were the only ones I could resort to now. After a few seconds, two bright flashes of light filled the room, causing me to nearly jump off the floor as I quickly turned to them, _woah, that_ _worked_. I felt all the pain I was feeling disappear as I saw the two ponies of light and darkness appear.

"You called?" Luna asked in a casual way before quickly changing it upon noticing our reactions. She glanced around the room before growing weary. "Is something wrong?" She asked further. Twilight quickly returning back to her group of friends and listening intently, giving me the chance to explain.

"Yes!" I rapidly shot back, moving aside to let them see K in his state. Luna immediately gave a horrified expression as she noticed the large amount of blood that stained his shirt. Celestia also showed the same feeling but her expression was that of a confused anger.

"Is that…him!? From last night!?" Luna asked and I nodded quickly.

"Yes! Can you do something!? Please!" I pleaded, staring at them both worried and faithful. They both gave each other a small glance before getting back to me, they seemed to have a small thought on what's going on.

"Ben…we can't-" Celestia began, but I wouldn't accept any of this demon shit anymore. I won't allow any more deaths to haunt me. I know she has a stand on demons, she's proved it more than enough. But this demon, here, he's the only one I can relate to. He knows me well, completely even, but more importantly, I have my chance at having a friend that's from my old world. In other words, he'd be my closest friend.

NO! I WON'T ACCEPT THAT! I NEED HIM ALIVE NOT DEAD!" I yelled at them causing them to look at me as if I had gone insane, I wouldn't blame them considering the situation I was in but my actions were reasonable to me. I felt sorrowful upon seeing her face not move, it was downright stone cold.

"Please, I've seen too many deaths already, I don't want to see another…so please, just this one time," I begged, hoping I could convince them to do something. They gave each other another glance before I heard two ponies speak from both my sides.

"Please, even if he is a demon, he isn't who you think he is, he's like another Ben...just a little diffrent," Flutters supported getting next to me and placing her hoof on my leg. I could see that Celestia was being pushed towards doing it, just by that, as she showed signs of regret.

"Yeah, he really ain't bad, just a tad bit over enthusiastic (and a tree murderer)," Applejack added placing herself on my other side, a small smile grew on my face from all the support the ponies gave. Damn, I liked the feeling of having support.

"Thanks," I whispered looking back up to Celestia, she closed her eyes for a brief moment before looking up at K. _Had she been convinced?_ I asked myself as she turned to Luna and waiting from support for her own cause. She looked at him, remembering her encounter with him, before sighing.

"Sister, I know you don't want to but if you don't do this, I fear all of Equestria might be doomed," Luna supported, nearing K and using her magic to move his head side to side, observing his physical structure: she probably noticed how similar we lookedAnd. "I spoke with this demon personally and he did no harm to me, and if he's gained the trust of Applejack, Fluttershy, and Ben, then I stand by Ben."

Celestia picked her head up before clenching teeth together in frustration and nodding, it seems Luna must have spoken to Celestia about what K mentioned last night.

"Fine…I trust all of you to know what you're doing," She gave in as she started working her magic on K, she didn't enjoy doing such a thing. My face lit up with joy upon seeing her work her magic on him, and all the worry diminish when I saw Luna smile at me from a distance, indicating that everything was going to be okay. _Damn, about time they stopped messing with my feels_.

After a few seconds of watching Celestia perform some magic on K, it became clear that he was going to awaken at any second. His hands became fists and his legs spasmed making Celestia gag slightly. Within seconds of his arms and legs stiffening, he immediately opened his eyes wide and leaned forward panting strongly, as if he'd been gasping for air. We all quickly flinched away as he took a moment to catch his breath.

"(Heavy breathing)"

"K! You're back!" I yelled in about as much joy as I could conjure up, even to the point I had my hands in the air. Him living had become a crucial part of my life strangely. He didn't hesitate in looking up and letting out a few chuckles, he seemed to also express a joy of his own.

"Of course I'm back, I wouldn't leave without getting to kill something first." He smirked with his daring eyes. All I heard was a playful "Yeah, watcha expect?" from that.

"You're still the same too!" I smiled back, my face still pained from all the stress from eariler.

"What was that?" Celestia asked movimg up to K with a look that only showed her distrust in him. K looked up from the corner of his eyes before turning to her with a smile as he tightened his fists causing her to tighten her frown.

"Hey look, it's the other princess, damn…didn't know you were so-"

"Shut it K, you should be thankful she brought you back from being a corpse," I interrupted him from finishing his "compliment". He looked up at me with a smirk and nodded, he knew I knew what he was going say. He stopped his playfulness as he noticed his audience and began studying the room of all the ponies. His eyes darted back and forth between ponies until he stopped on one and aimed his finger at her. It was Vinyl.

"You, come here!" he demanded. I carefully observed what he would do considering he was trying to slice her earlier. Everyone had the same silence I had as we all stared at Vinyl getting about as close as possible, her eyes refusing to look at him. I couldn't tell if she was scared or sad I got hurt because of her: I hope that isn't it. K raised an eyebrow, noticing that she didn't look up even at such a close distance, he reached his hand down and lifted her head, accidentily knocking her shades off. Celestia just gave K the stink eye as she watched him carefully, clearly not abapting to his presence, while Luna watched as well, but she was just curious as to how strange he was. K didn't even have to blink before immediately whacking the back of his head with his free hand. He probably looked into her eyes.

"Damn it…I can't believe I tried to…damn it," He said letting her head go, but she held her head up high this time as she stared at him, confused and curious. I walked up to his side and looked at all the ponies in the room and noticed that they were just as equally confused and curious except the ones who already were introduced to K, they just looked with a more or less happy expression.

"I don't usually say this, but I'm sorry I tried to end you, I sort of broke my vowel to not injure ponies," He apologized shaking his head while looking down at his hands, "Well, time to start all over I guess."

"You…have vowels?" Celestia asked finding his words rich, while Luna smiled slightly at hearing K say something so ironic. K looked up at her before smirking and forcing Celestia to flinch slightly.

"For now, I just have that one,"

Celestia was trying hard to see the evil in him, but she couldn't defeat that personality. K raised his smirk to a grin and exposed those teeth of his to her, easy causing Celestia to become skeptical.

"And don't worry princess, we haven't killed each other yet, so I say we've gotten off on the right hand-he looked down at her hooves and back at her-hoof in your case."

Celestia nodded cautiously before taking a step back and watched as Luna stepped forward.

"So you're the demon?" Luna asked, testing him to see if he would react with the same attitude with Celestia. K lowered his grin to a smile as he chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm that evil demon who watched you lay lips on Ben, gotta say it ended too quick though, don't you think so?" He asked, making her blush as she nervously smiled, getting instant eyes from all over.

"Lay lips?" Twilight asked turning to me. I greeted her with a smile as I shrugged, not giving a clear answer. She quickly turned to Luna, but Luna was already focusing on K's comment.

"Oh, a demon you are, making up such lies." Luna followed along before K lifted an eyebrow and smirked. "Fine, ya got me." K followed with the act, knowing exactly what Luna was doing. Luna looked over at him, impressed by his response, she would have expected him to actually expose her but instead he followed along with her. K looked back with his smirk and nodded.

"That's for scaring you last night." He chuckled, slipping an apology through his words. Luna couldn't help but smile as she backed off, only wondering in her head how much of K she'll be able to handle.

"So you're the reason Ben was attacked?" Twilight asked stepping up before Dash rapidly got in as well. "Yeah, what was that for!?"

K turned to them before smiling. "Hey, I was just as angry as you were back then, but I knew Ben had it him to get back up, and I couldn't leave Ben's body back then."

Twilight and Dash faced each other before sighing. "I guess you had no control over it."

"Yeah, and you're right about Ben, he's a great fighter!" Dash added with a smile.

I watched as K began getting fonder with the ponies, but he still had a skeptic and confused audience in front of him, which wouldn't divert their eyes.

He looked up to see all the ponies staring him down and stood up causing Vinyl to quickly move back, away from his feet. I felt her back into my legs making me kneel down to comfort her. She smiled almost instantly when I rustled her mane playfully, she still looked as beautiful as when I first met her.

"Hey ya, don't worry about K, he maybe a little crazy but he's friendly," I reassured her, she didn't doubt a single word and neared closer to me, making me a little anxious, and the lustful eyes she was aiming at me didn't help.

"What are you trying to do?" I playfully asked with a smirk, she hadn't given me this look before, it intrigued me. She smiled a little wider and used her magic to redirect my head to look towards K, who had an insecure smile going on as he looked around at all the ponies. I sighed and looked back at her nodding my head once.

"Yeah, you're right, be right back," I said as I stood up and walked up to K. I placed my hand on his shoulder making him slip out a few chuckles as he lifted his head up high with confidence. I gave him a small pat on his shoulders and let him tell on. I took a small moment to look at all the ponies in the room, they all switched their sight between me and K multiple times. K quickly let himself fall back onto the couch and play with his dark magic.

"Hey there, I'm Kusanagi, K for short, and I'm Ben's demon…"

Damn cliché.

He went on to explain himself in the most detail possible, better than I would have described him. As he went on about his role as my demon, which was nothing more than what he told me last night. He got some looks of amazement from all the ponies, even Celestia seemed interested in his description. Even if I listened, I couldn't quite understand half of what he was saying since my attention was pulled in by Vinyl when I remembered one question: WHAT HAVE LYRA AND BONBON TOLD YOU!?

"So yeah, I'll try to not hurt ponies again, just stay on my good side and we should be fine, and just an FYI I nearly defeated the most daring bunny ever…Fear me!" He ended, amusing most of the ponies with that last joke. _Pretty cool guy_.

I stared at the huge number of ponies that were giving me and K eyes full of excitement and questions. But questions were not on K's to-do list. K, who had a smile going on, stood up and placed his hand on my shoulder. He chuckled a little before placing his other hand on his forehead and giving a farewell salute.

"See ya!" He said as he ended his salute but before he disappeared into me, he whispered a few words.

"Take care of "Pretty Eyes" over there."

"Don't worry, I will." I assured him.

He was gone like that.

I looked up at the ponies, who all still had their amazed looks on their faces. I smiled and scratched the back of my head in all the craziness that had just happened. I had no idea how crazy my life was going to keep on getting but I guess I'll find out now.

I quickly felt a strong breeze hit me as Dash braked sharply in front of me and with probably the most excited expression in the room. I looked at her as she put out a hoof towards me with her eyes closed but her smile representing everything that she wanted to say. I had no idea why she would reach her hoof out but almost by instinct I raised my fist to hit it against her hoof. She opened her eyes and giggled as she retracted her hoof, leaving me with a heartwarming feeling, _I think that's what she wanted_.

"Hey! Haven't seen you all morning, I stopped by Fluttershy's and Applejack's but you weren't there!" She excitedly greeted. I gave her my own look of amazement: _Did she not just see K introduce himself?_

"Yeah, I was a little busy with morning things, sorry about that." Her awkward happiness wouldn't leave, it seemed to be stuck on her. I didn't take long in noticing she had something else she wanted to say, her look gave it away.

"Is there something else you wanted to say?"

She instantly reacted with another burst of excitement, quickly nodding her head up and down. Her over-excitement was not that surprising considering she's Dash but it still raised a small alert in my mind.

"Okay then, what is it?" I asked, as expected she become over-joyed and opened her mouth to speak. All that came out was an "I…" as Celestia moved in to gain my attention. _What the…?_

"I'm sorry but I need to speak to Ben…Privately." She said enveloping me in another glow. I quickly looked at Celestia and back at Dash, here mouth remained in the same awkward position from being interrupted. I raised my hand and gave a small goodbye to her as everything started becoming extremely bright to the point of blinding. I squinted my eyes tightly hoping to see something beyond all the light, but it was unsuccessful. I wasn't at Twilight's but I was in some strange realm of light.

I gave a few looks around but the light just rushed into my eyes, burning them.

"Celestia!? Where am I!? Where are you!?" I asked looking in every direction but all I saw was saw more light. I appeared to be in some dimension of light. I began walking at a small pace taking every step cautiously not being able to see, and walking on light is as unsafe as it sounds. I continued a little more before coming to the obvious realization that I wasn't getting anywhere like this.

"Celestia!? Where are you!?"

I received no answer. I began to become a little frustrated and impatient, I didn't like what was happening anymore, I thought we were going talk but instead, I'm walking a light-filled dimension aimlessly.

" _Hey Ben, use some of this,_ " A distorted voice spoke.

I quickly turned around to see who was talking but nothing presented itself, I searched a little more but nothing was seen through the blinding light.

" _You fool, use my magic to darken this place a little_ ," The same voice restated. My sight was immediately grabbed by my hand that was surrounded by the same dark aura as K's. I stared at it carefully moving my fingers cautiously, seeing the dark aura begin to pulse. I looked straight ahead and raised my hand up with the palm facing north. In nearly a split-second my whole body became surrounded by the dark aura and all the light vanished, plunging this dimension into a state of darkness. The one thing that came clear after that was my eyesight was impressive in the dark, I could see nearly everything I wasn't seeing earlier: The sun, the bed, a huge number of embers, and among all this stood Celestia who looked about as angered as I've ever seen her. Everything was dark except her and the few things I saw. I turned my body to face Celestia's and began making my way to her. At about midway there I was instantly halted by her fire like mane and tail that caught me off guard. She seemed to have become hostile and wasn't allowing me to come closer.

"Retract the darkness you have placed!" She demanded from her place. I hated the idea of bringing the blinding light back but I didn't want to anger her even more. I slowly lifted my hand to the sky and focused on my palm. In seconds, the darkness began violently flowing back into me through my hand and surrounding me once more. Once I was completely enveloped in it, I looked up to see the bright light reappear but this time the light had no effect over me, the dark aura seemed to not allow the light to enter through it. I started moving from where I was to her, this time she wasn't as hostile but kept her defensive stance. I walked up to about 3 feet away from her and looked at her, the dark energy still pulsing strongly.

"Hey, Celestia," I greeted casually trying to lower her guard. She kept her cautious look on and didn't look like she wanted to be smart talked right now. I decided to lose the idea of trying to get her calmed down and headed straight to the point.

"What's wrong?" I asked, expressing concern in my voice, this time it had an effect on her, her body returned back down its original form. I stared at her amazed by her transformation. _What was this?_

"You're wrong!" She yelled with regret being shown by her new formed tears that refused to stream down her face. I felt like I was caught between a hard decision here, my feelings were starting to become jumbled again. It's almost sad to see someone so cold, cry, especially her since she was actually someone I'm fond of. I could feel the dark side become embraced by my feelings as it began to increase in tension.

"I don't know what you mean, explain!" I strongly stated causing her shake her head in disapproval and come back at me with a more harsher reality.

"A demon isn't something you can house! You have to understand that a demon slowly eats away at everything you love and sooner or later it will plunge us all into darkness!" She yelled as her tears finally began to stream down her face, I could reason her with her feelings but I couldn't reason with mine. I knew she was leading up to the ultimate decision but will never be prepared such a choice. I gritted my teeth as I tried to figure out a way to change her view on this, but she seemed so invested in her own ideals, it was near to impossible.

" _How would you know?"_

My voice altered back to that of the darker one, I lost control of my body, but I could still observe my actions and think properly as non-active soul. K had taken my body over once more and this time he was more serious than he had been with her earlier. His look gave a whole new meaning to anger.

"You…YOU…YOU THINK I'M A DEMON ON PURPOSE!?"

Celestia flinched away quickly upon hearing K's voice emerge from my mouth. Her terrified look gave away how surprised she was. I would be as equally terrified in her position with how madly pissed his voice was. K's breathing was quick and heavy as he began to verbally defend himself.

"I WAS CREATED FROM THE HATE WITHIN BEN, YOU HAVE NO REASON TO INSULT ME AS A DEMON IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MY PAST WAS LIKE!" He yelled with his dark aura radiating insanely quick from him. Celestia looked down with wide eyes, she seemed to have made a realization as she quickly looked up and opened her mouth to say something but K wasn't listening to her anymore. He sighed lowering the explosion of dark aura that occured during his outburst.

"I hope you realize your mistake…I'm but a demon who channels darkness and the wrath of hatred, what I do with it, is my choice."

I quickly felt my body obey me as I placed my hands out to stop myself from hitting the invisible ground. I stayed down for a few seconds pondering what I had heard: _The hate within me?_ Celestia seemed to also ponder her own questions as I stood back up and gave a wobbled a little, switching between mind and body seemed to leave me in some sort of a dizzy spell. Once I managed to stand straight, I couldn't see the dark aura around me anymore and my eyes began to squint as I tried to make my way towards Celestia's last known location.

Upon nearing, I could see that she was crying, the light reflecting off her tears gave it away. I was still walking towards her, I couldn't tell what I was gonna do once I got to her but the answer hit me directly when I felt my body hit against something. I felt myself fall back along with the one opposite of me.

"Celestia!?"

"Ben?"

I did my best to look ahead of me but nothing appeared I didn't know what I was looking at as I neared my face in that direction. I began to crawl on my fours to see if I could find Celestia somewhere and not trample over her. As I continued my search, it didn't take long before something bumped my nose. I stood still but the one on the other side retracted itself away.

"What are you playing at crawling like that!?"

"Well I can't see through this light, and I don't want to trample you…so yeah," I said as I placed myself in a sitting position. Despite not being able to see, I could tell Celestia was incredibly near me, it was this feeling again. I waited for a few seconds for her voice to emerge but it didn't. Instead, I instantly realized she had moved from in front of me and was right by my side, sitting down next to me, it clicked in my mind she was somehow resting.

"Celestia, I may be unable to see but I can tell you're right next to me."

She didn't move, I took another second to realize she was near to resting her head on my shoulder. I guess K softened her up pretty well.

"It's not a bad thing though…" I comforted reaching my hand out, wrapping it around her and pulled her in for a friendly embrace. I didn't know much about love but I knew that a hug always makes things better for both the giver and receiver. I knew I had done something right when I felt her head finally touch my chest and rest there.

"Hey won't the others worry if we're gone too long?"

"Time has stopped in the other world, we can stay here a few more minutes." She was smiling, using the light to hide it from me.

I smiled gently and closed my eyes to avoid going blind…

" _I guess I'll enjoy the moment."_


	13. Chapter 13 - The Fighter and Demon

#13

"I think it's time we head back."

"I know, let's go."

I slowly open my eyes enough to see the glow that surrounded me, and in a matter of seconds, I reappeared back in the Twilight's. I squinted my eyes, blinking several times to get rid of the spots in my eyes. Everypony was still stuck in time like Celestia said…well most of them. I turned my head to look at Luna who seemed to be a little frustrated.

"What took you two so long!?" I looked to my side as Celestia moved up to me and looked at Luna with a smile. I probably didn't notice it in Celestia's realm of light but here it was as clear as day, a trail of red crossed her face and her smile was one I had never imagined possible by her.

"I had to take a moment to get closer to Ben," Celestia said looking down to the floor with half-shut mesmerized eyes. Luna's expression went from frustrated to an awkward look of shyness with a hint of red slowly appearing on her. I could feel a small amount of tension begin to form between us all.

"So, you…got to have fun with him?" Luna asked trying to hint into another question, Celestia gave a small giggle before fully using her wing to cover her mouth from laughing out. I quickly inferenced the question Luna was really trying to get to, but sadly that didn't happen. Celestia lowered her wing, both still had their red but Luna was curious while Celestia was a bit too joyful.

"Not as much fun as you had with him last night."

Both me and Luna froze for a few seconds, I bet we both remembered those events that happened the night before. Luna instantly started throwing questions at Celestia, Celestia just enjoying herself teasing her sister. I stared at them, happily watching them as they both argued like sisters would.

"But…he grabbed me!"

"But you let him."

"He was thinking of me in weird ways!"

"And you liked it!"

"TIS A LIE!"

The way Luna tried to defend against Celestia's teasing was cute, same goes for Celestia taking advantage of her little sister's embarrassment. I stared at them feeling this fuzzy feeling in my chest, It was unexplainable but I'm sure I'll be experiencing this feeling more often than not.

" _They're cute aren't they_ " K's voice reappeared in my mind again.

"Yeah."

" _It's K here, in case you didn't realize..."_ He sounded like he was just trying to start conversation to lead up to a question.

"I know."

" _Which one do you pick?"_

"Both of them." I smiled from the sheer joy seeing both of the princesses in front of me. K seemed to agree fully, he chuckled in an equal amount if amusement.

" _Can't argue with you there, hey, when will the rest become active? Dash looks creepy like that."_

"I have no idea…" I couldn't stop looking at them, and I bet K enjoyed the show too. After some more excuses and comebacks, it was strange to hear K yawn from inside my head.

" _Well, I'm gonna passout, but before that can you tell something to Tia?"_

"Tia?" I asked, it was a strange because I didn't have an aunt, yet it sounded oddly familar the way he said it.

" _Yeah, Celes-Tia, get it"_ He explained, and it made sense, he just shortened the name to her last three letters.

"Oh…What do you want me to tell her?"

" _Tell her, "I forgive her" for me."_

He must have been refering to what happened in that dimesion of light. Which of course wasn't a very happy scene at the start, but at least he had it in him to send forgiveness.

"Sure." I assured him. He took a sigh of relief and began fading away from my headhead.

" _Thanks, see ya."_

He left, probably to sleep like he said. I turned my sight the princesses that were still going at it and walked up to them. They didn't seem to notice me get close.

"So, what if I liked it, is it wrong to like it?" I stared at Luna with a smile, she instantly noticed me and lowered her head down in embarrassment.

"What are you talking about?" I playfully asked causing Luna to fluster and start playing with her hooves nervously. She kept her head down but she couldn't deny what I heard.

"It was just…you know…the moment,"

No matter how embarrassing, I was overwhelmed by her cutness. I nodded with my smile as I agreed with her.

"I know, I enjoyed it too."

She slowly lifted her head with a strongly embarrassed smile plastered over it. I smiled and turned to Celestia, who had that impressive smile from earlier. She was almost the same as her sister, she also didn't like to maintain eye contact when embarrassed.

"What are you embarrassed about?" I asked still holding K's message in my mind.

"Oh…nothing," She teased, making me feel curious.

"Nothing?" I smirked. "One day we'll see if "nothing" is truly the case." I reassured her, she took kindly to it and gave me a slight grin, _this was new_. Her small grin just yelled one thing out to me: "BET!"

"We should get going Sister, we still have royal duties," Luna reminded Celestia. Celestia gave a small look of disappointment before nodding her head and looking up to me.

"She's right, we would spend more time if we could, we hope you visit soon, bye Ben," She dismissed, enveloping herself in her aura when I quickly remembered K's message. I quickly waved my hand towards Celestia before she left.

"Celestia!"

She looked over to me.

"Yes?"

"K told me to tell you, that he forgives you!"

She looked up with a smile and then back at me. She fully got the message.

"Tell him, "thank you" for me, please." She disappeared and left me with the joy of telling K Celestia accepted the message. I stared at where they both were before something sounded behind me.

"-wanted to show you something awesome…huh? How did you get over there so quickly!?"

I turned my sight to all the unfrozen ponies and saw they all returned to their active states. I simply smiled at their sight and they smiled back with a huge feeling of joy filling the room. The ponies that stood in front of me seemed normal, but one kept ticking my attention, Vinyl. I looked over to her, she was also looking at me in the same way from before the time pause. Using my hand, I called her over to me, she did as I expected and happily trotted up next to me.

"Yeah?" She didn't seem to try to bring up the question from before but I was more than curious about it.

"What was up with you earlier?"

"What do you mean?" She didn't seem to remember, she'll be remembering soon though.

"Why did you jump me?"

"Oh, that! Oh…WHAT HAVE LYRA AND BONBON TOLD YOU!?" She yelled again quickly changing her attitude and demanding an answer. I stood a little stunned from her going zero to a hundred like that. Every pony in the room started staring at us as I tried to my best to answer her question: If there's one thing I've learned in my past, it would be that you never leave a demanding woman hanging…unless she's insane. Now that applied to ponies as well it seems.

"Vinyl, we've been over this already, we didn't say anything about you," Bonbon said moving up to Vinyl's side and Lyra on the other, both trying to get her to calm down. Vinyl gave them a glance of obvious anger causing them to back off slowly, they were lying either way.

"Don't lie to me!" She said with a small growl. My mind was telling me to answer her but I felt a strong urge to keep her at bay about what they said. I felt a small grin begin to crawl up into my face as I squatted down to get level with her. She looked at me with a different look than the one she gave Bonbon and Lyra, a more "Oh, it's you" look.

"Oh, they said…but they didn't say enough," I chuckled.

"What!?" She immediately asked, backing up into a defensive position. I glanced at Bonbon and Lyra who were shaking their heads and waving their hooves trying to convince me to not expose them. I started feeling like I controlled all of them, it felt strangely exciting to have such power with only words.

" _Now look who's in my position…"_

" _Weren't you gonna sleep?"_ I thought, hoping he could hear my thoughts.

" _Well, I wanted to see how Tia would react to the message, I'm glad I did."_

" _Ah…Okay then."_ Guess he could hear.

" _Quick little fact, I can read minds."_

That was odd but strangely what I needed, although K was someone I wouldn't trust with such power. And it wasn't so hard to believe, considering he already gets in and out of my body and is a demon.

" _Really?"_ I asked.

" _Yeah…well when I'm at close distance like now, and despite Pretty Eye's innocent way of being, she was some pretty lewd fantasies."_

I was stuck in place for a moment as I connected _lewd_ and _Vinyl_ in the same sentence. It's hard to object to something you really wanted.

" _That's…that's…THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR! Thanks!"_ It was what I wanted to hear; one, I could easily get back at her if anything where to happen, two, I just found the thought of it…strangely exciting.

" _No Problem."_

I got so distracted with my thoughts that I didn't notice I had left Vinyl hanging on to her question. Something harshly tugged my leg causing me to fall backward onto the chair from earlier almost instantly. I quickly looked up to see that Vinyl was holding on to my leg with her magic.

" _That wasn't nice."_ K growled.

" _Tell me about it."_ I groaned back.

"Feisty, are we?" I asked sitting up on the chair and straightening my back. "That's the second time you've dropped me."

"Sorry, but you still haven't answered my question." She didn't seem have done it on the intention of hurting me, so I slid off the couch into a squatting position. I reviewed the three ponies near me and reached my hand out to each one, sliding them in closer to me. Both Lyra and Bonbon hesitated using their hind hooves to brake but my strength forced them in. Once everypony was about touching, I pulled myself in closer and glanced one quick look at all of them before I placed my hand in front of them and opened my hand.

"Now look closely, I have five fingers…one…two…three…four…five…" I explained in the softest voice I could muster up, but they didn't seem to notice and followed my fingers as I closed one by one. The opportunity present itself when they didn't break away and couldn't blink. I quickly morphed my hand into a snapping position and slowly let a small "Hush~" flow out of my mouth.

"Sleep~ *Snap*"

I closed my eyes and waited for two seconds before three thuds were heard from in front of me. I opened my eyes to spot three ponies unconscious, one over the other. A smiled appeared over me at the realization that the trick still works and that I didn't have to answer anything anymore.

"Just sleep for now," I whispered picking up the pile of ponies and placing them on the sofa. Once I placed them all down; sitting upright, heads leaning on each others' shoulders, and comfortably seated. I took a moment to look at them _, there was something about sleeping that made everything cuter_.

"Wow, Hypnosis, you can use your magic like that?" I turned around to look at Twilight and the rest of the ponies eyeing me. I glanced back at the ponies behind me and then at Twilight again.

"No, I just use my hand," I said wiggling my fingers in front of her face. She carefully studied my hand, using her magic to manipulate it, trying to view it from different angles. Once she finished analyzing it, she stopped her magic causing my hand to loosely fall to my side.

"Hmm…that's strange," she said with her hoof under her mouth. I focused my attention on my hand and back at her.

"What is it?"

"I don't know but I don't sense the average magic that we have," she replied trotting over to a bookshelf that contained a cluster of books. She searched madly, picking out a book, flipping a through pages and placing it back, before doing the same to another. I stared at her as she picked out about twenty more books before finally picking out the one she wanted.

"Found it!"

"About time," I thought as she trotted back over to me and the group of ponies that had surrounded me. She held the book with her magic flipping page after page, her expression slowly changing with every page she read. It didn't take long for her to stop on one page and give it a small a few blinks of curiosity. I glanced at the page she was on to spot a few drawn images; one was a pony, no detail, just an outline, the pony seemed to have lightning all around it and an aura that blew away surrounding trees. The image had a number beside it that read, Population: 0 (Extinct). The second image was a much darker pony outline, this one was a light shade of dark, and had glowing eyes which the other lacked. This one also features an aura, a dark aura. The images number read, Population: 0 (Extinct).

I kept my highly intrigued eyes glued to the book as a paragraph appeared under the images. It went as follows:

 _Ultimate Form of Destruction Magic: The Fighter and Demon…_

 _The Fighter: In the age when gods shared a world with ponies, there were ponies that possessed incredible power. The Fighter, as Legend tells, had many attributes that allowed him/her to dominate over opponents. The Fighter will always start at minimum power and many have tried to take advantage, yet they had no knowledge of the potential that laid covered in his/her vessel. To protect the ones they love, they tried to not unleash their full power, for the power is enough to over throw gods. Yet the power can be triggered by more than one way._

\- _The Fighter learns how to control his power, this is highly rare and nearly unachievable._

\- _Emotions will play an enormous part in breaking the seal of power, more commonly: anger_

\- _And last, The Fighter injuring himself with the power of the "Legendary Blade"_

 _This pony shouldn't be taken lightly, they are known as undefeated and some even considered them immortal. Alas, they were defeated by not one pony, not the gods as many tell, but the ancestors of the Equestrian Empire. They lived in fear of being destroyed and most ended up obliterated from the face of the world, so they combined the power of the gods and demons to stand a fighting chance against The Fighters. Only one remained, this one continued the war, slaying nearly all of the Equestrian Empire but met his demise when encountering the Queen. Mother of the two. That ends the tale of The Fighter but bleeds into the tale of the Demon: the slayer of gods and demons._

 _98._

I waited for Twilight to turn the page but she wouldn't. She was stunned on the page with her eyes refusing to move beyond the midsection of the text. Wanting to read more, I extended my hand out to tap here but quickly stopped when she shut the book fiercely and teleported it away with my hand reaching out to it. I turned my attention to Twilight who hadn't realized I read over her, she was doing her best to rid herself of the facts by squinting her eyes closed and groaning it away. I didn't know if the story somehow related but it did have some hyper realistic similarities.

"Twilight? You okay?" I asked hoping that playing dumb would make her calm down. She opened her eyes again and glanced at me and everyone else with annoyance shown through her face.

"OUT!"

I landed on my back again with ponies one by one landing over me. Every pony landing took my breath away as I tried to muster up the strength to move them but I was bombarded. I gave up and decided to just lay down and wait for them to get off, meanwhile, my mind went back to that book. That book seemed to hold some important information but unfortunately, Twilight hogged the book to herself. I gave a slight look around to see that we were just outside Twilight's door.

"Darn, I knew Twilight loved books but not that much," Dash grunted as she crawled out of the pile of ponies and went up to my face which now showed me how it felt to be looked down on.

"Yer right about that," Applejack agreed trotting up the other side of my head, I carefully switched my sight between both of them before Flutters flew up over me.

"Maybe she just wants some alone time," she defended, I began to feel most of the weight fall off as slowly lifted myself with my hand to a sitting position. I looked down to notice the five ponies all sleeping and tightly grabbing onto my shirt and pants. The unconscious ones were Rarity, Pinkie, Vinyl, Bonbon, and Lyra.

"Umm…need some help," Flutters offered as she flew over to pick up Bonbon. She managed to cuff her hooves around her but upon pulling her, Bonbon immediately bit down on my shirt, luckily only the shirt. Flutters began to pull on her but she was clenched on tight and wouldn't let go. I quickly raised my hand to Flutters to signal her to let Bonbon go and she placed her back down. Once back down she let go and curled into a ball.

"This might be a problem…let me try," I said as reached my hand towards Bonbon and grabbed her around the waist. Slowly, I began to lift her up, this time she didn't bite down but instead he somehow grabbed on with her hooves to my shirt.

"How is that even possible?" I thought as I lowered her back down. I looked around for another pony to take off and reached out for Lyra. I repeated the same process as before and actually managed to get her off but as soon I placed her on the ground I saw a golden flash and Lyra was back on me. It took me a moment to realize I couldn't see and another to realize that Lyra was tightly grabbing onto my head, blinding me.

"This is ridiculous! Flutters, Dash…Applejack?!" I did my best to try to yank her off with both of my hands, but she was latched on with her hooves and magic, I felt like I was trying to remove glue from my head. All I could feel was the warmth of my breath, on her belly I presume.

"Don't worry we gotcha," I heard Applejack say as I began feeling yanking all over my body. I felt my shirt and pants being pulled in every direction as an idea hit my mind. The yanking continued and I placed my hands under my shirt waiting for the lastest pull.

"Okay…almost there!" Dash groaned as I felt another yank. Almost immediately I flung my arms over my head and pulling the shirt over me and Lyra and letting it go on the ground with a thud.

"Ha! Now…two more," I said standing up and felt something grabbing onto my leg tightly, I still couldn't see anything but it was obvious Dash was pulling on the pony hooked on my right leg.

"Come on Rarity, you need to let go!" Dash grunted.

"But this fabric needs fixing," she whispered in a sleepy voice. "no…"

I quickly felt her come off as another loud thud was heard, probably Rarity landing over Dash somewhere. Now all that's left it this one over my face, I slowly lifted my hands and gripped them onto her body.

" _Let me help,"_ K said from inside my head. He sounded kind enough, why not?

" _Please, get her off, it's hard to breathe."_

" _Okay, here goes!"_

Like before, I felt my body lose control of itself and fall under the control of K. I didn't know what was happening but I immediately felt a strong pain go through my nose area as everything became clear as day.

" _WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED K!?"_

" _SHE'S TOO SENSITIVE, YOU DEAL WITH THIS!"_

My mind went cold as I quickly regained control of my body, I was on the ground and Lyra was shouting something at me. She had an enormous blush over her and a few drops of water under her eyes. She stood on my chest with her magic pulling my torso up.

" _What the hell_ ** _did_** _you do K?"_ I thought as Lyra had my collar hooked on tight with her magic and she was still ranting on. _She wasn't asleep anymore but she was clearly pissed and embarrassed_.

"Calm down Lyra, I'm sure he didn't mean to do it," Flutters said trying to slowly pull her away from me but she refused to be touched. I stared at her with the best look of confusion and shock I could muster up.

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT LOOK PERVERT!"

"Pervert?!" I asked as I lifted my hands trying to comprehend what she meant but she wasn't having it. " _Nice vocab for a pony..._ " K smugly stated and I bet he was grinning, I could feel it.

"TRY TO KEEP YOUR TOUNGE TO YOURSELF!"

I lowered my look and replaced it with a more saddened look to try to change Lyra's attitude. It worked, she started sniffing a few tears away as she hit her head against my chest.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry," She whispered as I placed my hand over her head and gently pressed it to calm her down. I quickly looked up to see Applejack, Dash, and Flutters giving me looks of worry as I continued holding her there.

" _What did you do K?"_

" _Taste what's in your mouth…"_

I didn't pay much attention to it but I did have an odd flavor in my mouth, _kinda warm._

" _WHAT IS THIS?!"_

" _PONY P.U.S.S.Y! TASTES GOOD DOSEN'T IT!?"_

Of all things he could of thought of, he does this. I wasn't going to submit to embarrassment yet, I was too shocked to be.

" _YOU FOOL, HOW AM I GONNA DEAL WITH THIS NOW!?_

" _Find out, I'll be here."_

I quickly shook him away from my mind and looked down at the Lyra, now that I knew what happened I couldn't help but to apologize.

"I'm sorry Lyra, I didn't…"

She stopped me at about mid-sentence with her hoof and glanced back at Dash and the other before she gave me a small bop on my forehead followed by a zealous smile. I quickly changed in expression as she leaned in once more to my ear.

"I just don't want them to think of me like this, but you still embarrassed me none-the-less you idiot," She whispered, hopping off me and onto the ground still wiping away some of her tears. I just nodded my head in agreement and laid there as she trotted over to the Vinyl and Bonbon sleeping on each other.

" _Woah!"_ We thought in unison, me and K that is.

" _I knew she was acting, just wanted to see how you would react."_ K chuckled.

" _Shut up."_

" _Fine."_

I observed her as she used her magic to levitate Bonbon and Vinyl off the ground and float them to her side.

"I'll take them home, bye-bye!" she finished trotting off with them. Dash and the rest stared at her as she went out of sight before turning to me with puzzled stares.

"What was that all about!?" Dash asked going to me, I glance a quick look at her, then at my shirt, all ripped up.

"I don't know," I replied picking up my shirt, torn to shreds. Every pony looked at it, then at me, I had no shirt. My sight quickly changed to my pants as I noticed it had some newly acquired holes and cuts.

"Yeah, I don't think you can use that anymore," Dash giggled taking the shirt from my hand and placing it on her. It just went right through her and piled up on the ground.

"Oh well," I said as picked myself up and looked at Flutters and Applejack doing their best to awaken Pinkie and Rarity. They couldn't.

"I think we should drop them off at their homes, they'll wake up eventually," I recommended, both nodded their heads in agreement. I reached down and lifted both of them.

"Let's go! I have so much stuff on my mind it hurts," I said as I started walking into the middle of Ponyville, followed by the ponies.

"Um, are you okay with everypony seeing that?" Flutters asked from my side and I gulped as I nodded.

"Duh! Don't you see how strong he looks without his shirt!?" Dash asked. Applejack giggled in agreement. "Yeah, nothin' wrong with it."

Flutters blushed slightly as she shook her head. "That's not it…"

Both Applejack and Dash looked at each other before smirking.

"Geez Fluttershy, I didn't think you paid much attention to good looks." Dash giggled before Flutters rapidly turned to them. "Who'da thought it!?" Applejack giggled as well.

Flutters found it hard to respond and when she finally had words to say, she couldn't make sense. "No! I mean-

"She means his scar."

I diverted my attention to K and looked at him as he walked beside Flutters. It seemed he appears whenever he wants.

Applejack and Dask both took in K's sudden appearance, they weren't not expecting him. K look over to me before getting back to the two of them.

"A scar? Ya mean like a scratch or somethin'?" Applejack asked before I smirked, amused by her logic. If only the scar was a scratch, then it wouldn't be there.

"Why not see for yourself?" He asked before taking a step back and letting Dash and Applejack get to where Flutters was, but honestly this scar was easily visible from any angle. Flutters, not wanting to see it again, looked away as we continued walking. I didn't really want attention on it, so I ignored them as I continued like Flutters.

"That's…the worse scar if I've ever seen one…what happened?" Applejack asked, not really exaggerating the situation. Same for Dash who just gulped as she turned away, disturbed.

"I took a picture." I bluntly responded making them flinch greatly.

"Uh…excuse me?" Applejack asked before Dash raised an eyebrow. I chuckled as I realized how hilarious it actually sounded.

"I'm sure you weren't laughing when that happened to you." Applejack spoke up, making me slip out a few slivers of amusment before nodding.

"Of course not, I was having my skin ripped off by a rusty knife that was so bent and crooked that every second was me screaming in agony and my gagging just off the limits."

If K was stunned by the way I said that, then Dash, Applejack, and Flutters would have reactions on a greater level.

"You went through that…?" Applejack asked, taking it seriously, as for Dash and Flutters, they just wanted to hear the end of it and forget it.

"Who?" Applejack asked. "Who's that twisted?"

I looked at her before sighing. "Bad, bad, bad humans…" I responded before she looked away.

"Why didn't you just kill them!?" Dash asked making me slow my walking pace and turn to her. So much for being non-violent. If she wanted confirmation, then I got it.

"I never said I didn't…" I breifly responded making her shut up on the spot and look around at Flutters and Applejack before gulping. Flutters was the most impacted by my statement which explains why she followed with her head low.

"That was sometime ago though, I don't want to live in the past." I stated before looking behind at Dash and Applejack.

"It seems wrong now, and I don't like to imagine that it was ever right, but…the world wasn't sunshine and rainbows, for most it was, but for me it was dark and heavy."

I smirked randomly to get moods up, catching them off guard as I held my up high and took a deep breath.

"Even if it never leaves, I will now wake up every morning knowing I live in a new world." I added before looking back at them. They seemed to want to smile but it was slightly difficult after that telling.

"I'll be damned, which I am, you really do make dark things entertaining." K stated before Dash and Applejack moved up with Flutters.

"You don't hurt others now, right?" Applejack asked making me feel pained, I've lost a small amount of trust, which I'm gonna quickly regain.

"No, I'm a fighter, not a killer." I responded making her smile, although, at some point in the past that phrase would go the opposite way.

"Well, I can't deny that!" Dash responded with a smile before sighing. "But you gotta start being a bit less…uh…"

"Deep?" I asked and she nodded.

"Fine, I'll try," I chuckled as I looked forward at Flutters and smiled.

"Sorry you had to hear that again," I apologized making her turn to face me with a saddened look.

"It's fine, I just worry a bit…that's all."

I smiled as I felt warm inside.

"I'm glad you worry for me, but don't worry to the point you can't smile," I advised before she looked away with a smile, thankful for my words.

"Okay," She whispered.

I felt great again, and as we all walked joyously I felt a small tap from behind.

"Hey Ben, you can use some of my clothes, no worries!"

I looked back at K before smirking.

 _I don't know why can't I refuse K…honestly_


	14. Chapter 14 - Bad Weather

#14

I lifted the white tank over my head and guided it down my torso. It fit perfectly, allowing me to move my whole upper body any way I wanted. Next was the other layer that went over this shirt, a thin black jacket that opened along the middle with no zipper or button, it was just open like that. The pants fit perfectly as well and provided the same amount of moment the shirt allowed, they were also black. In general, I was a clone of K.

"Not bad," I complimented, looking at myself in the mirror posing in a few fighting positions before accepting that the clothes were better than what I wore before. I grinned at the impressive amount of mobility I was allowed and began to make my way to the door. I swung myself out in style, I felt like a new me.

"So, how do I look?" K was the first to turn his attention to me with a small grin followed with a thumbs up, Dash completely agreed with K and smiled widely as well. Next was Flutters and Applejack, they curiously stared at me then at K.

"You look exactly like him!" They both stated, they couldn't have noticed anything more obvious. All I needed was a tan and red eyes and I'd really be a clone of K. Even so, I studied myself a bit before turning to K and seeing the resemblance. I chuckled as I accepted it.

"I guess I do."

I looked back around to notice Rarity still out cold on a comfy looking pillow or couch of some sort. I didn't think they were paying attention to the little hypnosis act but it seems they more than fully paid attention. By now my head didn't hurt as much as earlier but it still had a little after math following me around.

"Oh, Dash- she turned over to me -you wanted to show me something, right?" I asked remembering that Dash didn't finish what she had to say back at the house. She quickly lit up and jumped into the air with her hoof aimed at the sky.

"Right, this way!" She ordered quickly grabbing me by the new shirt and forcing me to keep up with her flying. I quickly raised up my hand and waved it insanely as I nearly was out of the ponies' sight within seconds.

"Bye! Flutters and Applejack!" I couldn't tell if they saw me but I'm sure that was enough for them to hear.

I felt my legs starting to give out as Dash forced me keep up.

"Easy Dash! EASY!"

It didn't take long to reach the area that she was dragging me to, _I was running after all_. The air here was chilly and not hot like in the center of town, it was more than stress relieving. It was a field, open and free, the sun shined gracefully down on a few lakes that could be seen in the distance. I stared at the beauty of the scenery as Dash clapped her hooves together and placed me down on the grass. The grass was about as soft as the bed I've been sleeping these past two days.

"Okay, you wanna see something AWESOME!?" She exclaimed over-enthusiastically, as she moved herself to an open place in the grass. I was already here, and " _AWESOME_ " sounded pleasing.

"Yeah!" I replied sitting back and observing her as she studied her wings.

"Awesome!"

She gave a few looks up and down and started to bounce a little on her hooves. After a few seconds of preparing, she lowered her head to the point it nearly touched the ground and put her tail high. I stared in an awkward silence waiting for something happen. Within a second, she glared a smile towards me, which had me wondering, before immediately taking off the ground, leaving me burying my fingers into the grass to not fly off the ground. "Jesus!" I exclaimed once I was felt gravity act on me again, I turned my attention to the sky to see streaks of rainbow filling the sky at rapid speeds. My eyes tried to keep up with the streaks of rainbow as my breath turned into amazed laughter.

"Ha! Ha! That's awesome!" I laughed in amazement, placing my back on the grass and looking up at all the spirals and shapes that appeared in the blue sky. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was like watching fireworks just an infinite amount of times better, my amazement left me there for about fifteen minutes.

" _Oh shit! She's got some crazy speed!"_ K appeared in my head. I didn't realize when he got back inside, but at least I had someone to share this amazment moment with.

" _Yup! This is so fucking cool!"_ I couldn't respond casually, I was too swept off my feet.

"You know, s _he might actually be able to outdo both you and me_."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. What he said was serious but I couldn't find any reason beleive his words, considering she was leaving me behind back at Everfree Forest and on the way here.

" _What do you mean? I can't even fly, let alone move that fast…"_

" _You'll find out later."_

Subtle, but mind bending. I had nothing to oppose and so I let it sink in for the moment before I realized something had changed in the sky.

" _Whatever, let's just enjoy this!"_

I still had my attention to the sky but something was different as now, the streaks were there but no more of them appeared. As soon as I was about to get up Dash emerged from the corner of my eye, I looked at her as she panted heavily and trotted over to me. Her step was wobbly and fragile but she managed to move to my side. She panted a few small breaths before letting herself collapse on my lap.

"THAT WAS AWESOME DASH! I've never seen something like that before!" I complimented letting her lay there to rest. She slightly chuckled as she started to regain her breath ever so slowly.

"I…*pant* could have gone even longer *pant* but there are storm clouds coming, too many to take on too!"

I immediately smiled and wanted to bite down on my tongue, _I called it!_

"Applejack told me it wouldn't rain till some weeks," I replied causing her to chuckle even louder. I also chuckled and kept looking up at the sky which still showed sunshine.

"She's wrong this time, I can't deal with those clouds, they seem a bit too violent…" Dash said panting even slower than before. I looked down at her and noticed she had her eyes closed but was still slightly awake _What did she mean by she can't deal with them?_ My hand made its way to her mane and began to stroke it gently, _this was addictive._

"Maybe…you…should…sh…oul…d, (help me with those clouds)"

I looked down at her again, this time she was out, it seems she found having her mane stroked pleased her. My eyes went on to look even further to what was visibly available. I knew I would be saying this again but it's just so true.

"Why are you ponies so beautiful when asleep?"

I ran my hand through her body feeling its smoothness, as I did, a smile slowly appeared on her. A heavy breath escaped from my mouth as I looked back up at the horizon that was filled with mountains and dark clouds coming over them thundering and pitch black. There was a slight problem though, I did say that these rains would be here by tomorrow, but at this rate, they'd be here by night.

"Can't wait to see Applejack's reaction," I whispered softly with a smirk, placing Dash over my chest and laying down. My eyes slowly began to close as I began to drift off to some sleep, all that stress had finally fallen off. My mind switched between Applejack and Dash, and what I'm gonna be doing later on in the future. Sleep arrived.

Sleep was suppose to be for rest, but I was cold, too cold. I was sweating cold sweat, it was silent to the point it ringed in my ears, and made me want to scream.

"S-save…us…please, they will kill us all…"

I froze, the cold I felt dissapeared along with the ringing. I could now feel how my body was against the ground, as if forced down by some force within me. This felt…all too real.

"What?" I asked, but my voice sounded too far away and numb to be heard.

"SAVE US PLEASE!" The voice erupted right next to my face.

I quickly opened my eyes at the sudden scream, confused if it came from inside my head or from my surroundings. I frantically moved my eyes around before they locked on to Dash who was still sleeping on me. My body fell back as I felt relief come at realizing it was just a dream, _a terrifying thing to dream about_. The small dream felt like a few seconds but in reality, the sun that barely managed to shined a sliver of a ray over the clouds, was about three hours away from setting,

"Was that a child's voice?" I asked out loud as I gently placed Dash to my side and looked off to the mountains again. The clouds were way too close now for just a few hours to have gone by. I lifted my body up to stare off into the distance and look at the clouds that were packing lightning with them.

"Damn, I like a storm, but this is too much, no?" I asked as I studied the pitch black darkness of the clouds.

I continued to look at the clouds until something caught my eye instantly. It looked like there were screaming faces pulling the clouds apart, the faces were of pure agony and seemed to be trying to make their way to me. I tried to squint my eyes to get a better view but was immediately thrown on to the ground by a strong force of wind.

"What the hell is that!?" I yelled as I looked behind me to see that Dash had been blown away into a bush and was peering her head over it.

"BEN! What is that!?"

 _Hell, if i know!_ I didn't honestly know, but that wasn't normal by any means. If Dash didn't know, what hope did I have?

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THE STORM CLOUDS I'M USE TO!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE THEY AREN'T NORMAL STORM CLOUDS! I'VE NEVER SEEN SOME LIKE THESE BEFORE!"

The wind had picked up to such a high speed that we had to yell in order to hear each other. I quickly ran over to Dash and released her from the bush. The moment she touched the ground she started to evacuate and I followed along. We continued for about a few minutes but the wind had made it so hard to run that I was forced to make my running into heavy walks.

We reapppeared in an open feild that I could quickly recognize, since the path to Flutter's home was about a mile to the right.

"BEN, I CAN'T GO ON!"

 _What the fuck is going on?_ I never really fought off a storm by foot, but this was madness.

I quickly turned myself to see that Dash getting nearly lifted off the ground by the rapid winds. I worked my way to her and picked her up. She latched onto my neck with her hooves as I decided to make a break for Flutter's home which was the nearest thing to safety.

"You okay Dash!?" I asked her and she nodded, not wanting to scream in my ear.

I continued running another few minutes, nearly getting lifted off the ground at times. Dash was holding on to me tightly as I could finally see the path that leads to Flutter's home.

I was running to Flutters home, feeling finally safe before my sight almost immediately turned to the sky as I bright flash of yellow struck the ground in front of me. My reactions lead me to avoid it and move off to a side, but in rapid succession, another three bolts of lightning targeted me from multiple sides. I managed to dodge the first two but the last one hit my knee causing me to me to go rolling down along with Dash.

"Gah! My…knee!" I yelled as I picked myself up and skipped over to Dash, I immediately flung her on my back and she locked around my neck with her hooves again. I made another attempt to Flutter's home. The world around me had become dark and the wind had picked up insanely in a matter of minutes. For every step I took, I could feel a jolt of pain rush up my entire body but that didn't matter, all that mattered was getting Dash to safety. I managed to finally make out Flutter's home as I tried to pick up my pace.

I was so confused about everything, and everything was happening so fast I couldn't process it.

The house slowly came more into view and was finally fully visible in a matter of seconds. I began to feel hope fill me as I noticed the yellow pony at the doorstep with the door flung wide open. At about a few feet away from the home, the lighting struck again causing me to brake as bright flashes of light bombarded the entrance to the house.

"FLUTTERSHY, ARE YOU OK?!" I asked backing away from the door with a jump.

"Y-YES! WHAT GOING ON!?" I couldn't really make out what she said but her voice was a sign she was fine.

"Thank goodness," I whispered to myself before cupping my hands to make sure she heard me. "JUST-"

Almost instantly another flash of lighting struck the doorstep and this one seemed to have actually hit the house.

 _For fuck's sake!_

"FLUTTERSHY! BEN! DESTROY THE CLOUDS!" Dash yelled along as two more strikes hit. She didn't respond. I quickly turned my attention to the clouds that have swallowed the sky and positioned myself to face them while hovering a hand over the other.

"GOT IT! I'LL BLOW THIS STORM AWAY!" I yelled, she quickly tightened her hold as I tensed my body up as much as I could while looking straight up at the clouds. The faces that they made earlier were, even more, terrifying up close. In seconds, a blue aura surrounded me and Dash as I took a deep breath and prepared my lungs.

"KAAA! MEEE! HAAA! MEEE!"

 _Please be alright Flutters!_

I felt my hands warm up as the ball of energy formed again but this time it was even bigger and brighter than the first one I conjured up. I could feel Dash nearly choking me as she tried to stay on as I jumped off the ground and rapidly found myself before the clouds in all the worry that manifested in me. I got about halfway to the clouds and quickly flung my hands out followed by my scream of agony as I felt like I was getting a weight off my chest.

The blue light violently escaping my hands seemed too small in my mind but was incredibly huge in this aspect. The light pierced the clouds immediately causing them to explode into millions of bright flashes of light. I felt my energy weaken as the blue light slowly faded leaving me with my hands out, panting the little breath I had in my lungs. All that remained in the sky was a few small patches of white clouds and the sun was there once more, the wind had disappeared along with all the storm clouds.

I panted slowly as I stared at the sky clear up. Never have I been so negative towards a storm, but this one deserved it.

"It's over…it's over," I said as I stood floating in mid-air, hovering over all of Ponyville and its outskirts. I looked around beneath me to see I was towering over everything. My body felt weak once more but it was tolerable unlike before.

"Ben…you-you can fly! And you destroyed the storm!" Dash squeaked with nearly no air in her voice as she spoke. I looked over my shoulder to see her then quickly remembered Flutters. I quickly flew back down as fast as I could, landing right at the doorstep of Flutter's home. The door was burnt and seemed to have been slashed in half by a bolt of lightning. I quickly moved the door out of the way to reveal Flutters and Angel peeking their heads out from under the dinner table.

"Flutters! You're alright!" I yelled quickly running up to her and picking her up embracing her madly. She sent a good volt into my body but it numb like pain on my knee. I hadn't expected her to live after seeing three lightning bolts strike where she was but she did. Her mane was all frizzled up and had she was stuttering and shaking rapidly.

"Y-yeah, I-I-I'm gl-glad you're fi-fine,"

"I'm glad you're okay too! I thought you left us behind!" I replied hugging her even tighter. The amount of joy I was feeling from seeing her still alive was over the roof. Eventually, I let her be, and let her get back to her pet bunny, hugging and cuddling it; she also gave Angel a good shock and frizzled his fur.

"Ben! Listen up! That isn't the least of our worries."

We all turned around to see my demonic counterpart holding in his hands Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity. My eyes became deadlocked on to the ponies, all unconscious and sparking from their body every second.

"Wha-WHAT HAPPENED!?" I asked appearing in front of K as I tried to grab Applejack, but he immediately bounced back a little.

"Don't touch them! They will shock you to death!" He warned making me rethink trying to grab them. He must have been using his energy to avoid the shocks since his hands were covered in his dark energy. I closed my hand into a fist as I felt confusion and worry rush through me.

"I went back to get your sword and found AJ unconscious on the ground, so I searched for the rest and brought them back to you, here!" He explained, alerting me that they've been attacked by the same storm and must have been hit multiple times, considering that Flutters survived probably one hit. He quickly turned around showing me my sword on his back. I untied it and placed it around my waist quickly.

"What storm could this have been?" I asked, glancing at Dash, who let go of my neck allowing her to hover over next to my head. She shrugged and turned her attention to her four unconscious friends, looking away quickly regretting seeing them like this. K changed his expression to his serious one and looked over his shoulder before getting back to me.

"This is just the beginning, I can feel it getting closer, I don't know what it is but it brought this storm for sure."

I looked at him with the same serious look he was hooked on and let my expression do my talking.

"I would hate to be negative at a time like this, but from what I can tell by this storm, this was probably just her getting closer."

My eyes widened, I felt my blood run cold as I tried to imagine something that powerful, _how powerful could she be when trying_? I looked down at the ground and at Dash, who was looking at my face from my side.

"Ben…I'll always be there to fight alongside you." Dash said trying to support me but it only made me imagine what kind of danger I would be putting them in. I gulped down my worries and looked back up at K who was still eyeing me and had placed the ponies down on the floor.

"I-I'll b-be there t-too," Flutter added, my now I felt like yelling at them to stop what they're saying but I couldn't find any way to refuse them. I gulped again and slowly controlled my breath before putting my serious look on again.

"It's incredibly near Ben, you should go check on the others before _it_ gets here, I'll stay here in case something happens." He said as he turned to the four ponies and leaned his back on a wall.

"I-I'll stay t-too."

Seems there was nothing wrong with that, looks like everything was ready.

"Alright! Dash are you coming?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright then, let's go!" I said as I began to hover over the floor and quickly burst through the door in the direction of town. Dash kept up with me by my side as I began to pick up the speed. Flying seemed so simple now that I've done it once, it was just a matter of doing it and it's done. We flew for about a few seconds before we reached the center of Ponyville and lowered down to the ground. We both looked around in shock as multiple ponies laid down on the ground, some twitching from the lighting, and others just unconscious. The first pony we walked up to was a random pedestrian who was a little conscious.

"Are you alright sir?" I asked as I kneeled down next to him and studied how he had a few sparks surrounding him. He managed to open his eye and look at me once before closing it slowly. There was nothing I could do, I couldn't touch him or help him.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we will find someone to help you," I assured as I stood back up and looked around even more. All that was present was more ponies with aching pain and others unconscious. I had to avoid them as I continued my search for active ponies. My mind must have been making me feel guilty because I felt dread for every pony I saw and passed.

The search continued on for about five more minutes as we quickly searched homes and skimmed over the whole town. I had some experience on seeing massive amounts of injured but it seemed Dash couldn't handle it too well. She hesitated to look at some of the ponies and even wanted to cry at some points but sucked it up.

"Dash…we should probably go look for Vinyl, Lyra, and Bonbon, they were sleeping in a home but which one?"

She quickly perked up and aimed her hoof to a small house across from where we were.

"There!" she said flying over to the house. I quickly reconginzed the house, it was the one Lyra was next to when I first met her, it was quite modern and tall. Dash quickly started banging on the door and yelling out to who we thought were inside.

"Lyra! Bonbon! Vinyl! Open up!" She begged.

There was no answer and I immediately moved in front of Dash, forcing the door. Using my sword, I cut down the side of the door causing it to slowly creek open. I hesitated in opening it anymore but Dash instantly flew through the door, I followed along inside. Once inside we made out the three ponies all huddled up under a table holding each other and shivering strongly. A small smile slowly made its way up my face knowing they were still fine.

"DASH!? BEN!? Are you alright!?" Vinyl asked coming out of the table and quickly made her way to us. She was pretty shaken up but wasn't hurt like the ponies outside. It was a miracle that she wasn't injured.

"Yeah, are you okay?!" I asked.

"Yeah, but I just woke up to some crazy storm! And many got hurt!"

No kidding.

"I know, but we have to get away from here! Apparently, some crazy thing is gonna come and it's set on hurting everypony!" Dash warned, dramatically.

"Really!? Then we should leave as soon as possible, but to where?!" Vinyl asked back.

"We have some ponies at Flutter's house." I inquired and she quickly nodded and turned to the table behind her.

"Well then let go, come on Lyra! Bonbon!"

They quickly emerged from under the table and appeared in front of me before I could look away from Vinyl. They were dying from anxiety as they shook every second and looked around them constantly. Before I could even open my mouth I instantly felt my legs gain weight as Lrya and Bonbon held tightly, one on each.

"YOU CAME FOR US BEN!" Bonbon cried before Lrya nodded simultaneously.

"DON'T LEAVE ME! YOU CAN LICK ME ALL YOU WANT, BUT DON'T LEAVE ME!"

I smiled at their outbursts before chuckling.

"We must get back to Flutter's home before whatever it is gets here," I said giving the ponies my hand. "Grab on to my neck."

Without hesitation, Vinyl jumped on and grabbed on to my neck, and I grabbed Lyra and Bonbon with both of my hands as we quickly ran out the house and back into the skies.

"Woah! You can fly Ben!?" Vinyl asked, I looked down as we passed many injured ponies, but answered her anyways.

"Yeah, just learned too."

I could tell by the way Vinyl squeezed my neck tighter that she had looked down, Lyra and Bonbon both had their eyes closed and didn't seem to have the courage to open them. Dash also seemed to have a gloomy attitude but she hid it away with her optimistic smile.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find a way to fix this, maybe the princesses have a way!" I said trying to encourage the ponies to not think too much on it.

"Yeah! Let's hope!" They all said in unison making me speed the rest of the way to Flutter's home. Once her house came into view, my mind began to start rotating around the idea that I would have to fight this whoever she is and that she would be very powerful. I couldn't doubt that I had a massive increase in strength and ability, _but would it be enough?_

We finally reached Flutter's and dropped down to the ground. Everything still seemed like before and there wasn't any sign of trouble still. I walked through the doorway and quickly noticed that Flutters was back to her normal mane and was playing with her little bunny friend.

"Hey Flutters, we're back! And we brought back some more friends!" I said placing Lyra and Bonbon on the floor while Vinyl hopped off. Flutters seemed to grow a worried look upon seeing us and aimed her eyes to "my" bedroom. I glanced her one look before slowly beginning to move to the door.

"Are you sure you had nothing to do with this!?" Emerged Luna's voice from the room causing me to quickly shake my head in disapproval as I flung the door open. The first thing I spotted was Luna and Celestia using their magic to hold down K to the bed, but he didn't seem to bother fighting back.

"Ben!?" Luna and Celestia exclaimed quickly turning to me, while K just stared at the ceiling, expressionless. He seemed like he's been annoyed with the same question for a while.

"Hey there! Don't treat K like that, we have pressing matters right now!" I stated before K nodded and stood up from the bed, phasing past their magic.

"Yeah, for a second I thought I was gonna get a threesome, but noooOOOO!" I wanted to smirk, but I couldn't when there was immanent doom.

"What's a threesome?" both Luna and Celestia asked. _Damn, isn't there bigger problems!?_

"You'll find out later!" I assured them before quickly turning their attention to what was going on. As I explained what K had told me, they nodded to everything I said, before glancing back to K who mockingly nodded back to them. _He must have explained it to them but they didn't believe him._

"And that's all I know."

"Hmm…this seems accurate but I'm sure we can take care of it," Luna said as she got ahead of me and placed her life on the line. I could feel something build up inside, that something was the regret of letting them handle this. I knew better than to underestimate them, but whatever this is, isn't common, at least to me it wasn't.

"Yes, we aren't to be underestimated." Celestia added on looking positive about what they were saying. I still couldn't make up my mind but I trusted them more than myself for some reason.

"Fine, but I'll get involved if this doesn't go how I see it." I said looking more serious about what's happening, they seemed to get the message nodding back with a small grin on each of their faces.

"Thanks for the concern but I'm sure we can handle."

"You two seem confident but I'll warn you once, it seems more powerful than…" K began explaining before…

BOOM!*

"Ah-shit, it's here!" Both me and K exclaimed. We rushed out the room along with princesses, stopping for a moment at the entrance before finally exiting the house and revealing the challenger.

"Where are you!?" I asked, before looking down upon seeing nothing. Oh there was something, something…unexpected.

We all stared at the challenger with the widest eyes we were permitted.

"Oh hello!"

"What the fuck…?" I muttered as I stared at another set of huge cute eyes.


	15. Chapter 15 - Daddy

#15

I couldn't understand anything at this point. A tiny pony was on its back, looking up to me waving a hoof. It flipped around but struggled to stand on its hooves. I let my eyes carefully study the tiny pony as it kept on tripping over its own hooves, trying to move up to me.

"Hi- (She fell)"

"Have you- (Again)"

"Seen my-(Again)"

"Ow…that one hurt," she said, starting to whimper as she rubbed her muzzle with her hooves. "Can you help me? Please?"

I looked at the small pony as she held out both hooves toward me indicating she wanted me to carry her. I glanced at both K and the princesses but all they could provide was a shrug. I slowly walked to her. She almost lit up with joy upon seeing me walk, she held out her hooves shaking them like a baby would and held an open-mouth smile. I kneeled down and hovered my hands over her sides before attaching them. I had to take a deep breath before finally picking her up.

"HA! Take that stupid grass!" She mocked as I lifted her and held her in my arms, holding her in the most comfortable position I could think of for a little pony. She was about a foot and a half in length and height and weighed about six pounds. She had a light-pink color along with a blond mane that was hanging off one side and curling at the end. Her eyes were light green and resembled shining jade-stones.

I cautiously looked down at her as she looked back up at me, she had a playful smile going that made me drop nearly all my guard and slightly smile back. I turned to K and the princesses that were eyeing me strongly as I began to tickle the little young one and play around with her. As odd as it was, I was feeling ticklish off of just watching her laugh.

"AH! Stop please!" she begged, giggling all the way till I stopped, when she finally got to take a deep breath and let out the laughter she still had. I laughed along as I let her climb her way up to my neck and peer her head over mine. She held on with her hooves on my head and her legs down my neck.

"Wow, I can see so far!"

"Yeah!" I chuckled.

I looked back at the princesses and K who all had their jaws dropped wide in disbelief. I began to move over to them as the little pony began to indicate many places that I already knew. The princesses admired with flabbergasted smiles but K was just looking up to the skies. He turned back at me as I finally arrived in front of them.

"Is this really our downfall?" I asked as the pony began to ruffle my hair. "It's so spiky!"

"She clearly can't be evil, she's so cute!" Luna gushed out, trotting around to my side, looking up the pony still playing with my hair.

"Ah! It tickles too!"

"Obviously this little filly wouldn't hurt anypony!" Celestia giggled on the other side of me and admired the little one. K walked up to me and stared at the pony with a cocked eyebrow, expecting something to happen. He gave up when she buried her muzzle into my hair.

"This should be her…she's young…" K said reaching his hand out to the little pony and tickled her a little under her mouth. He didn't sound sure of his answer, but I wasnt gonna bother him over it

"EEE! Another one!" She yelled. I couldn't believe I was worried about a little pony that has the mind of a newborn and can't even move straight. _That was kinda sad though._

"Hmm…I'll admit, she seems harmless," K said grinning a little as he shook his head with laughter. I smiled to see him actually laugh with a reason and be a little soft for a change. The princesses seemed to also have a more playful side, Luna was making silly faces to the little one while Celestia giggled at her sister's act.

"Then those clouds…couldn't have been made my this little baby…then who, I'm sure this little one is not one of the summonable thrity-five beasts?" K whispered to himself, keeping it quite enough so no one could hear him, but i heard it well.

" _Beasts?_ " I mentally asked before the little one giggled and my mind changed directions.

"I like it here…" The little pony whispered enough for me to hear and start thinking about some questions concerning where she came from. I reached my hands over my head to pick her up and place her in my hands again. Upon seeing her for the second time I noticed she had a tiny horn on sticking out through her mane, _Aww! So cute!_

"Hey, what's your name?" I asked being friendly about it, she looked up to the sky and thought about it for a few seconds. She looked back at me with a smile and seemed to have an answer.

"I don't have one!"

I lifted an eyebrow as the others got closer and did the same.

"Okay, Umm…where are your parents?" I asked next hoping to get somewhere from the nameless pony.

"They…!" She said quickly raising her hoof up before she slowly lowered it and her smile turned upside down. Tears began to form over eyes and began to stream down onto my arm as I stared, moved a little by her reaction.

"They…told me to find another mommy and daddy," she sobbed, instantly causing me to wonder, _"how is a little baby like her supposed to find new parents"_. It saddened me to think of such a parent, even if it was a common thing in the past, I couldn't imagine someone like this pony being left to face the world alone. "Well…that's what she said…" The little pony whispered. I looked at her before looking away to think.

"What!?" All three of those in front of me said as they began to feel something similar to me.

"She said they died," she said making everyone flinch back and stare at her as she wiped away her tears with her hooves. I somehow expected such a thing, parents here wouldn't be that messed up and leave their offspring to go like that. Still, she's been told this by someone, someone I don't know. I began to slowly stroke her body trying to get her to calm down but she was drenching me in tears.

"I don't have a name or parents, why!?" she said burying her head into my arm and continued sobbing. I looked up at the princesses and K as they looked back at me, signaling me to calm her down. My hand continued to sooth her and seemed to have some effect since her sobbing began to soften and her tears became lighter.

"Don't worry, I don't have parents either but I do have friends and I'll be your friend!" I said holding her tighter, I could relate to how she was feeling. She looked up at me with wide-eyes and continued to stream warm tears.

K stared suspiciously at the little pony as he processed all the info. " _Parents died, no name, and a young baby!?_ _This isn't a beast…_

K sighed as he proccessed it. " _Yeah, that explains why she's so young! If she's not a beast, then what?"_

"Really? You will be my daddy?"

Strangely, I quickly wanted to respond with yes just to make her feel better but I really didn't know that much about being a father, especially to a pony. I was stuck in between a heartbreaking/heartwarming decision. My mind pictured both scenarios with results and I just couldn't make up my mind. The sudden appearance of such a question also shocked me. I was not thinking quick enough to tell myself _I was_ _skipping past the logic of being a father,_ so I was now stuck in a decision.

"I…I…"

I looked up to see K smiling widely and raising his thumb in approval but the princesses were completely lost and waiting for me to answer her. I looked down at the pony that was looking up to me with a look full of faith and hope. My mind was instantly tilted to one side and now I was thinking, "W _hy did I even think about it?_ "

"Yeah, Sure! I'll be your daddy!" I said holding her up to the sky and looking up to her smiling widely, I couldn't believe it but I just agreed to adopt a filly. My mind was instantly filled with confused joy at the thought that I would be taking care of a filly for now on, _how hard can it be?_ She instantly escaped my hands and clung onto me as she quickly began crying tears of joy.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She sobbed. I held her in my hands as K placed his hand on my shoulder and chuckled a little before congratulating me with a small punch to my arm. I looked up to the princesses, Luna was holding in her happiness with her hoof while Celestia smiled at me with that motherly look from before.

"Well, I guess I'm a…"

 _CRASH_ *

I quickly turned around along with everyone else to face the lightning strike we heard from behind me. I carefully looked into the dust that was covering the everything in front of me. My eyes remained hooked on the smoke when instantly a bolt of lightning launched from the smoke coming straight at me. You'd think I'd be shocked to find my sword in front of me already, but I had slashed at the bolt causing it to return to where it came from, parting the smoke allowing me to see at what hid behind all the dust. My reaction was second to none.

"Hmm…you seem to be quicker than I thought."

"And you're wrong for attacking us." I responded as I saw a pony emerge from the dust with a blindfold over one of her eyes and the other glowed dimly. She didn't express anything besides seriousness with her half-shut eye that was locked on me. I couldn't flinch since I felt my internal focus triggered by what had just happened. I held my sword down to the ground as she moved even closer.

"NO! Don't let me go back to her!" Yelled the little pony causing me look back at her before picking her up with my hand and placed her behind me. I felt her float off my hand, Celestia had her care now. K walked up to one side of me and snapped his knuckles as he took out his own blade and spawned his dark aura around it. I acknowledged his actions but didn't become active like he did, there was no need.

K knew well that this was the culprit of the storm. " _Oh boy, this one must have been responsible for the clouds…_ "

"I'm sure you know who's the bringer of that storm from earlier." K said in a low voice as he flicked his wooden sword like I usually would. I didn't do anything in response to him but he knew my plans, he chuckled a little before becoming serious and taking a step behind me, he knew I could handle. The pony was about as serious as I was and stopped about a foot away from me, we stared at each other before she made the first move. I quickly lifted my hand up colliding the sword with a sword she quickly drew from her side with her magic.

"Hmm…Strange way to hold a sword." She admired pressuring my sword but I found no bother in it. I looked at my sword and saw I was holding it in a backhand position, _for quicker fighting_.

"Who are you?" She asked retracting the sword and swinging it to my side but my blade made its way to it and collided with it. I wasn't having any trouble blocking her attacks but she seemed to not be giving it her all.

"I'm the one who will kill you if you don't leave now," I said raising my free hand into my chest with all fingers open, "I'll count to five."

She took it as a joke that wasn't funny.

"I've have yet to laugh, but I'll be laughing as I tear you apart." She threatened blinking her exposed eye, turning it into a red glow. I looked up to her and didn't move a single muscle but my index finger.

"One…" I said quickly whipping my sword back up and positioning in a fighting stance with my free hand still holding up four fingers. I saw the pony in front of me wasn't petrified as she quickly threw her sword toward me causing me to jump up into the air and hover over her. I felt the moment was right and folded my thumb in.

"Two…"

Luna flinched at my sight and blinked multiple times as she tried to understand what she was seeing. "…He's lavitating…?"

Celestia remained silent as she stared at me remain perfectly still mid-air.

"You really think you have me figured out?" She asked quickly launching two purplish energy blasts towards me with that horn between her head. My sword met the two spheres of energy and exploded them before an ambush of about a thousand of them surrounded me. My eyes darted back and forth as I figured I was surrounded.

"Just save me the time and die." She said looking at K who was just grinning as he looked up at me causing her to look up again. She looked at me to see that I had spawned my own aura of lights and quickly closed my pinkie.

"Three…"

In seconds, my Aura erupted and engulfed all the spheres instantly destroying them. I didn't express any emotion but my seriousness as I held my two fingers in position, looking down at her. I was a bit too sensitive in this state of focus and could hear everything in my surrounding.

"Is this really Ben?" Luna asked.

"He's…powerful…" Celestia answered.

"No! That's my daddy!" The little pony cheered proudly.

"He's just getting started!" K yelled.

I still kept my look as I hovered back down to the ground and raised my sword high and flicked it. The pony in front of me was becoming unsettled even if she didn't want to show it. I began to walk over to her and quickly stopped all the swings of her sword with mine. I stopped when I was about a foot away from her again.

"Four," I said in a much active voice than before with a grin on my face as lowered another finger. I quickly aimed my counting hand toward her and chuckled, she didn't flinch at all. She looked at my hand for a few seconds before looking to me.

"What does it mean when you reach five?" She asked making my grin grow wider.

"IT MEANS FUCK YOU!" I yelled quickly unleashing my leg under her lifting her off the ground and spinning my other leg around launching her about fifty meters away. She slid across the ground picking grass as she tumbled to a painful stop. I looked at her as she struggled to lift herself off the ground and seemed to cough up a red fluid, _blood._

"Hmpf, I guess I don't know my own strength…really though…" I stared at her as she continued struggling.

"Nice one…oh shit…" K said shifting next to me and observing the pony as she quickly wiped away the blood that drooled down her mouth and looked at me with a different expression, _shock_.

"Damn, you kicked her that hard!?" He asked wanting to grin but couldn't find it in him to do so. I looked at him with a grin but quickly lost it when I saw both princesses looking at me in disapproval. I knew that they didn't want to believe that my next thing was killing her and I could also feel a little soft about it. I looked back the pony and saw her struggling her to keep her stance.

"She doesn't seem to be of any more trouble," I said turning my back to her and walking toward the princesses and leaving K alone. The princesses sighed in relief when I holstered my sword away and glanced back at K. He was still looking at the pony that was still hurling some blood out her mouth, he seemed to lose his urge to grin and became serious.

"K, come on, she won't be hurting anyone," I said, he ignored me and began to walk over to the pony. I couldn't tell what he was going to do but I decided to catch up to him with the princesses by my side.

By the time I caught up with K, he was already right next to her and was kneeled down next to her. I looked at him as he held a saddened look and seemed to feel somehow sorry for the pony.

"You okay K?"

"You know, I think she was at a disadvantage, if I'm right, that horde of storm clouds contained her strength and you destroyed them…" he said making me remember the clouds I destroyed earlier. I then knew that she would have put up more of a fight if she was those clouds along with her. I didn't like the term _bully_ , but I sure as hell felt like one now.

"Yeah…I know what you mean," I admitted, looking at the barely alive pony that was actually still trying to give me an angered look. I looked back at the Princesses as they stared at the pony that was beginning to take her final breaths. I somehow could feel sorry for fighting someone with a disadvantage and I knew the princesses were devastated to see her like this.

"You're gonna die, what was your name?" K asked as he lifted her eye bandage to reveal her other eye showed her real eye, it was a blend of rose and blue. I took a moment to get rid of any emotions of joy I felt as she coughed once more, losing more blood.

"Rapid-(cough)…Strike" she said feeling the pain of the impact from earlier. I thought about her name, it made her sound as innocent as one of my friends. K quickly placed his hand towards her and stood up as she looked up to him with fear all over her wide-eyes.

"Just because you're honest, I'll let you live as a soul." K gifted, quickly making an plasmatic hand come out of his hand and attach itself onto the pony's chest. I looked up to K as the pony begin to lose control and collapse before fading away. "Be grateful…"

"What…is that?" I asked as I saw the pony finally give her last breath and disappear. K immediately looked to me and laid his hand flat in front of me, in his hand was a small floating sphere. The sphere glowed and seemed to pulse as it rotated slowly and inside there was a pony sleeping. I stared in disbelief as I saw that this really was her soul in his hands.

"Take it, my soul would eat hers up if I let it go into me," He said as reached his hand out, even more, I looked at his hand again with anxiety starting to build. My hand mustered the courage to allow his hand to drop the soul into my hand. The moment I felt it touch my hand I instantly felt a path open to and a voice speak in my hand.

"Why must I have the burden of living with my killer?" The soul spoke as the pony that was asleep inside was now awake and was moving its mouth. I stared at it amazed that she was still alive inside the little ball of light. The princesses also surrounded me and stared in amazement as the soul just back at us.

"You died an unfair death, so I took your soul and gave it to Ben, be thankful, you're probably the only one I'll do this too!" K said poking the soul a little causing the pony inside to rub her muzzle in pain.

"Ow! Don't do that!" She exclaimed looking at K angered, he grinned back and neared his finger towards her. She immediately backed to the edge of the ball and used her hooves to back away from his finger.

"EKK! Killer, don't let him touch me!" She said making me move my hand away from K's finger. K chuckled as he backed away and she sighed in relief as she stood up and faced me while I faced her. She looked at me and eyed me carefully as I waited for her to say anything.

"Hmm…maybe this will work out…Ben" she said using my name instead of "Killer". I slightly chuckled and smiled at seeing her be a little friendlier. Honestly, I found it quite hard to believe that she attacked Ponyville and was evil, but she did attack us, yet I feel like there was more to it.

"You too, Strike," I fired back with my own smile. I couldn't see it but I knew she was smiling through the ponytail she was using to cover herself. If there was anything new, it was that she didn't have that bandage and that she had one rose-colored eye and the other was blue, she was beautiful and unique without that cover. Despite beauty, I wasn't done with her just yet.

"Strike." I called fourth her attention, she raised her head up.

"Why did you attack Ponyville? You seem so harmless now, what happened?" I asked and I could easily see the regret in her. She squirmed away as she sighed.

"Those are reasons I will not speak of, so don't ask again." She rejected.

"That is unacceptable! You're the cause-

I raised my hand to pause Celestia from getting out of hand/hoof. She obeyed as I turned to the sphere and nodded. She had a reason to not say so, and that reason was must be good her to have squirmed around like she did.

"Fine, I'll respect your word." I assured her making her eye me cautiously as I looked away.

"Respect?" She asked and I looked back, curious about it.

"Yeah," I responded before she realized she was being to open and lifted her seriously back onto her face. Luna stepped up from behind me and smiled as she looked at the soul.

"Can you undo what you did to Ponyville?" Luna asked and Strike shook her heas with a frown.

"I'm dead." She simply answered and I nodded. "Sorry about that…"

"Don't worry, I like that you didn't show mercy." She said, almost complimenting me. Luna looked slightly disturbed as she cleared her throat to get attention.

"Well, I guess you could just heal up everypony…" She slipped out trying not to sound too nice. I smiled as I watched her, pretend to be hard and frown as she looked away.

"So you never did want to hurt anyone, because if you did, you wouldn't have revealed that little peice of info." I figured out and she frowned to avoid letting me see her regret.

"Just do something with me now, and get me out of here!"

I smiled as I nodded and placed the orb to my torso. She looked at it before sighing and closing her eyes, accepting it.

"Alright, see ya." I dismissed, pressing the soul to my chest, I could feel my body bond with the soul as it slowly fazed into me. Once my hand finally touched my chest, I looked up to see that princesses were practically on me and squeezing me. K kept on looking up to me and had this smile that only movie stars could pull off.

"Well looks like I can spend time with someone now." K said placing his hand on my shoulder and began to disappear back into me. Once he fully disappeared, I moved out of the princesses' grasp and looked up to the sky admiring everything that had just happened.

"Well now, life just can't any more interesting, can it?" I asked out loud hoping to get an idea of what will be happening next.

"Ben, are you okay?" Luna's voice emerged from my side startling me a bit, she was smiling to comfort me and I took it. I couldn't deny that everything that was happening was just happening too quick but I somehow had a way to deal with it, my crazy way of being optimistic. I smiled back to show I was fine and then looked to my left to reveal Celestia handing me the little pony which was over-excitedly reaching out to me.

"Here you go." Celestia giggled.

I placed my hands under the pony and let her fall onto my hands. I looked at her as she smiled happily. I could only feel joy fill me as I held her. From the warmth she provided, to her innocent smile, she was all my dad saw in me when I was born. _I don't know but I'm sure he'd be proud_ , even if it was a pony.

"Now…how will I explain you to the rest?" I asked making a quick turn to the house and watching it as three ponies stared from a window. I honestly was stuck on this question; how do I explain I had adopted a pony when I was supposed to stop certain "doom"? Then there was the problem with the injured ones in town.

"I guess we could try to explain some." I said as I began to move to the house making small talk with the princesses about everything that had happened. I covered everything from the injured ponies to how I was gonna explain this to the ponies in the house.

"Hmm, we'll see how to handle this after we introduce…uh…" Celestia took a small pause that made us all give each other looks of worry.

"She doesn't have a name," I reminded them staring blankly ahead of me. Luna and Celestia took a moment to also let that sink in as they neared me from both sides. They looked at the pony with curious looks before doing as I did and walk forward in silence.

We continued to walk in silence all four of us until we reached the door of Flutter's home, it was open with both Dash and Flutters peaking their heads through it with suspicious eyes trailing us. Once we were about inches away, the questions immediately flooded in.

"What was that crash?"

"What happened?"

"Is everypony and Ben okay?"

I felt like I was being attacked by their words and raised my hand to stop them from asking any more questions. They immediately stopped and allowed me to walk inside. I immediately sat down on a sofa and watched as everypony found a place to rest on. Flutters and Dash were staring the little pony down as the little one waved her hoof at them playfully. I took a deep breath as I stood upright and faced Dash and Flutters with a small smile.

"Well, you're probably wondering who this is, right?"

"Yeah!" Vinyl responded coming out of my room followed by Lyra and Bonbon who were all giving me and the pony curious looks. I had to take another deep breath remembering that they were also here. They jumped on to the sofa I was on and made themselves comfortable. I was becoming a little anxious and tried to pull off the best smile I could.

"Okay, this is-"

"DADDY! WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!?" The little pony asked jumping out of my hands and stumbling down onto the ground rolling to the group of ponies that were lined against the wall. I looked to her as she approached them and stared at them studying them carefully. I didn't notice all the attention I was getting from the rest of the ponies but it reeked throughout the air.

"DADDY!?" They all yelled out.

I quickly leaned my head away from all the ponies who nearly made the house shake with their high-pitched voices. I looked at all of them and nodded slowly as began to explain. They all had shocked expressions that only wanted answers, but they seemed to want to answer them themselves. Dash was the first to quickly fly up to the princesses and ask.

"Okay now, which one of you is the mother!?"

"WHAT!?" The princesses asked back starting to get defensive, but Dash wouldn't let it slide, she quickly aimed a hoof at them.

"You walked out with a "Normal Ben" then you came back in with Daddy Ben!" She reasoned going Sherlock on them but she wasn't done making hypothesizes.

"AH-HA! BOTH OF YOU ARE THE MOTHERS!"

"NO!" They both yelled completely embarrassed by what they were hearing, but Dash is that type you would want as a pony interrogator.

"YOU STOPPED TIME TO MAKE IT HAPPEN DIDN'T YOU!?"

"NO!"

I couldn't have any say in there arguing and instead decided to listen to this crazy argument. As I was just about kick my legs up I was immediately stopped by the sounds of four consecutive thuds. I spun myself around to face the little pony who had a look of pride going on.

"Done, Daddy!" She said as Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack reanimated, they rubbed their aching joints as they stretched out their bodies as I stared completely lost for words. The little one tried to take another step toward me but instantly meet the ground face first. I quickly reached out my hands picked her up and began to carry her as she had a few tears of pain going on.

"Ow, that one hurt too!" she said rubbing her muzzle. I looked at the ponies that had just come back from being inactive and back at the little pony. I was smiling with no end as I looked at her, she smiled back with a little bit of tears still in her eyes.

"How did you do that!?" I asked as the ponies stood up and began to look around rubbing their eyes.

"I don't know, it just seemed like the right thing to do!" She said cuddling into my hands. I chuckled at her response and quickly greeted the awakened ponies, they instantly began speaking about what had happened before they blacked out, before questioning what was happening over on the other side of the room. I turned to look back what was happening.

"THAT WHAT THEY ALL SAY!"

"WE ARE NOT THE MOTHERS! WHY ARE YOU ALL SO PERSISTENT!"

"BECAUSE I WANT TO BE WITH HIM!" They all said finally yelled braking a vase next to me, they all quickly covered their mouths and laid off finally, each one of them thinking to themselves. I looked back at the four ponies who were completely lost, just as I was with whatever just came out of those ponies over there. I chuckled and lifted up the pony who waved at them happily.

"I'm a daddy now!" I said smiling at them, but they weren't amused an instantly looked like they were gonna pass out.

"How long was I out?" They said together making me laugh to myself. They quickly looked back up and surrounded me in an instant. They now had looks that they inherited from the rest.

"WHO IS IT!?" They asked in demonic sounding voices. I instantly buried myself into the sofa and ducked my head as they started asking more. _Danger…_

I distracted myself by closing my eyes and thinking about the obvious question; _Who would be the mother?_ I began thinking about it so hard I went as far to start imagining myself engaged with every pony in the room.

" _Hmm…How about Celestia? Or Luna? Dash? Vinyl?... Oh shit…problema!"_

I decided to get rid of those thoughts and open my eyes again, thinking I was getting ahead of myself, but instantly regretted it. I looked up to see all the ponies nearly falling over me, some even where on me like Lyra. I never struggled with claustrophobia in the past but I might develop some symptoms from them.

"OKAY! I'LL EXPLAIN, JUST PLEASE LET ME BE!" I begged, and thankfully they instantly backed up but they wouldn't lose their suspicious looks. I instantly began to spill as much info as I could, even to the smallest detail. They nodded their heads to nearly everything I said and while the little pony climbed me like a cat would. Once I finished I got some funny looks from everyone, probably finally realizing how awkward they have been. And some serious looks the princesses as they appeared right next to me, for which reason? I don't know.

"Yes?" I asked hoping this was the last question.

They both opened to speak in unison.

"Ben, what is a threesome?"

I paused for a few seconds before shrugging.

" _This is rated M for a reason._ " K said from in my head and I squinted my eyes as I tried to understand what he meant from that, although…it's K in the end.

"Hmm…okay then, I guess I could tell you, come here." I said signaling to lean in so I could whisper this to them. They leaned in curiously and listened.


	16. Chapter 16 - Swirling Tongue

#16

"Is that…something humans do?" Luna asked refusing to give me eye contact but had no problem giving it to the floor. Celestia remained speechless but anyone could tell she felt equal to Luna. I chuckled a little at their reactions and nodded my head.

"Yeah, when they feel like having some fun I suppose," I said thinking deeper into the subject, I had no problem with speaking about this topic since it was pretty interesting to say the least. Luna seemed to lean closer and Celestia was already as close as she could get to the couch. They had something to say without a doubt.

"Ben…"

"Yes?" I responded turning to them slowly.

Luna had her face directed to me but her eyes switching between me and the floor. I had a habit of preparing myself before receiving a question by taking the subject and thinking of scenarios in seconds. It helped to have such a skill, especially when talking to two ponies who were more than curious about threesomes.

"You being human and all…"

I already knew the question in an instant.

"Yeah…?"

"Well…have you…done that? You know…"

I haven't had any time to do any sexual acts of any sort considering I never got to spend "adulthood" like others did. I never knew much about it until the first year of the war, when I actually learned more about the life ahead of me. I guess I could thank my "Friends" for telling their crazy sex life stories to me, if not for them, I would be as clueless as the princesses were before I explained this subject.

"No, I haven't, I never got to…" I said honestly feeling sorry for myself, I missed on so much in life that it was like trying to imagine a new life; _Only you understand but others don't get it._ I glanced one look at Luna with a hurt smile and shrugged in disappointment. I could tell from her actions that Luna regretted asking, she got that look that someone gets when they unintentionally hurt someone.

"Oh…sorry, I didn't know,"

"No reason to apologize, I just haven't gotten to it yet," I said lighting up, hoping that they would do the same but they didn't, instead they gave me looks of heightened suspicion. I returned the look and lifted an eyebrow to hear them out.

"What do you mean that you haven't gotten to it yet?" They both asked together trying to pressure me into revealing something, _nice try_. I had no problem with this, when I was placed in a position like this I just had to bring out the playful me. The playful me rivaled K's way of being and was a little more explicit than normal.

"I guess I could do it now…" I played along, placing my hand on my chin and closing my eyes to think about it, as the small pony, that I completely forgot was on me, was back on my lap and was going about her little antics. The princesses became a little stuck between what to do and began to come up with a way to either stop me or make me rethink the idea. _They actually took it seriously_.

"In front of everypony here!?" Luna asked quickly with wide-eyes and not realizing the big mistake in the way she phrased that. I grinned and looked up at her with the most daring look I could put up making her shiver a little. Celestia also looked at her with a surprised look, _she must have caught on_.

"Ah! So, you would do it! I guess I know what to expect from you from now on…" I exclaimed in the most playful, yet serious way I could pull it off, and it worked better than I thought. I had placed Luna in a tight spot that seemed to have no way out but she seemed to have hope on getting out.

"No-no-no-no-no-no, I didn't- I just thought it would be fun if we- WAIT A MINUTE!"

"Fun?" I teased on making her redder than what she already was. Celestia stared at us as I went about toying more with Luna, I couldn't get enough of this. Luna had burst into a full on verbal war with me but I clearly had the advantage in this battle.

"WHY CAN'T I SPEAK RIGHT!?" Luna cried out, finally accepting defeat and leaning her head on Celestia, I decided to drop my little act and actually finish off this conversation the best way I knew.

"Hey Luna…"

She moved her eyes towards me, she was still embarrassed but she seemed not mind listening to me. Celestia also looked at me but this time she had a little smile going on, I knew she knew what I was trying to do.

"Yes?"

"You're as much fun as you are cute." I complimented, giving her the very first wink I had ever given someone or pony for that matter. Her blush became lighter and a small smile arose from her face, at that moment something happened; something that made her eyes shine with joy and appreciation…but what?

"Thanks…" she silently whispered, I was barely able to hear it but I'm glad I did.

I looked back down at the little pony on my lap who was looking at Luna and waving playfully. I knew this pony would be something special too but I just couldn't imagine it, _I never liked it when I can't foresee something_.

I continued to be distracted by the little pony's playfulness that I hadn't realized how riled everyone else had become, my distraction only annoyed them more.

"BEN!"

The voices of all the ponies began to echo in my head, I quickly covered my ears to avoid any more migraine-inducing yells but their voices were already killing my brain cells. I turned to them showing only the pain I felt as I did.

"Yes?"

They all looked stern and seemed to demand answers.

"What are you talking about!? We're still here you know!" Dash exclaimed speaking for everypony, I smiled at her little stern look she put on, _did they really want to know that badly?_

"Oh, y'all would like to know?"

"YES!"

I thought for a moment to explain this in an obvious matter but that would still leave them puzzled.

"Hmm…sex basically," I gave them straight up, I couldn't really come up with anything creative. She didn't react like I had expected, instead, she held on to her confusion.

"What's sex?" She asked edging closer. I couldn't react to the question, especially if it's coming from Dash. I gave her a glance before I thought again, a smile appeared on me and my curiosity began to rise.

"You don't know?"

"No, should I?"

Dash wasn't somepony I'd like to talk to if it involved a subject like this but she was actually hooked on it. I got the impression she, along with some her friends, shared the same confusion. Lyra, Twilight, Flutters, Rarity, and Bonbon seemed to know what it meant, their looks said it all but the rest didn't. I observed everypony in the room before getting back to Dash who had her hooves on my lap and waited for an answer that I wasn't going to provide but prolong, for self-beneficial reasons.

"Not really, but you'll experience it eventually," I softly assured, patting her head, she accepted the answer and nodded her head with a smile before placing her hoof up to her mouth, pondering.

"Will it be fun?" She asked bringing it up again. I actually thought about this one seriously, will it? I wasn't very much educated on this subject or had any experience but I did have the common sense to know it will feel "Awesome". According to my background knowledge, it was apparently something beyond "fun" then again, this knowledge does come from sex-crazed maniacs.

"Well…It's more intense than fun, I'd say," I stated looking down at her, her eyes seemed to widen with excitement as she flew up into the air and whipped out a grin.

"Oh yeah! I like intense!" She said pumping a hoof. I let out a small chuckle. She really had no idea, and for her to be so into it was something to admire.

"Of course, you do," I said looking around at the other ponies in the room. Twilight along with her well-educated friends had these looks of disbelief, while the rest like Vinyl had looks of excitement. I just shrugged at Twilight, who smacked her hoof to her forehead before sighing.

"Don't worry Twi, she said she likes intense," I joked, she seemed to want to laugh but at the same time keep a serious look, Flutters and her team also did the same. I laughed a little and so did the princesses, using their wings to cover their faces. Vinyl, who was silent for a while, seemed to not like that we mocked this trait of Dash's and jumped in.

"What's so funny!? I like intense too!" She said defending Dash but she only made us all try harder to not laugh.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it? I like stuff intense too!" Applejack added looking pretty annoyed, by now I couldn't hold it in anymore I was practically suffocating myself.

"Stop it! Please! I can't breathe!" I begged holding my hand out begging for no more comments but it seemed there was one more comment.

"YAY! SEX!"

I lost it. My laughter, along with everyponies' in the room escaped, filling the room with probably the most psychotic laughs I'll ever hear. I couldn't bear it, my sides were hurting and my breath had thinned, this was probably the funniest shit I had ever heard. Even if it was funny to us, it didn't appeal to those in front of us. They lashed at us.

"WHAT IS SEX!?" They asked making us all calm down, enough to answer. I nodded away the laughter I had in me and looked at them, giving them the "ok then" look.

"Uh…well, in simple words, it's breeding but for the "fun" of it!" I revealed, finally letting the last bit of laughter out of me as the ponies in front of us became frozen solid in their position. I laughed a little more before becoming a little worried about the ponies that looked red as the color itself, _where they suffocating or just embarrassed_? I placed the little pony down and walked up to them waving my hand in their faces.

"Umm…hello-AHH!"

In about a split second, I was bombarded by all the frozen ponies, my back hit the floor as they began to assault me with words, well all except Pinkie who wasn't even feeling anyway but curious. I could instantly feel the heat coming from them, but I guess Vinyl was probably the only one I could say was really pissed. She had her forehead touching mine as she continued attacking me.

I didn't know why but I couldn't concentrate on anything she was saying; my attention was more focused on her eyes and mouth. I was mesmerized, my eyes aimlessly staring at her. I felt my head press harder into hers, Vinyl didn't seem to like being ignored.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!?" She yelled trying to smash my head into hers. I could feel the heat from her breath on mine and my eyes begin to dose away from everything. My body had lost complete control again.

"No, but if you insist on getting any closer, allow me,"

I _had_ lost complete control of my body. My hand grabbed her head and did the same she did with me but a little more of my side included, I couldn't feel her trying to back away or anything. I didn't realize it until I finally allowed her to back away what we were still connected by a thin line of saliva slowly floating down both our hanging tongues. She panted slow and heavily, her tongue slightly hanging out and a look of pleasure stretched across her face. I was more than a little surprised to see her like this, _so…so…lewd looking_.

I must have shown some sign of emotion because just as I thought she had lost herself, she instantly covered her mouth and looked straight down at my chest, mentally asking herself what had she done. It was too late for her to try anything new, I had already stored everything I could have thought of in my mind.

We stared at each other, awkwardly daring each other speak, we were silent for quite a while. I never noticed till now how her eyes become dots when surprised or pissed (like a moment ago), and huge when she's feeling embarrassed or _lewd_. The dazed look she gave me slowly turned into the smoothest look of embarrassment she'd given me till now.

"Why did my tongue do that?" She whispered in probably the quietest voice she could make, I had only my sharp ears to thank for hearing it. Before I could actually respond with one of my answers, my mind stopped for a second and ran what had happened like a VCR. She was right about her question, all I could remember was a warm swirling in my mouth. After a few more replays, it was obvious I was guilty of doing the same.

" _Why did I do that?"_ I thought, looking at Vinyl with the same look she was giving me. She quickly hid her eyes with her shades when we locked eyes but I knew she continued staring at me past them. I looked at her through her glasses before rustling her mane playfully and giving her my casual smile. She seemed to change a little, her mouth wasn't wavy like before and her red had calmed.

"I'm gonna enjoy the days to come." I whispered to her, leaning my upper body up causing her to hop off. My eyes locked onto Dash who was in the air exchanging looks between me and Vinyl, with her hooves over her mouth like she had made some shocking realization. I looked at Applejack who had held up her hat using one hoof and staring at us like Dash.

My sight went through every pony, each showed their own signs of shock and embarrassment, even Pinkie had room to feel something inside. I lifted myself off the floor and faced everyone with some courage.

" _Very smooth Ben,"_ K's voice interrupted, sounding amused.

" _Hmm…you could say that,"_ I responded using my thoughts as communication.

" _Just for fun, they all put themselves in Vinyl's position, I'll show you!"_ He said before scenes started to appear in my mind as clear as seeing something up close. It seemed he was doing that "mind read" thing now.

Scenes of many scenarios began to appear in my mind each one leading to a different outcome, each one was of me with each of the ponies, alone, and having a small moment. I watched, amazed by the fact this was what they were actually thinking of, I wasn't expecting this, instead, I thought they would be more angered. I continued to see the scenes as they slowly progressed and became more _Lewd_ and _Intense_. The scenes became faint moans of pleasure as they faded in the distance and I regained motion of my reality.

" _See ya!"_ He said dismissing himself. So straight to the point he is.

I thanked him and turned to face the ponies in front of me, knowing exactly where their minds were. I smiled, making them a little insecure before turning my attention out the broken door remembering the injured ponies in the town.

"Umm…here you go Ben."

I turned around to Flutters holding up the little pony with its hooves reaching for me. I just couldn't give my smile a break today. My hands made their way around the pony and took her off of Flutter's hooves. The pony made its way to my neck like before and smiled brightly.

"Thanks, Flutters," I thanked, she smiled softly before nodding back. I nodded back and focused my attention on the rest of the ponies who were still a little anxious about what had happened. I turned to the door and walked outside a few steps before turning back to look at them.

"Come on! We gotta help out the ponies are still paralyzed!" I reminded signaling them with my hand to come over.

"Yeah!" The little pony yelled waving her hoof like I did my hand. We both stared at them as one by one they exited the home and joined us.

"Right!" They all responded with smiles and grins.

"ALRIGHT!" I balled my hand into a fist and grinned back at them, before being blinded by a huge beam of light that surrounded me. So sudden, and unexpected it was that my face froze for a few seconds before it twitched.

"What the…?" I mustered out as the light shot straight up into the sky, piercing it. I looked around me for the source but couldn't find it, my sight instantly looked up to the sky as the beam quickly turned back and hit the town making a huge explosion of blue and white.

I stared at the bright lights, my eyes twitching as I observed. Everyone else observed the same way, muttering sounds of amazement and probably terror. _Did they die!?_

My mouth dropped wide open as the sound of groans and chatter began to rise from the town, I turned to the ponies next to me: speechless.

"All done!" The little pony proudly giggled.

"WHAT!?" Every pony yelled turning their attention to me, I looked at them before slowly reaching my hands over my head and grabbing the pony, bringing her down to me eye level. I looked at her for a few seconds in amazement before asking.

"Did…did you just do that?"

She giggled again before nodding her head proudly making me break out in faint laughter as I began praising her talent. I found it hard to believe that such a young pony could hold such power and use it like she did. In the midst of my little celebration, I didn't notice how I became surrounded by all the ponies and that I was glowing with a bright white aura.

"Ben, Twilight's home, NOW!"

"What was that Celestia?"

poof*


	17. Chapter 17 - The One

#17

I understood everything that Celestia, Luna, and Twilight had asked thus explaining why I was hanging from a tree, right? I had my feet to a tree and was hanging upside down with no hope of freeing myself from this strange combination of knots. With my hands also tied behind my back, I couldn't slice through it, I really had no way of escaping.

After leaving Twilight's home, I decided to visit back here at Applejack's side of town and stumbled onto a strange home before quickly being lifted off the ground by a trap. Now that I was here, I couldn't really do anything but slowly spin in circles waiting for some pony to come rescue me.

I didn't like hanging like this, brought some bad memories, but luckily, I wasn't down with the _PTSD._

"Hello!?" I loudly yelled hoping for some pony to appear and let me down. I waited and waited for about thirty minutes, doing the same thing over and over again. My feet started to become numb and I became a little more annoyed than worried about my position.

"K!?" I shouted hoping he was around, but I left him back at Twilight's with the little one in his care. Careless, some might say to leave a baby to a demon, bbut after what I saw from him and Strike, he's earned my respect.

After a few short thoughts on how to get down, I remembered I possessed the ability to fly and began to try to yank myself off the tree. Even if I could fly, this damn tree was a real pain in the ass to get rid of. I pulled so hard on the apple tree that it was uprooting, despite that I held my breath as I put more force in my pull.

"Let me go, DAMN IT!" I cursed as the rope wouldn't loosen or rip, and the tree wouldn't come off. I continued to struggle, applying more force to the stubborn tree. It didn't take long for my leg to start to cramp up as the tree wouldn't give in. After a few more yanks, I finally felt the massive jolt of pain from my calf to my hamstring and stiffened up completely. I had put so much force on the tree, it swung me at it with full force.

"OH SHI-"

I was immediately cut off the huge bang from the side of my head and quickly turning to the most pressuring pain for a split second before I completely lost focus and blacked out.

After what felt like seconds, I woke up, my head was still numb from the hit that I briefly recall and I could feel some warm sensation from the left side of my face. I wanted to open my eyes but the weakness I felt was unbearably heavy and accompanied by sounds of children…no, little ponies! I mustered the strength to open my eyes but barely, three blurry dots grouped into one group stood in front of me, I could have sworn that for a moment they poked my head with something blunt.

Despite what it was they were poking me with, it was getting annoying, they repeated it about three more times. I finally had it on the fourth try and quickly opened my eyes and caught a wooden stick between my teeth. They all shrieked and hid behind some of the trees that surrounded this area. I didn't manage to make out their appearance but they were small.

I spit out the stick in my mouth and shook my head getting rid of the dizziness I felt at the moment before looking at the huge sets of eyes that peered around the trees. They were upside down and seemed a little shaken up by my presence. I looked up to my feet to see I was still bound to the tree and regretted the idea of ever trying something like "that" ever again. My sight tracked down to the ponies that were making small talk with each other and exposed themselves a little more than before.

"You talk to it Scootaloo," One of the ponies said making me look at her, she instantly threw herself behind the tree completely before looking around it. All I saw was her light-green tinted eyes as she pushed out who I presume is this "Scootaloo". My attention then turned to another pony looking over the green-eyes one, she had a huge bow and a had an orange outline in her eyes.

I looked down to the ground as Scootaloo inched herself closer to me, she shook with every movement she made. I stared and watched silently as she finally made it to about a few inches from me, I didn't realize I was nearly touching the ground before now, she was eye level with me. My sight didn't part from her, she was an orange shade with violet eyes like her mane and tail, and had tiny wings. Her tiny wings made me want to gush out in "Aww".

"Umm…hello there," she greeted insecurely.

"Hey Ya!" I returned cheerfully, funny thing was I didn't feel that way.

"EPP!" she squeaked.

I raised an eyebrow as I saw her jump off the ground and fall back down with a thump. She seemed to not have expected me to respond.

"You okay?" I asked casually, which made her quickly stand and place her hoof on my forehead.

"Don't scare me like that!" She sternly stated removing her hoof and sighing heavily.

"But you were the one who said "hi"?" I replied back making her turn back and slightly nod in agreement.

"Oh yeah! Sorry about that!" She apologized before calling out her friends, "Come out, he isn't a monster after all!"

First was the white one then the vanilla one, they cautiously appeared from behind the tree and joined Scootaloo who had a smile plastered over her face. I took mental notes on the ponies' attributes and looked at Scootaloo who had pulled out a pair of scissors out of nowhere. She snipped them like a crazed maniac before giving me a creepy look that made me question her intents. Before I could even ask she had already climbed me and made her way to the top branch of the tree and placed the rope between the blades. I frantically looked up at her and shook my head.

"Wait, untie my hands-"

She closed her eyes, ignoring me as she closed the blades. I closed my eyes as well hoping I would open them on the ground safe and sound.

Ooof*

I felt my face land face first into the ground, luckily the soft bed of grass cushioned my face from any damage. Then it hit me, I could have just floated down.

"Oww…"

I flipped my body around and shook my legs violently trying to get rid of the numbness in them as well as the tangled rope. I managed to get it off before spotting my sword right next to me, _there it is, must have fallen out_! I managed to place the sword between my hands and slowly cut away at the rope. Once I felt the blood rush back into my feet and hands, I threw myself on my feet and shook my body, getting a feel for it.

"Ah! That's better! Thanks." I said look down at the other ponies that were looking up at the tree worried. I followed their eyes and saw Scootaloo looking anxiously down as she fidgeted around with the scissors. My eyebrow rose up and began to ponder why she didn't fly back down?

"You need help?" I asked she nodded her head a little disappointed. I chuckled and flew up to grab her, her eyes widened with shock as she saw me go from being down on the ground, up to her. I extended my hands out and she hopped on, pondering how I was able to fly. I returned down to the ground, letting her go before confronting her friends. They seemed about as shocked as Scootaloo.

"Wow, you can fly!?" Both the white and vanilla ponies asked making me nod with a smile, I was glad they appreciated my newly discovered talent. I would have continued smiling if it weren't for the depressed-looking pony to my left.

I turned my body to face Scootaloo who had nothing but disappointment over her little face. I kneeled down next to her and asked.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head before lowering it and raising her back. I stared at her as she fanned out her little wings, rapidly moving them up and down while holding her breath tightly. Nothing happened but a failed attempt, she let out her breath and looked up at me still pretty upset.

"I can't fly…" She said in a low voice, I looked back at her with smile and a nod.

"Of course, you're too young!" I responded, but she wasn't going to take that as her answer.

"No! You don't understand, I can't fly!" She said becoming a little annoyed and creating some tension.

"So, do other fillies at your age fly?" I asked making sure it wasn't a matter of age, she sighed and nodded her head sadly.

"Oh…What's your case?"

"I JUST CAN'T, DON'T YOU GET IT!?"

I felt something start to hurt, either her or me, maybe both. She was huffing out all the force she put into that last statement before forming some tears around her eyes and whimpering away. All I could think of was being different…negatively, it was something that everyone fears and hopes to never become, yet she already had it.

"I'm sorry…" She whimpered some more, wiping away her tears with her hoof. "I'm sorry."

"No…There's no need to apologize," I said feeling the pain in my chest loosen, I couldn't stand hearing such a thing from a young one. To realize you're lower than those around you while young is wrong.

"But I-"

I looked down at her with a smile casted upon my face and placed my hand over her mouth. She stared at me with full attention as I removed my hand.

"Don't worry about it, now, how about you tell me why I was hanging from a tree," I said smiling widely making her smile, as soon as I was about to stand up I felt one of the little ones speak from my right.

"Yer really kind, mister!"

A switch flicked in my mind as that southern accent reappeared, my mind instantly went to Applejack as I turned to the little vanilla pony. She had a kind smile and her appearance actually reminded me of Applejack.

"Say, I've heard that accent before, are you related to Applejack?" I asked getting up and placing my sword away. She gave a small nod before raising one hoof towards herself.

"Yer right! I am!"

"Ha! I was right! Are you sister or daughter?" I asked hoping either one was right, she giggled a little before looking at Scoots and at the other pony and skipped over to me. She looked directly at me and smiled.

"I'm her sister, Apple Bloom!" She cheered standing on her hind hooves with both hooves out in excitement. I smiled gently, Applejack had a little sister, a cute one too.

"Hmm…hey," The white one came from the corner of my eye and was a little cautious unlike the others. I looked at her as she tried to get the courage to look me eye to eye, she managed a little holding her breath. She bared a resemblance to somepony too, but I couldn't make out who.

"Hey, you also look familiar but to whom?" I asked pondering as I studied her more closely and used my thinking powers to uncover it. She giggled a little and looking up at me allowing me to get a good view of her. It flicked again, that mane and…well, that's it but I knew who she might link with. My eyes lit up with excitement as I smacked my palm with my other hand, she looked at me full of hope as I prepared my answer.

"You found out!?" She asked, I nodded and gave her one last good look to confirm it.

"Rarity, am I right!?" I answered hoping I was right. What am I saying, I was right! There is no way I could get this wrong. She pondered it a little, toying with me but I wasn't going to fail at this, it was obvious somehow.

"Yes, I am! I'm Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister!" She said smiling widely.

I turned my sight over to Scoots who was looking upset again and seemed to be hurting internally. I lifted my head up to her and didn't think twice about asking her.

"Who are you related-

Some hit me from behind the head, I could have sensed it but didn't…strange. I turned to look at the floor as an apple landed right next to me, I glanced at it before turning a full 180 and looking at who threw it. I wasn't mad but whoever threw it has a good throw.

I looked into some green-eyed stallion that had nothing but this look of boredom across his face. I nodded my head as I picked up the apple and bounced it on my hand a little before grinning.

"Did you throw this apple at me?"

He seemed to slightly smile back as he quickly threw another apple, I quickly grabbed it and felt the force that he threw it with. He did have a good throw, that one was a little stronger than the last one.

"E-yup," He replied holding another apple on his hoof and bouncing it up and down, I felt a little threatened but also like I was being played around with. I quickly threw an apple at the one he was warming up and knocked out right out of his hoof. He reacted slowly and looked at his hoof and at me with a no expression.

"Bulls-eye!" I exclaimed cheerfully.

"E-yup," he said again moving right in front of me and staring me down. I glanced at him once and like before another switch went off. He looked strong and hard-working, seemed like a busy stallion.

"Now let me guess, another relative of Applejack's?" I asked smiling. He nodded once and replied with the same word as before.

"E-yup."

"Cool, what are you: brother?"

"E-yup."

"Stallion of few words eh?"

"E-yup."

This stallion was cool, only speaking in few words is badass, like the T-800. I smiled at his response, it was probably his honest style of answering and the fact that Applejack had another relative. I looked at him, nodded my head, and reached my hand out.

"Hey Ya! I'm Ben!"

He looked at my hand for a few seconds before lifting his hoof up and allowing me to shake it. He seemed to take my expression well and slightly smiled again.

"And you?"

"That's Big McIntosh! But call him Big Mac!" Apple Bloom interrupted from behind me. I knew he probably wasn't going to respond but it was worth a try. Either way, I knew who he was now, a hard-working, silent, apple pitching stallion.

"Awesome! Well now that I know who you are, one of you explain why I was hanging from a tree?" I asked again, this time they all gave each other funny looks before Apple Bloom answered me.

"Well, ya kinda fell into our trap," She responded.

"Trap?"

"Yeah, to catch the tree thief!" Scoots added, "But Applejack told us it was an accident."

"And we forgot to put it up!" Sweetie Belle continued.

"Ah…that makes sense," I replied chuckling slightly. I sighed deeply and looked up to the sky and back down at Big Mac who was back to his boredom. Scoots was looking happier than before and the other two were picking up the rope. I glanced down at Scoots as she trotted over to me and tugged on my pants.

"Yes?"

"Who are you exactly?"

" _Oh boy, here we go!"_ I thought as I sat down on the grass and prepared to tell my tale.

\- Back in town, K is taking care of the little pony –

K had the little pony by his side on the benches in the middle of town. He glanced down at her from time to time, while the little pony stared at him making him uneasy. He'd been here for ten minutes and that staring never ended. He shifted a few times before finally not being able to stand anymore staring.

"What is it!?"

He didn't like the attention, and as if on purpose, the little pony seemed to study him even more intensely. K ran his hands through his hair desperately trying to not get angered any more than he already was. She didn't respond.

"You know, I'm not one to talk, but you gotta fix that silent attitude." K tried to educate but it only received silence.

"You seemed so happy before, and now you're acting like you've lost all your brain cells, what's up with you?"

He still didn't get an answer and her eyes peirced deeper in his soul. K leaned away from her and nodded slowly and awkwardly as he studied her blank eyes. Slowly, K was getting a worrying sensation, and worry isn't K department.

"Wanna talk about something?" K asked and the little one was reactionless.

"Okay," K said as he got comfortable.

"How about music, you like music?" K asked, and she gave the obvious treatment. K nodded as he shrugged.

"Well, back when Ben was a kid like you, he would listen to all this music that was beautiful," K informed her and waited for a reaction, bit nothing. He continued.

"Strange, hearing a demon speak about beauty in music is crazy, but I too get my kicks. So, there were all these bands for diffrent types of music, my favorite was Air Supply, believe it or not, I liked the amazing vocals, they were peaceful."

K looked over to her and smirked. "I could show you a little something, but first break out of this strange stare off you've kept up for nearly fifteen minutes."

The little pony finally blinked and raised one hoof and looked up at something beyond K. Her eyes, despite having blinked, were still blank and never moved, almost as if this whole time, she had been staring at something. He lifted his head a little and gave her an odd look.

"Something is gonna attack…"

"Excuse me?" K asked before backing his head away from her and looking around himself insecurely. The pony didn't blink again and had a vibe that only sent chills down K's spine, that was a rare thing to happen to K.

"Yu-Yuso…he's…he's."

She quickly shook her head and smacked it on the bench, strongly. K managed to breathe a thin line of air as he picked her up and shook her violently.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" He asked, placing her eye level with him and staring into her soul. The little pony's eyes slightly glowed a bright golden yellow for a split second before she quickly escaped his arms and grabbed onto his neck, holding him tightly and breathing heavily. K had no time to react, all he could do was widely open his eyes and close hands into fists from the shock.

"I-I don't know…" She answered grabbing on tighter. "I'm scared…"

K stared off into the sky wondering what happened, his mind split in two directions. Who was this Yuso she spoke of? And more importantly, why did she change personality so suddenly?

The pony had settled in place on his neck and seemed to have become a little calmer, her grip loosened as she slowly began to slip off him.

"What the-"

K quickly placed his hands on his chest feeling the weight of the pony fall upon his hands. The little one had passed out and K was left with no choice but to quickly make his way to hide from the public. He left the ground making a quick break into the sky as he searched for a deserted place to put the pieces together. He soon found an opening in a grass field where nothing was there but trees and a few bushes.

He studied the area a bit before throwing himself down on the grass and looking in his hands as the little pony seemed to clench her teeth in unforseen pain.

"What the hell is happening?" he asked himself as he rotated her in his hands looking for any sign of physical damage, nothing. He proceeded to dive in deeper and use some of his magic to read her mind but something pushed against his magic.

"What is this!?" He strictly said out loud as he laid her on the floor and rubbed his hands on his face in desperation. He was stumped now, what could he do? He thought about it before something crossed his mind instantaneously.

"Oh good, now Ben is gonna kill me!" K placed his hands on her and tried to shake her awake. "HEY! WAKE UP!"

He began to rock her on the ground with his hand and even tried to induce a small shock using his dark energy, but nothing seemed to work. The more she refused to wake up, the more he became more desperate.

"WAKE UP!" K finally urged before groaning in frustration as he placed his head on the little pony's forehead, taking a moment to relieve the stress. Within seconds, K was back it, gently giving her some soft slaps across each cheek.

"Come on! You can't do this to me!"

"How about a muffin!?"

"DA-FUCK IS A MUFFIN GONNA DO!?" K yelled at such a stupid idea before he processed that high pitched squeal. "Wait a minute-WHO ARE YOU!?"

K turned back and looked at the blonde pony as she held a smile and a muffin on her hoof. He couldn't believe he wasn't aware of her presence and how close she was, right next to him nearly rubbing him. K stared as she lowered the steamy muffin close to the little pony's muzzle and waved it, persuading her to wake up.

"How about a warm muffin?" She asked, circling it around the little one's muzzle.

The little pony's muzzle twitched a few times before opening her eyes slowly.

" _No fucking way!"_ K thought as the pony fully opened her eyes and bit a piece off of the muffin.

"Derpy saves the day!" The zealous gray pegasi exclaimed, letting the muffin go, giving it the pony. K watched as this Derpy pegasi got on all fours only to somehow end up upside down.

He stared at her as she looked at him from an upside-down view, she waved her hoof playfully at him making him wave back cautiously.

"Hello! Why are you upside-down?" She asked scratching her head with her hoof. K couldn't answer, he stared into her eyes as they studied him.

"You're the one upside-down."

"Oh…!" She giggled getting back upright but lost her balance and fell face first into the grass with all fours out. K looked around before getting near her and picking her up, placing her in a balanced position.

"Do you need help?" He asked slowly letting his hands retract as she placed her hooves firmly into the ground. She looked up at him and smiled widely, but K was just as lost as he'd ever been about anything and didn't take the gesture.

"Nope but my muffin is now gone!" She said digging into her satchel and pulling out another muffin with her mouth, "tankfly, I hag anoher!" She giggled with a muffin filled mouth. K stared for a few seconds before getting back to his main problem.

"Yeah…OH, TINY PONY!" He said reaching his hands out to the pony but stopped when he saw her eating the muffin quietly. He looked back at Derpy as she also enjoyed a muffin and wagged her tail with joy. K took a moment to deeply sigh and express his relief, throwing himself backward, laying on the ground.

He imagined in his mind the scenarios of what just happened, closing his eyes he let his mind be the guide.

 _Could she have been hungry? No._

 _Maybe this was a reaction to me? Maybe._

 _Why did she say something was gonna attack? Maybe it did attack and made her react like that? Yeah, that sounds possible._

 _Maybe that Yuso-_

K felt something pounce on his chest and stretch out on him and warm him up.

"Do you want a muffin?"

"Wha-

He looked down at his chest to see Derpy laying down on his chest holding a muffin in one hoof and her muffin on the other. K stared at her trying to keep the straightest face he could while looking into her eyes which had him wondering.

"M.U.F.F.I.N = Muffin!" She cheered moving the muffin closer to his mouth. He felt the warmth of the muffin hit him and the smell make his head light.

"Sure…" he accepted reaching a hand up and grabbing the warm peice of bread, Derpy smiled with glee as she turned lopsided on his chest looked upward to the cloudy sky. K was at a loss for words as he took a bit out of the muffin before quickly swallowing the piece he had in his mouth.

" _WHAT IS THIS TASTE!?"_ he mentally argued before hearing giggles from his torso.

"You like it, don't you?" She asked with her eyes closed knowing the answer. K shuddered at the thought of eating such a delicious thing, that he couldn't continue.

"SO, THIS IS WHAT A MUFFIN TASTES LIKE!? WHAT'S THIS SORCERY!?" He exclaimed studying it intensely. Derpy giggled as she looked at him from her upside-down angle while K stared at the muffin.

"It's bought with someone in mind!" She said throwing K off track and pondering it a bit. Derpy stared at him as she giggled a little softer. K felt something strange as he took another bite from the muffin and savored the flavor.

"It was for you…"

K nearly choked a bit on the piece of muffin before completely swallowing the piece. He gasped for air as Derpy flew off his chest and onto the ground, she stared at him a little worried as lungs revolted. K huffed for air as coughed out the feeling on the back of his throat.

"You must have me mistaken for someone else, I just barely met you!" He said coughing a little more as he tapped his chest repeatedly. Derpy placed her hoof on under her mouth for a few seconds before aiming at him with a nervous smile.

"You look like him…"

K then instantly realized it as mental images of Ben meeting her rushed into his mind. He slightly grinned and snapped his fingers.

"Of course, I do! You're talking to his look-a-like demon!" He said making Derpy ponder this even harder. K nodded. "You mean Ben, I'm Kusanagi or K!"

Derpy looked at him, a small blush forming before she shot her sights down at the ground, saddened by what she was hearing and whimpered a little. K raised an eyebrow as he looked over. "You okay?"

She sniffled a little before wiping away a few forming tears.

"Ben didn't get a muffin…and I don't have any more bits…" She said whimpering even more as tears began to stream down her face. K immediately took notice and stared at her curiously, counting her tears before he sighed.

"How about I help you make some bits?" He inquired making her quickly fly up to him and grab his head with excitement. K stared at her eyes as she was full of hope but tears kept coming.

"REALLY!?" she sniffed.

"Yeah…" K insecurly answered.

"Thank you- thank you- thank you!"

She quickly pulled him into a hug and squeezed him tightly before quickly pecking him a kiss on the cheek. He stared at her as she made her way to the ground and trampled over her own hooves again. K placed his hand on his cheek and rubbed it slightly.

" _A kiss…first one…_ " He thought, looking at his hand.

"Who is she?" The little pony asked from K's shoulder, K froze for a split second before looking to his left and seeing the little pony smiling widely. "h _ow did she get they're without me detecting her? I'm losing it,"_ he thought.

"Are you okay?" He asked but the little pony gave him a confused look as she nodded cautiously, seeming as if she didn't know anything about what just happened. K nodded back and sighed deeply as he thought about the little pony's moment. _"I'll speak to Ben about this later."_

"It's okay, don't think about it…as for this, this is Derpy and we are gonna make some muffin money." K said rubbing his hands together putting aside the little pony's thing for now for the sake of not triggering an after-effect. The pony smiled and squealed in excitement. Derpy got up and rubbed her head from the fall before springing into the air with her hoof out to the town's direction.

"This way!" She announced.

"I'm going." K smirked and the little one smiled with glee.

"YEAH!"

On the way, K had to ask a question that burned him inside.

"Hey Derpy?"

"Ya!"

"Why is your name Derpy?" He asked and she smiled as she shrugged.

"I don't know, they just call me that!"

"Ahh…I see…okay!"

Now back to Ben, who has just finished giving the story about himself – briefly.

"Wow! So, you can fight evil, like some hero!?" Belle asked and I smiled.

"Yeah!" Scoots and Apple Bloom agreed with her question while Mac nodding his head. I agreed to what she was saying but I couldn't really be a hero…or could I? Belle held on to what she expected from me while everyone looked at me anxiously waiting for me to answer, I couldn't disappoint anyone really.

"Yeah! I can!" I balled a fist and pumped it getting a grip on my confidence and not letting it escape as I grinned at them making them also feel motivated. I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure I heard Mac chuckle over the excitement of the three next to me, I guess he isn't as hard as he seems. The time neared for me to actually go and do what I came to do, find Applejack.

I took a deep breath to get rid of my anxiety and get back to normal flow. The little ones in front of me calmed down a bit and Mac sighed. I adjusted my attitude to subtle and turned to face them.

"Is Applejack around?"

Mac seemed to hesitate for a nano-second, it was nearly undetectable but I had my know-how on how to get through it.

"Nope…"

He couldn't fool me, I knew she was here but why say she wasn't? I picked my head up high enough to get the roof of the barn into sight before nodding at Mac.

"Alright…who better to trust than her own brother," I said trying to throw him off, it seemed to work.

"E-yup."

"Right…" I responded back cautiously trying to avoid him detecting my true motives, which were to get to the barn. It was hard to see through his look, for all I knew he was already on to me. I took one step back and looked at the three little ponies that stared at me, trying to signal me to the little house that stood to my right. I nodded in agreement as I looked back at Mac, he still looked like before.

"We'll take care of him for now!" Apple Bloom said appearing next to me leaning with her-anatomically unexplainable-elbow burying into my shin that forced me to hold in some laughter, I could feel her elbow tickling me. For the sake of gaining Mac's trust I held the best composure I could.

"E-yup." He ended as he began to go back in the direction of the barn, I couldn't tell if he had figured me out but I was sure glad I won't be dealing with him now.

I waited until he disappeared from sight and turned to the little ponies, thanking them for getting him to leave.

"Thanks for that, I'm not really sure if I'm on his good or bad side," I added, Apple Bloom was the first one to actually console me right then and there, she was kind and had a great spirt.

"Oh, don't ya worry about it, he's a lot softer than he looks."

"I'm sure he is, I've seen through people like him before."

"People?" Apple Bloom asked only to be answered by Scoots who reminded her about what she heard me say earlier.

"Yer right! I forgot he ain't no pony," She said giggling a little before stopping and covering her mouth. I lifted an eyebrow as she began to apologize, reminding me about how I told them I an endangered species in this world.

"I don't mind, I'm honesty not that alone…" I said smiling at the horizon of trees that led into an infinity of sky. Apple Bloom along with her friends stopped for a moment and responded with the casual "Huh?" I smiled a little wider before looking down at them.

"I got y'all and not to mention a look-a-like demon."

They laughed a little at my response letting me know they got the message. I joined them with a few chuckles before looking up at the sky to catch a glimpse of some heavy white clouds flowing through the sky. My mind instantly went to Applejack and I had to ask again, even if Mac didn't want me to see her.

"Hey, is Applejack actually-"

"Yes, she-" Apple Bloom interrupted but Scoots and Belle covered her mouth quickly. Her eyes widened as she contradicted her brother's word, I knew she would answer me truthfully.

"Don't worry I won't tell your bro," I reassured making her sigh deeply in relief before she became alerted and turn around with the two ponies next her to speak secretly. They spoke furiously as they approved of ideas and theories among themselves before turning to me with looks of extreme suspicion.

They stared at me for a while before turn around and discussing again. I pondered what they were doing, thinking maybe they were playing around, but they seemed to be taking this seriously. They turned for the last time with serious looks and their hooves out at me, I stood confused waiting for them to elaborate.

"Are you the One?" Belle asked.

"The One?" I asked back, they nodded and smiled.

"You are the One!" The yelled in unison, I fanned my hands out trying to see if they were hearing me out.

"What does that mean!?"

"That means you've got a special friend!" Belle answered me smiling widely, I didn't pay much attention to this but they were all blushing lightly as I continued to question.

"Special friend?"

"Umm…you know…the "Friend"…" Scoots said using her hooves and demonstrating a kissing maneuver. I nodded in agreement but I couldn't really say I was surprised, Applejack seemed lovable from the start. A smile twitched onto my face as I looked toward the barn's direction and made and excited a fist.

"So, a special friend, huh?"

"So…are you gonna go see her?" Belle asked inching closer to me along with her friends. I turned to them with a smile before instantly looking into the eyes of the subject. My smile slowly faded and I stood frozen not knowing what to do.

"Hello? Ya there?" Apple Bloom asked as she moved up to my leg and started to tap it lightly trying to get my attention but I couldn't pay attention to anything but who was looking at me the same way I was looking at her.

"Ya can't just leave my sister the way she is, come on!" Bloom said starting to push against my leg and making and effort to move me. She pushed with her hooves before switching to her back and pushing with all her might. By now everyone had noticed that she was here except Apple Bloom.

"But she's right here," I mentioned in a casually blunt way.

Apple Bloom's eyes must have hurt for her to have open them that wide as she slowly noticed her sister standing right across me. She quickly hid behind my leg holding on to my pants tightly as she did, peering at her like she did with me earlier.

"How long where you there?" I asked hoping to cover up for the little ponies' awkward comments about her. She smiled a calm smile that caught us all off-guard, I didn't notice till now how I had all the little ones behind me grabbing on tightly.

"Just bout long enough to hear y'all havin' some fun with ma name and the Special One," She smirked, I couldn't help but do the same. I nodded and looked down my sides at the little ponies that were hoping me to cover for them, fortunately I'm good at these times, I grinned and snapped a finger.

"Yeah? And how did they know about the Special One?" I teased playfully, putting her in the spot.

She blushed a great one if I do say so myself, and she became slightly defensive as I expected. I knew she wasn't gonna win this argument with all the little details I had against her.

"Don't look at me like that, they probably put it together!"

I nodded and began playing around a little with these phrases.

"They put what together?"

"That you and me…wait a sec, NO FAIR!" She said trembling a little as I crossed my arms and smiled happily. She stepped back as she processed her mistake through her mind.

"You and me what?" I asked slowly leaning in a bit closer, giving her all attention.

"Don't play like that!" She yelled drowning with all her embarrassment. I lifted my head and nodded proudly.

"I'm just messin' with ya, I came to find you!" I said going back to the actual reason I was here to begin with. I came here because she left looking pretty depressed from Twi's home and I had a soft spot for these types of problems.

She widened her eyes toward the ground and flash me a look of surprise. Something was amidst concerning her and me but what?

"To find me?" She asked trembling, I nodded and got a little more serious.

"What?" The three below me asked as well.

I glanced at them before getting to Applejack who was still a little worried about something. I lifted my hand and tightened it into a fist.

"What happened back at Twilight's home, something bothered you, but what?" I asked.

She trembled a little more before rubbing her hoof on the other, this was common among her and her friends. I waited for an answer as she began to lower head using her hat to shield her face and shook her head in frustration.

"Ya wouldn't understand…"

I flinched a little, I hated those words; to me they meant I'm not good enough or I've failed at something. I tightened my fist slightly angered but worry consuming me mostly, the little ponies looked up at me curiously as I began to walk to her and knelt down in front of her.

"What did I do?"

"What?"She asked, taken off guard.

I knew she was hurting inside but she was covering up with these questions. I had to ask again.

"What did I do…to hurt you?"

"What-no, you didn't-" She lifted her head this time to reveal her watery eyes that were no surprise to me.

I placed my hand out to her and stopped her before she could answer, I knew she wouldn't get it until I elaborated.

"Fine, have I changed?"

"No…" she cautiously answered lowering her head slowly again as she did she slipped out one word. "yes…"

I nodded, finally getting to the main reason and getting her to understand better.

"Well then, what?"

She lifted her head again and gave that strange look someone gives before finally bursting into tears.

"Yer what any pony would beg to have," She said using her hoof to wipe away her tears that shimmered in the sunlight as they dropped to the bed of grass beneath us.

I couldn't react, this time I wasn't prepared, I had only my common sense to guide me. If there is one this I knew, it's that common sense leads to those awkward moments that are so hard to get use to but go in history as your first movement in a relationship. I'm a lot wiser than I seem.

Applejack continued, "When I first saw ya emerge from Everfree forest, I was terrified of ya, I thought ya would cause pain to us all, but no…"

If there is anything I hate to feel it would be nostalgia of a few days ago but I couldn't control the common-sense factor. This is instinct, and rules are you can't deny it.

"Ya had to end up something so…so…stupidly lovable and passionate! This is why, I can't even think straight cause of ya!"

I felt something hurt, was it the nostalgia, the wanting to throw up with guilt, or the simple fact I was so fucking stupid to even think about how I affected others.

"I know," I responded but I wasn't speaking, like many one-liners: my heart spoke for me.

"Ya do?" She asked sniffing away her tears as I reached out my hand to her hat and flicked it up with my thumb.

"I never imagined I would get closer to any pony than I would to any human, I was terrified about speaking to y'all so I let my mouth do the speaking and not my feelings, but I can see that it just hurt you and maybe others," I slowly said making my scar into her feelings.

She wanted to hide, for me to speak so seriously seemed so unnerving to others, that probably because I'm never serious when it comes to these matters.

"I-I-feel broken," She slowly whispered out, I never expected to use a one-liner here but if it came from my heart then it works.

"That's why I'm here to put you back together," I said embracing her in probably the most thoughtful hug I will ever give any pony. My feelings radiated like the warmth around us and her tears moisten my shoulder as she pressed tighter into my shoulder.

I knew something strange would come up later but right now I wanted to hold her and ease any pain I created. Just before I could completely lose myself I heard a few words out the edge of my ear and these words may as well summarize this whole moment.

"Aww, he is the One!"

"E-yup!"

In Canterlot, Twilight appears before the princesses clutching tightly the book that has Ben's fate written all over it as she begins to tear up slightly

"Twilight!? What is it? Why are you crying!?" Celestia asked becoming intruded by Twilight's sudden appearance.

Twilight took a moment to organize her thoughts before…

"This is urgent, Ben is something…something!"

No amount of preparation would ever make her say it, no matter how urgent it was. She began to sob even louder and buried her head into her hooves as she levitated the book toward the princesses, they took the book and quickly skid over the pages before quickly going back and forth in a page. Celestia put the book down quickly breathing heavily with her eyes staring aimlessly into nothing. Luna looked over to her before reaching a hoof over.

"Sister…?"

Celestia gulped as she looked back down at the book.

"We must find Ben."


	18. Chapter 18 - Controversy

#18

I surfed around the town greeting everypony happily getting smiles and kind gestures, everything was at ease in this small town. My mind drifted at times to Applejack, the joy she brought me and the comfort she provides is everything I could ask for. "Nice…"

So many things have happened so fast that it was chilling to think of something being different. I continued my way to Rarity's Bo- well I haven't really gotten used to the name but it was apparently a place I could get clothes, wearing these clothes anyone could easily mistake me for K even if they were a comfortable fit.

I managed to get myself in front of this fancy tower-like building, it looked like the fanciest thing around so it must have been Rarity's Bo-whatever. The structure of such a building was impressive and difficult but made the place stand out. I walked up to the entrance of this place and raised my hand to knock but all I managed to knock was the air as the door swung wide open revealing Rarity introducing herself.

"Welcome to Rar-oh, Hello Darling," She greeted realizing it's me, I greeted back and gained entrance to her Bou-ti-que. I was a little surprised in the beginning with how easy it was to get in here, nothing but saying "hi" got me in, strange? Maybe.

I looked around for a few seconds exploring the bright environment I had entered, it was shades of pink and violet with mannequins everywhere, well, Ponyquines and fabrics all over, _busy pony_. I admired the smooth looking fabrics and highly-decorated outfits for ponies.

"Wow, you're a busy pony ain't ya?" I asked turning to her as she shut the doors and trotted over to a desk and picked up a notebook with her magic and ferociously jotted something down. I stared at her as she trotted about the room getting down notes as she studied the ponyquines, my mind was telling me to slowly walk out while she wasn't looking but I couldn't leave when she invited me in like that.

I stood there, staring at her until she finally finished about three minutes later.

"Phew, that's over and done…" She said throwing herself on a comfortable looking mattress, I could've sworn she nearly passed out on it but she instantly sprang up when she glimpsed at me. I waved my hand at her. "Hi."

"Sorry about that, I finally finished these orders so… did you need something darling?" She asked being incredibly calm about it. I couldn't bear to ask her to do anymore, she probably worked her flank off trying to just finish this and I wasn't about to be rude and add more to her agenda.

"I just wanted…to…" I began trying to think of an excuse for coming here, but I couldn't come up with anything smart or logical for that matter.

"-Get something to new to wear?" She interrupted picking up the notebook she left beside her, her tone of voice let me know she knew what I came for. I scratched the back of my head feeling a little guilty as I nodded my head shamefully. She smiled lightly and opened her notebook to a new page, I managed to get a peek at what she wrote down, my full name with a heart over the J and I in "Benjamin." I shrugged it off believing she wrote it like she usually does.

"Alright then darlin', this way,"

She led me into a room that had even more ponyquines, a fashion show stand, and a fancy seat. I still felt shame but not as much as before, if she offered it then I must take it. She ordered me to take a seat on a small chair but it was too small for me so I sat on the next thing I saw, a stool. She giggled a little when I stared awkwardly at the small seat from the stool before pulling out a line of measuring tape and scissors. I didn't like the way she snipped them with a smirk, it might have triggered my PTSD from Scoots playing with scissors.

"What are the scissors for?" I asked cautiously but all I could get out of her was a malicious giggle. "You'll see…"

I allowed her to get up close and study my physical build as she pulled on my sleeves and tugged on my pants. She continued doing so while asking me questions about my old fashion, I answered to the best of my abilities but she probably would be better off guessing.

"Hmm…so _jeans_ , _shirt_ , _boxers_ , and _socks_?"

"Yeah, can you handle that?"

She placed her hoof over mouth to hold back her laughter, she silently let it escape with a few giggles. "Oh darling you don't know me at all."

I smirked a little but it was true, I didn't really know much about anyone besides the obvious and all I was told and inferred. "True, but I wouldn't say I don't know you at all."

She thought about it for a few seconds before agreeing and continuing on the studying of my build. As of now, she hadn't used the tape or scissors, which heightened my curiously. I asked about it again but she just gave me the same answer.

"You'll see…"

"Okay…"

After a few more questions she finally lifted the scissors and snipped them maniacally. I smiled unwillingly and let her pull my hand out with her magic, she blew on the scissor's blade making a whistle sound, they were extremely sharp. She placed the scissor's blades between my sleeve and bit down on her tongue as she adjusted the angle.

"Alright, darling I'll just snip a little of fabric off this sleeve and-"

She closed the blades...and left us both staring at each other wide-eyed, the chill of the room filled me as I felt way too exposed and Rarity blushed way too strongly. My shirt, pants, and gloves disappeared, leaving me with only boots/socks and boxers and a sword thrown on the floor. We stared at each other for a few more seconds until she slowly closed the scissors with an embarrassed try-hard-smile.

"So tis the power of the mighty scissors, incredible…" I humorously added ignoring the fact that I was exposed, not fully, but exposed. Rarity glanced at the scissors before looking at me and beginning to tremble with embarrassment as she began to apologize quickly.

"No-no-no this shouldn't happen, it's just scissors by Celestia's name!" She said putting them down quickly before doing her best to avoid my visual contact. I also felt a bit embarrassed but not as much as her since I was in love with her reactions.

"Oh, then you caused this?" I teased but she quickly defended herself with the obvious response.

"No-no-no-no, this can't truly be my fault," She said swaying her head back and forth glancing looks at me, _oh she wanted to look_. I nodded sarcastically before lifting my hand up at her and aiming a finger at her.

"What were you thinking about?" I asked to tease even more, her face reddened as it became clear she was guilty of thinking something. She began to come up with some excuses that never really led anywhere.

"Well, you see…I didn't…really…"

This went on for a few glances until she finally stopped and actually stared at me, but not with embarrassment but with worry. I became a little more serious as well, it's not common for a conversation like this to become serious.

"Wha-what is that?!" She exclaimed clutching the measuring tape up to her eyes. I looked around me and studied myself using all my skills of observation to find out that…There is nothing wrong with me.

"What is it? Am not hurt, am I?" I asked about as seriously as I could get this conversation to be before it hit me; the scar. "Oh yeah, the scar…don't worry about it."

She shook her head and trembled a little before lifting her hoof with her eyes wide open.

I looked down at myself once more but again, I didn't find anything wrong besides the fact that I was missing my shirt and pants. I shrugged at her and signaled that I had no clue what she was trying to say, but she only blushed heavier and neared me with her eyes looking away and lifted her hoof once more.

I felt her heavily place her hoof over my crotch area that instantly made me grab her hoof and tighten my legs, even if it was a two-second touch it still sent a tingling sensation that stiffened my back into an arch and force closed my legs. Was I quivering? I sure was but just because of this…why? I looked back up at Rarity who was staring at me shivering like I was as we awkwardly stared at each other.

I allowed her hoof to slip out of my hand before she gave me a small embarrassed giggle, oh no, was I gonna get that karma shit for teasing her? I stared at her, expecting anything to come out of her mouth and hopefully be ready to answer.

"You're pretty sensitive," She pointed out making me feel a little more embarrassed, I could feel the red beginning to accumulate. I guess it's about time I start talkin' back. I lifted my head revealing my face to her making her giggle a little more before nearing me a little more. "Looks like I reddened a beast."

"Yeah, consider yourself lucky!" I exclaimed in a defensive tone but she wasn't done with me, she placed her hoof over her mouth and pondered it. "Lucky? How?"

"If you haven't obliterated my clothes, this would have never happened!" I exclaimed again, but this time she got defensive and denied ever doing so. I wasn't gonna take this, she knew damn well she did this or somehow managed it.

"No, I didn't!"

"You did!"

"No!"

"You did!"

"Never!"

"You're lying to me!"

"I never lie!"

"You lied again!"

After a few minutes of arguing the conversation escalated to a point I never imagined to get to, this was starting to go in many directions. Amidst my come back, she raised her hoof and aimed it at me with grinning widely, I stared at her waiting to hear her proud comment.

"YOU CAME IN HER JUST FOR THAT, DIDN'T YOU?!"

"Wha- NO! I wouldn't come here for that!"

"Now you're the one lying!"

"Alright then! I came here to down and dirty with you and this is how you treat me!?" I replied finally ending this crazy amount of back and forthness, she froze, with her eyes shaking and the hoof she held out was now over her mouth.

"Really?" She responded in probably the most zealous voice she could make. I didn't react for a few seconds but I could tell something was not as I expected it, my mind was processing this one question, " _Did she really just take that as a compliment?_ "

"I was just kidding, you know that, right?" I asked making her make a full 180 and look away with her head down with her hooves over her face. "He's lying…He-he"

I nodded my head and just accepted it, I wouldn't deny anything anymore. She turned to me and placed the measuring tape onto my chest pressing it onto my skin. I felt strange again, I couldn't move my body, my back was arched again with my legs attached to the floor.

"How about we get these measurements?" She said leaping onto my legs that were perfectly aligned with the each other as began to measure, was this really necessary? I allowed her to scale me and maybe it wasn't the best idea, she would rub and take these warm breaths of air against my back that made me shiver.

After the measurements were done and she finally jumped off and trotted off to a room, I let out my breath and looked down to my crotch. I was more terrified than embarrassed now, the damn thing nearly went off and then I would have really have had a problem. It couldn't blame it on him though when Rarity was breathing and rubbing up against me.

"Damn it, you're the first thing I have to worry about!" I said closing my eyes for a few minutes but instantly regretted it as my perverted imagination began to build me my own album of moans and groans. I snapped my eyes wide open as I began to feel movement down below me, the boner was taking over.

"Oh, hell no! You stay down!"

I began to rid my mind of any thoughts or emotions I was feeling but nothing would save me from the thing in my boxers. I never thought I would go down the strength of my own dick, oh well.

"Who are you talking to?"

"GAH! No one!" I quickly exclaimed placing my arms around my thighs to cover myself up. I didn't want to look her in the eyes for the sake of not being caught but she forced me around somehow. I looked the pair of blue jeans, white tank top, and gloves she held with her magic.

"Alright, then prepare to be amazed! Ta-da!" She proudly held out the clothes in front of me to study, I was amazed at how fast it happened that I probably forgot about my erection for a second. I lifted my one of my hands to grab them and placed them over my legs trying to cover up but there still was a hill on the clothes.

"You can change in-"

"THANKS, RARITY!" I thanked as I left in a blur to the room she pointed to.

"You're…welcome…"

I took about as much time as I needed to calm myself down before finally placing the clothes on. Everything fit perfectly like the clothes I had before the incident, I was surprised to actually discover that I could lift my leg over my head in these clothes and that I could move like before.

"Oh wow! This is awesome!"

I placed the gloves on my hand to see that everything fit perfectly.

I took deep breaths as I placed my hands on a wall before finally exiting the room hoping to not experience this again. I couldn't spot Rarity, my eyes looked around the room as I stood in place at the entrance of the door. She wasn't able to be seen, where is she?

"Rarity? Hello?!"

She didn't respond but it seemed there was a commotion going on outside, I could hear it. I picked up my sword and wrapped it around my waist and walked to the door being cautious about my steps, I managed to make it about half-way there before it swung open violently. I reacted quick and threw myself behind a huge mirror and peaked out the side of it as these strange ponies came in, in strange outfits.

"Do you see him Soarin?"

"No, but this is where they told us to look."

I hid closer behind the mirror and looked frantically around for a way out of the bouquet. These didn't seem like normal ponies and I'm sure they don't come for any good intensions. I stayed hidden for now waiting for them to leave but that didn't happen, instead, their voices arose and so did Rarity's.

"Rarity, have you seen, umm…B-e-n?" The stallion asked that made me lean my ear a little closer to the edge of the mirror. She didn't respond for a few seconds until questions arose again.

"He's new, have you seen him?" The one with the fire-like mane spoke next, this time Rarity did respond but it was obvious she was a little nervous.

"No, I haven't, what happened?" She asked them, they glanced at each other once before getting back at her.

"The princesses summon him…but he is nowhere to be found," The same one answered but this wasn't the full story, something was wrong, I could feel this feeling of hostility and placed my hand to my side and began to twitch my fingers as I waited for something to happen.

Rarity conversated with them, explaining how nothing had happened besides a few orders she took this morning. They didn't believe it, their expressions of frustration displayed over their faces said so, they questioned again but this time a little more aggressively.

"I haven't seen this whoever you're talking about!" Rarity responded as I prepared myself to face these three with my hand starting to close into a fist. I watched closely as they took a step nearer to her and I lifted myself a little to finally confront these new ponies.

When sliding out my sword, I stopped as a shadow manifested over the ponies. I stared at the outline of an alicorn as it took steps forward and stopped next to them.

"He's here, find him!"

"Luna?" I whispered as I got up enough to be considered standing and peaked around the mirror to see Luna looking around the area with an extremely serious look on her that made me question her motives.

I couldn't do anything but stay and wait it out. I waited as I heard some things flip over and then a crash, _what hell is going on?_ The last crash forced my hand grip tightly onto the sword and slightly pull out three more inches. I waited cautiously for a few seconds before Rarity yelled something out.

"NO!"

My head picked up high and my sword fully came out but I kept it hidden from their sight. I listen closely as I could hear Rarity gag out something, _was she being choked?_ I stood up even more when Luna cleared her throat to speak.

"Come out Ben before your friend is no more!"

My heart nearly stopped, this voice I was hearing wasn't Luna's and this way of being isn't hers neither. I clutched tightly onto my sword as more gaging as heard, my hand trembled at the sound. Without a moment to lose I emerged from the back of the mirror exposing myself with my sword gripped tight and my face representing pure disbelief. She was Luna but the way she looked at me wasn't her look, I quickly connected my eyes with Rarity who was levitated about six feet off the ground and struggling to get her breath with her eyes tightly closed.

"Luna…wha…what are you doing?!" I exclaimed as I looked at Rarity who opened an eye and reached her hoof out for me. Luna seemed to express no emotion but the seriousness in her eyes, that were of something else, the eyes of a demon.

"Let her go! This isn't who you are!" I demanded as I switched my sword to a backhand wield as I prepared for something I didn't want to have to do. Luna didn't react but her grip on Rarity increased and my patience was tested. I clenched my teeth as I raised my sword across my face, seeing Luna on either side of the blade.

"Luna, please! Let…her…go…" I stated in a threatening manner and regretting having to do anything harming to her, even if she was hurting my friend.

She shook her head slowly making my breath cut off as I quickly swung my hand out in front of me, launching the sword spinning to her at a rapid speed but she quickly stopped it but it was worth it. I had Rarity in my hands and I was now hanging upside down the ceiling and continued to stare in disbelief as she began this evil-like laughter.

"Luna…" I whispered to myself as I stared at her as she continued laughing, asking myself if this was really Luna. I looked down at Rarity who had tears in her eyes as she also stared in disbelief.

"DAMN IT LUNA! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" I yelled as I quickly appeared in front of her, not expecting her to do anything. She glanced a look at me before my sword quickly tried to hack the side of my head, my hand quickly sprung up and caught it between my thumb and index finger before I took it away from her and backhanded it again. Her eyes were enough to make me believe there was still hope for this not being Luna.

"You're not Luna, who are you!?" I asked clutching Rarity in my other arm and felt the pain in my chest harden. She closed her eyes before opening them again and revealing her normal eyes, I stared as the pain inside me squeezed out my lungs.

"I am Luna and you're something that shouldn't exist anymore…" She coldly responded and placed me between either exploding in fury or run away from here denying it all.

She changed slightly from before, she didn't look like the laughing maniac from before, but instead, now she was more serious. I made a new discovery, this Luna from before isn't the Luna from now: the other is more insane and merciless while this one is more serious and probably wouldn't attack us.

"I shouldn't exist!? What the fuck does that mean!? Please explain!" I demanded as I backed away one step and turned over to the ponies from earlier, they seemed to be as shocked as us.

Luna flinched back a little, she was feeling something, this is the real Luna.

"You wouldn't understand…" She said hanging her head low.

Those words again, why those words? I could feel my pain grow to a point I couldn't handle breathing. Those words will never appeal to me but they are always there…for me to take in with pain. I stared at her as I felt some of the pain begin to anonymously turn into anger.

"So…I shouldn't exist anymore huh?" I asked coldly, expecting to see her to not answer like I feared.

Luna hesitated when she nodded her head and her eye twitched as a shine came from it and dropped to the ground.

"So, you want to kill me, destroy me!?"

This time she looked down on this one and nodded her head slowly, I felt the soft part of me being touched and I couldn't be pissed at her but at whatever is forcing her to act this way.

I took a few deep breaths before growing a small grin, which caught Luna off guard and everyone else. She should know better than thinking I would allow myself to be eliminated, I will never give up on life no matter how bad it is.

I twirled my sword a few seconds before stopping it straight ahead of me with the blade parallel to my face, this was my sign of my promises, and I wasn't about to let myself break one of them. I sighed deeply and closed my eyes as I placed the face of the sword on my forehead and speaking my oath to her.

"Luna…I don't know why you think this…but…I will never die…not when there is so much to fight for! So, this is my oath to you, I will never die as long as I have you and everyone by my side…and if death shall try and catch me, it's going to have to get through this me first." I said grinning. Placing my anger aside, I opened my eyes to complete it, and to my expectation, Luna was shaking violently as she bit her lower lip tightly with tears around her eyes and nodded her head in agreement.

Something happened at that moment, it was what I was waiting for all along. Luna had given up and gone into tears, she sobbed and cried with as much passion that it was heart-wrenching. She trembled as she let herself fall to the floor and bury herself into her hooves.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry Ben…I'm sorry Rarity…I'm so so sorry!" She sobbed, I knew something was responsible for her acting like this but what? I followed the trail of tears that led to Luna as she soaked the floor with tears, she was really regretting everything. I smiled at this, I was glad to know I was right about Luna, she was loyal and lighthearted.

Even if she did lose her mind for a few minutes, I still had the room in my heart to know that she needed someone to help her. I sat down next to her and placed Rarity down my side, she wasn't tearing up anymore but worried about her princess, she felt the same way I did. My hand found its way around to Luna's belly and grabbed onto her tightly, her eyes shot wide open with shock as I lifted her up to me. I let her lean on me as I comforted her using my words smooth talk.

"Luna…I don't know what made you do this but I will always forgive you no matter what…"

She sobbed a little more and kept her head low and staring at the ground, "But…why?"

"Because you're my friend Luna, and don't you ever forget that!" I exclaimed happily making her bury her head into my chest and cry her heart out. She sobbed like no one I've ever comforted before; her tears were tears of regret and thankfulness.

I held her there in my arms as Rarity also laid down next to me, all three of us just stood there comforting each other. I stared at the other three ponies in front of me they seemed to stare at me, observing me as I showed my true self to them, I let my actions introduce me to them.

After a few minutes of waiting there I felt something gently force down on my chest and my leg, they fell asleep, both of them. I smiled and sighed deeply as one of the three ponies in front of me spoke up.

"Who are you?" The male one asked I assumed he was this "Soarin" stallion and grinned at him. He lifted his head higher as I lifted a thumb up at him.

"I'm Ben, and don't forget it Soarin," I softly exclaimed making him smirk and nodded his head down at me.

"I won't, I promise you that," He said as he helped the rest drag out a cushioned stool that was big enough for me to sleep on, might as well be a bed.

I slowly got up and gently picked up Luna and Rarity. They slightly twitched in discomfort but I managed to get them on the huge cushion and comfortably place them down. I moved aside Luna's mane to reveal her small smile before I looked to my side to see the three ponies there and holding a small bag in each of their hooves.

"What's that?" I asked as I turned my attention to them and studied the bags that were full of something heavy. The one with the fire-like mane bounced her bag and it made the *clink* coins make. I focused on them as they offered me their pouches of bits.

"Chose one…" Soarin said not explaining anything but just what he wants me to do. I looked at all the bags and something was strangely off, I could sense some form of energy from each. The energy molded into a mental image inside my head.

Soarin's felt like it contained a light/addictive energy, my mind made a mental word on it: Love. Next was the fire's, this one contained a pure and strong energy: Almost like a combo of heal and strength. Then the last one, this one had a darker energy that was sinister: a demonic power.

I glanced at them before looking at the pouches and pondering which one. After a few seconds, I lifted my hand to make my selection but my hand became heavy as all three bags attached to my hand like magnets. The three ponies in front of me became intruded and instantly question what I was doing.

"I don't know, they just did that!" I answered back as I slowly let my arm go down as the bags started to become incredibly heavy.

"Choose one quickly!" The fire one exclaimed. I looked at my hand as it was becoming numb and quickly reached my other hand to grab the pure bag. I placed my hand on it and immediately the rest disappeared, I lifted my hand slowly, shaking it to get rid of the growing numbness.

"Okay, I got this one…now what?" I asked lifting it to feel it still felt like "bits" were inside but it was way lighter than before. I stared at the bag and the ponies in front of me as I jingled the bag to make a clinking noise.

"Phew…now you open it…" Soarin said as he took a step back along with everyone else, I placed my hand around the string that sealed the bag up and pulled it to undo the knot on the top. The three ponies grouped together and stared curiously as I placed my hand over the entrance of the bag and sighed deeply.

"Okay, here we go…" I said as I widened the bag and looked inside. There were bits, tons of them but a small gemstone was above them all, this stone was chiseled into the shape of a sun and shined brightly. The stone looked like Topaz, I might be wrong though.

I slowly used my hand to pull out the stone, the stone was smooth. I flipped it over to reveal the darker side of the stone, this side had a crescent moon that was glowing. My mind instantly connected this to the princesses as I looked back at the sleeping princess before studying the stone more closely.

"What does this do?" I asked as I continued flipping it from one side to another. The fire-like pony stepped up and began to spit out some information that filled in the gaps. I nodded as I flipped it around to the lunar side to see it glowing a cool neon light.

"So, this thing tells me the feelings of the owners of the cutie mark, right?"

"Right, Celestia only told us to offer them to you if we found you," Soarin responded.

"Alright then, I guess I'll keep this close to me," I answered as I placed it back in the bag and closed it up. They nodded back at me and spoke among themselves as I tied the bag to my sword holster.

I lifted my head up to look at the princess and Rarity sleeping, they somehow got their hooves around each other. But in my mind, I thought about a different subject and this will probably intrigue me for the rest of the day.

"If these cutie marks belong to Luna and Celestia, then…who does the demonic and loving one belong to?"

I pondered this too hard, what would have happened if I chose the others, who's feelings would I be observing? I shook it away as another thing came into mind and this will be my priority once Luna wakes up. "Who made Luna act like she did?"

" _I don't know but Celestia might have answers, I'll visit them once Luna wakes up and I'll make sure I get my answer."_

Back with Celestia and Twilight, both still pondering what to do.

"You felt it, he chose correctly!" Twilight happily stated trying to comfort Celestia, who didn't seem as happy as Twilight but instead, she trembled slightly.

"That means, he will have to meet his challenger and I'm ready for him!" Celestia said as she got up from her throne and looked at Twilight. Twilight knew what would have happened if he chose any of the others, he would have had to fight the other two but Twilight felt too confident with the choice he made and didn't think about the consequences of fighting Celestia.

"Do you think he will pass?"

"We can only hope Twilight."

"Don't try to…you know…at least give him a chance to warm up."

"I know but that is up to him."

They both looked at each other before nodding in agreement to something.

"I want to see him again…"

"Me too Twilight…me too…"


	19. Chapter 19 - A Royal Battle

#19

K flipped a 'Bit' up and down, catching it over and over again as he waited for a fresh load of muffins to finish cooking. Derpy and the little pony had settled for some lemonade as they went about waiting for the muffins as well. The scent that escaped through the door made K's mind melt as he waited to fill himself up with another sweet flavor. He admired his luck as he pulled out a small pouch from the inside of his shirt and opened it to study what was inside.

"I still can believe we managed to find this bag full of bits," K said as he dropped the Bit back into the pouch and closed it again. He then pulled out a stone from his pocket, a mixture of green and black swirls tainted over it. He carefully studied it as it glowed a neon green. "And what is this thing?"

"I don't know," both of Derpy and the mysterious little pony answered. K expected such an answer but he did intend on finding out what this thing in his hand was. He placed the stone away as he leaned his head against Pinkie's place. "Maybe those two princesses know? I go see them after this."

"Done!" Pinkie cheered, emerging from the door with a face full of flour and dough and muffins and cupcakes on a huge circular disk.

K lifted himself off the wall to see what he'd waited for and wasn't disappointed, the colors in front of him impressed him as he inquired what the ones with frosting were about, he didn't expect to find such huge variety of muffins. Pinkie gasped in shock as she instantly flicked her chef's hat off and shook her head in disbelief. "YOU DON'T KNOW!?"

K took a moment to take in her reaction, was it really that important? "No…"

She blinked a few times before smiling widely.

"Well then this will be your lucky day, this is for you!" She proudly said as she picked up one of the cupcakes and neared it to him. He didn't bother in thinking about it, he picked it up and rotated it a bit before placing it into his mouth. He took a few seconds to taste it before instantly turning around to not face the rest as he swallowed the piece instantly, he probably broke his jaw with how wide his smile was from the joy of eating this delectable. He did his best to mold his face back together with his other hand but the sweet taste lingered around the side of his mouth.

" _THESE TASTES EVEN BETTER THAN MUFFINS, WHO CREATED SUCH THINGS!?"_ He pondered as he inhaled deeply and exhaled, finally getting his face back to normal.

"Are you okay!?" Pinkie asked as she moved up to his side trying to hold on to a fake smile, afraid she had messed up or something. K looked down at her but in his way was the cupcake that forced him to take another bite, he nodded as he chewed away at the sweet mixture of bread and sweet in his mouth regretting having taken another bite since his happiness was as obvious as his obsession with the pieces bread.

"Yay! You do like them! I knew it!" She cheered as she waltzed back into the shop, "Woah, a lot of customers today, bye!"

K stared as ponies began to leave and exit the shop with sweets and bread, reminding him of how glad he was to have pre-ordered these muffins. Derpy picked up the bag that let out the warm aroma of freshly made muffins.

"We must find Ben!" Derpy said as she looked inside the bag and counted the muffins, there were five muffins but you can never be too sure.

"I got it! Just give me a sec," K said as he placed his index and middle finger to his forehead and closed his eyes. He focused strongly on Ben's energy, this way he could easily locate him if he's near. He continued searching before he finally got a reading on his location. He tightened his eyes as he felt something coming from Ben's body and zoomed in on it before finally opening his eyes again but a little disturbed.

"Did you find him?" The little pony asked, K nodded but he still pondered what it was he felt coming from Ben. Ben was on the move and quick, but this feeling of unbalanced energy that seemed to want to break out of Ben worried K.

"Yeah, he's heading…" K hovered off the ground up high and aimed a finger at the direction Ben was headed. "That way, toward that…big castle thing."

K looked at the castle as he remembered from Ben's memory a fight between Ben and some other pony. K saw these memories in faded pieces like a puzzle and did his best to put them together thus explains his lacking in Ben's full understanding. He cautiously looked back down at the ponies and let himself fall to the ground before tightening his fists. The two ponies gave him a strange look as he kneeled down in front of Derpy and the small pony.

"Listen, I can take these muffins to Ben, you two stay here, alright?" K explained as he reached his hand out to the muffin bag but Derpy instantly denied him permission. She looked at him with worry as she shook her head quickly.

"NO! Please…I want to go!" She replied back, stunning K for a while, he never expected such a change in personality from her considering she was…unique when it comes to comprehending a few things. He stared at her, convinced he knew better for them and explained himself.

"I know but something is not right, Ben might be…" K said before quickly stopping as something trotted up behind him, he turned slowly as multiple ponies came into view. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. " _DAMN IT!_ "

"Ben might what…!?" Flutters asked emerging from the group of ponies that consisted of Applejack, Vinyl, three little ones, Lyra and Bonbon. Flutters was worried and cupping her hooves to her chest as she asked again with the biggest eyes she could conjure.

K couldn't deal those eyes Flutters was putting on, he did his best to give her the most serious look he could give her but his most serious look looked like a call for help when she was near. The rest of the group stepped up asking a similar question. "IS BEN OKAY!?"

K didn't respond but instead kept his head down refusing to answer, he wouldn't want to drag anyone with him into whatever Ben was going to do. The ponies became irritated by the silence, they all felt it, the bad vibes that were filling everything around them. After a few seconds of no answer, a blur of rainbow quickly rushed towards K.

"You tell us where Ben is now!"

K felt a tug on his shirt as he was pulled in by Dash to face her eye to eye. She wasn't in the mood to accept any excuses, he knew that well and he was already tired of being asked the same question repeatedly. K sighed deeply as he placed his hand on her hooves.

"He is heading to that castle with the princesses, but something is wrong, I don't know what it is, and he's just seconds from getting there," He said sliding her hooves off him and letting her think about what to do. He knew two things as of right now; One, Ben is about to reach the castle in a few seconds, and Two, he's gonna have a huge crowd of ponies following behind him.

"If that's so, then we must go!" Dash said looking in the direction of the castle.

"Yeah!" they all agreed, even Derpy and the little pony had a say.

K looked down with his eyes closed and a grin softly emerging, he admired the support that Ben got from them. His grin quickly turned into a confused one as he sensed Ben's energy again, but it was accompanied by two others: a huge demonic energy and a pure energy. He opened his eyes again to see that they were all ready to go.

"Let's go…wait a minute…how are we going to get there if he's got a headstart? " Dash asked, staying up high with her hoof above her eyes to avoid sunlight, they all pondered this question, all except K who stared at his hand. He thought about this technique that Ben had hidden in his mind as he folded his fingers down leaving only the middle and index up together. He placed the fingers up to his forehead before concentrating on Dash who was up in the sky getting a view of the castle.

"Here goes…" He whispered as he closed his eyes.

poof*

K slowly opened his eyes and looked around himself, he was up in the sky but where was Dash? He looked around himself before feeling something sharply strike him on the top of his head. He placed his hands on his neck to feel the hind hooves of Dash, she had her hind hooves around his neck. She quickly jolted away from him.

"Don't scare me like that!" Dash yelled at him. K frowned as he placed his hand on hus head.

"Geez, I was trying out something new!" He replied rubbing his head before falling to the ground, Dash followed him.

"Alright, I have a way to get to Ben! Every pony, join hands…er…hooves," K demanded as he grabbed Derpy's hoof and Derpy joined the little pony's hoof, the rest watched for a few seconds before doing the same.

"What are we doing exactly?" Dash asked, the rest agreed with her question. K shrugged before placing his fingers to his head as he grinned at them.

"We're going to Ben!"

-Back to Ben now-

I took my first few steps on Canterlot ground, the appearance was the same but the feeling of being back here wasn't pleasing. The area felt hostile and with every pony in this community staring at me as I moved wasn't helping. I walked past many ponies that would give me these inferior looks but I suppose that's their attitude all the time, ignoring all that, I managed to walk past everyone until I finally reached my destination. Luna took the lead while I stayed with Rarity by my side as we gained permission into the castle.

We walked past the guards, once we left them about five feet behind us, they whispered something that made my breath run a little quicker.

"Isn't that the one that Celestia was going to…?" The one to left asked.

"Yeah, he's the powerful one! Don't you remember what he did to Luna's guard!?" The other enthusiastically replied.

"Right! But Celestia is easily stronger!"

Their voiced got out of range but now I had more worries; Will I fight against Celestia? Why hasn't Luna told me? Why? We remained silent as I continued to follow Luna but even she seemed to be pondering her own questions. We continued past many more guards who began to fill in even more gaps that just made me more anxious, weren't these guards supposed to be the quiet types?

At last reached the entrance to what I suppose is the throne room since the guards here weren't as easily moved as the ones from before. The guards looked around Luna to me and Rarity, inspecting us briefly with their eyes, Luna gave them a frown as she questioned their actions. They glanced at her before getting back and circling me, I didn't move assuming this was probably a routine check or something.

"Excuse us but Celestia has requested a minor identity check," One of the guards spoke up making her lift an eyebrow in confusion. I was thrown off by this, if she didn't know what was going on, then what am I walking into?

"Why?" Luna asked as she turned to the guards. The guards nodded as the returned to their positions on either side of the huge door. They glanced a serious look at each other as the straightened up and replied back to Luna with. "You'll be informed once inside."

Luna nodded cautiously as the doors opened, something began to come from the doors this feeling of fear but not mine, someone else's. I followed Luna through the doors as they shut behind me and my attention was now on Luna who was looking to her left at Twilight. I blinked my eyes a few times and gently shook my head. _Why is she here?_

"Twilight, why are guards speaking of my sister and Ben?!" She exclaimed being a little too serious about it, I was too. Twilight looked at me and at Rarity before getting back to Luna, she twitched her hoof slightly as she raised it up to the ceiling. All of us looked up to the ceiling to quickly catch the glimpse of what looked like a strange ritual circle, Luna immediately turned to me with a look of worry. I looked at her the same way as I took a small step back, she looked like she was about to regret something she was going to do.

"Luna? What's going on?" I asked taking a look back up at the symbol as it glowed slightly before quickly looking back down at her. She held a heavy confusion as she looked at Twilight who looked incredibly shaken up. The symbol on the ceiling began to become brighter by the second as Luna managed to give out a few words and someone else's voice emerge.

"Ben! Prepare yourself!"

"Ben! We're here! What the-?" A clusterfuck of voices emerged at the last second ahead of Luna.

The bright light quickly burst into a blinding explosion of light and I closed my eyes immediately with my arms over my face. I stayed like this for a few seconds before I fell to my knees and opened my eyes again, my breathing had increased to a rapid rate. I blinked a few times, taking in the new colors of this place.

Looking around me, I wasn't in the royal room anymore, I was now in an open field of grass, the sky full of dark gray clouds that gave off an unsettling atmosphere. I studied the area around me cautiously as I lifted myself off my knee and stared into the infinite horizon.

"Woah…where am I?"

"We meet again Ben…"

I looked over my shoulder before turning to her fully, Celestia stood there, her mane and tail were enveloped in flames, while her eyes glowed slightly as she moved up to me; a majestic sight. I stared at her as I remembered what every guard was speaking of before I got here and what Luna said to me.

"Celestia…What is this?" I asked looking up at her expecting an answer, she disappeared and spawned to my side making us both stare into different directions. I stood wondering what was happening since she remained silent but silence immediately turned groans of pain as something buried into my stomach. I felt like whatever had struck me was going to go through my stomach but instead my body was thrown about fifty feet by the impact of the blow.

I rolled an extra ten before finally using my fingers to grab onto the ground as I stopped myself face first to the ground. My body felt weak after that hit but I still managed to cough away the pain and stand back onto my feet not fully though as I held my stomach as the pain pulsed insanely strong. Saliva escaped my mouth as I continued to feel the pain come in waves.

"Gah! Shit…what the fuck what that?!" I groaned as I tried to tighten my body up to not feel the pain anymore, it worked well too, the pain seemed to diminish slowly but lingered like my questions.

I looked back up from where I was hit and looked at Celestia as she seemed to look at me expecting more. I raised my hand to my side before closing it tightly into a fist as I placed the other over the swords handle, this must be the fight I was hearing about but she just straight up attacked with no warning. Even if she got that hit, I wasn't about to let it happen again, but I still wanted my answer and I was gonna get it.

"CELESTIA?! WHY ARE WE FIGHTING?!" I yelled since she was far away but I should have just kept my mouth shut. She somehow teleported from her place to right in front of me like before. I looked up but this time I quickly drew my sword and met against a fireball that was just inches away from colliding with my face, making it disappear. I quickly saw another one of the pyro projectiles appear as I instantly began using my sword on the defensive and taking steps back while swiping my sword to block against such a huge number attacks. I finally found myself at a point I could quickly destroy the thousands of fireballs she had spawned, I threw myself back and swiped my hand in front of me unleashing a wave of energy that caused explosions in every direction.

I huffed out my deep breath, but kept my sword up high, I knew I would have to defeat her and maybe then I would get my answer. I set my goal to defeat her as my number one priority and quickly backhanded my sword and bent my knees with my hand to my side.

 _If those guards were right about Celestia being powerful, then I might be in for it_!

"Oh well…COME AT ME CELESTIA, LET'S SEE WHO IS STRONGER!"


	20. Chapter 20 - A Rough Conclusion

#20

For every punch I sent her way, she had this damn shield that gave her an incredible advantage, I couldn't land any physical hits with my fists. I was in the air looking down at the thick dust created by the most recent explosion, waiting for Celestia to reappear, she launched a sun-like attack that I luckily directed back at her with my sword. In a matter of seconds, beams of light escaped through the dust before the dust was completely blown away as Celestia made her appearance once more. I grinned down at her as I raised my sword up to my face, I was going to give her a great battle to remember for life.

"Hey, Celestia! Prepare yourself, cause I ain't losin' this fight!" I yelled as I quickly charged up my energy to an even stronger level. One important rule of fighting is to never start at full strength, and I still wasn't about to go all-out.

Celestia wouldn't answer back, she was hiding something behind that cold stare, oh, but I was going to get her to speak sooner or later. I ran my fingers through the sharp end of the blade before nodding at her playfully and letting myself drop to the ground.

"Okay Celestia, it's about time I get on the offensive-" I taunted before quickly raising my sword over my head, stopping this long line of fire that resembled a sword. I shook my head with my grin growing ever so slowly. "You should allow others to speak before trying to decapitate them!"

I quickly turned myself to the offensive quickly swinging at her as she turned to the defensive, she met every swing with more of her fire swords but they quickly disappeared on impact, this was good. I continued my swings, becoming faster with every swing and a little more excited. I quickly began to acrobatically spin, get on my knees, and come at her from different directions to attack as my speed reached a level where she couldn't deal with the attacks anymore. She spawned a late sword as I stopped my sword on her neck just half a centimeter from cutting her, I wasn't looking in her direction and I was using a knee to support my stance, she gave me a look of shock as I looked back at her, had I impressed?

"Surrender!" I exclaimed holding onto my grin as I remained in the same position. She stayed shocked for a moment before looking down to the ground with a grin, I nodded my head as I threw myself away from her and looked back at her waiting for anything. "Come on Celestia, I'm not the only one who should speak highly of themselves!"

She seemed to chuckle a bit before looking back up at me with a malicious smile as she flicked one of those fire swords up to her face. "Maybe _you_ should consider surrendering!"

"What…WHAT!?" I yelled as I looked down to see that I had lost my shirt, she destroyed them without me noticing! I quickly looked back up as I raised my sword to her and seriously clenched my teeth, this shirt took so much awkwardness to make and I wasn't going to let it die in vain. I slowed my breathing and entered my state of complete focus to avoid this again.

"I will never surrender, especially now that I look like this!" I firmly stated, tightening the grip on both of my hands as I placed my sword back into the holster, now I will result to a little more fun. I flexed my fingers as I waited for her to make a move, she quickly created two more swords making three and launching them towards me.

"Then I'll make you surrender!" She yelled as she quickly spawned more of the sun like bombs behind me. She became a bit too confident but I'll show her not to take me easily.

I smirked as looked up to Celestia as the swords that were inches away from impacting on me slowed down. I quickly made my move and moved to my new location as I looked back at the site where I was, become full of explosions. Celestia grinned as she stared at the destruction being created in front of her but she had no clue I had moved away, exactly how I foresaw it.

"Ha! A direct hit! How about now Ben!? Surrender!?" She yelled out to the area of impact as I tried to conceal my laughter inside, she seemed to be having fun. I looked up at her as I placed my hand on her chest making her widen her eyes and stop her breathing, I chuckled a little before smiling widely.

"What do you do when I shirtless guy gets under you and touches your chest?"

"WHAT!?"

"Oh right…that doesn't work for you…oh well, SURRENDER!"

"N-NEVER!" She stuttered a little objecting to that, I had finally hit a weak spot. I instantly began dodging her fire swords with my head as they stabbed into the ground around me. After dodging for a few seconds, I got a bit annoyed with her swords and extended my arms to my sides.

"STOP THAT!" I yelled as I unleashed an energy blast to all areas around me, making her fly up into the air and use her wings to stop herself from going any further. She stared down at me as I quickly got on my feet and used one hand to massage the other as I prepare it for the finale. I let my eyes quickly go from playful to dead serious as I tightened my hands into fists.

Celestia nodded at me and knew what was coming, she instantly prepared herself by creating a tiny ball of light that balanced on the tip of her horn. The ball began to rapidly grow, it wouldn't stop in becoming bigger and gaining more power, but I wasn't fazed by such a thing, this was all planned out in my mind. The ball of light quickly reached its max and looked about as big as I could imagine it, it was like she was about to throw the sun at me, maybe she was!

"ALL RIGHT BEN, LET'S SEE WHO WILL SURRENDER NOW!" She yelled as she raised her hoof up to the sun-like energy force and flung her hoof in my direction making the energy ball follow and rush at me. I slowly looked up to the ball as it came at me, I waited for this, and now it presented itself.

I evenly parted my legs with my hands tightly gripped and my arms to my side. I closed my eyes for a few seconds before quickly opening them widely and stiffening my body as I raised my hands up high and brought them down to my side followed by the strongest yell I could muster up as the reddish aura surrounded me. I continued to grunt as I allowed my body to go to its max, among the last grunt I finally let out my last yell followed by a white aura over the red one, I had successfully combined the Kaio-Ken with my normal strength, unlike before in which I just let the Kaio-Ken go over everything.

I looked up at Celestia who was staring down at me, shaking as she quickly used more power from her horn to make the energy ball stronger and bigger but by know, she knew it was impossible to deny who was going to win. I gave the ball of energy at coldest look as I lifted one hand up to it and spread all fingers out as I charged up the blue sphere in my hand that made the wind violently bend trees and the clouds in the sky part. I grinned once more before reaching my hand back and placing it behind me as I charged up my energy even more, she wanted to see this, alright then, she'll see it!

"Alright then! Celes-"

 _No…what's happening!?_

I choked, my breath cut off and my attack fainted out as I fell to my knees, tightly holding my neck, trying to get air flow. This wasn't the Kaio-Ken's doing if it was I would feel pain, not suffocation! After a few seconds of no breathing, my face began to hurt and a burning began to appear from inside my body. I clenched my teeth as I saw Celestia's attack coming at me, all I could do was fall on my back as I raised one hand at the energy ball, begging for it to stop.

 _BREATHE! BREATHE DAMN IT!"_ I thought as Celestia's attack refused to stop, she couldn't see me over the energy ball. My hand began to violently shake as I couldn't take it anymore, I felt my body lose itself and I finally accepted the idea that I would die. I observed the final seconds I had as I saw the ball near me and the burning heat touch my face as I let my head bang against the hard ground, I had left her…

" _Am I dead_?"

" _Wait a minute…if I'm dead, then why the hell am I still conscious of my thoughts?"_

I couldn't feel anything, it was as if I was just a floating "thought", with no control over nothing. This was strange, I couldn't tell if I was dead or alive and worst of all it was completely pitch black. I could think I was looking around but it didn't feel like I was, this shit was way too confusing and deep, I basically lost all five of my senses.

It felt like minutes had past and still no sign of light or anything different. I could feel my feelings begin to quiver as I thought about quivering, it would actually feel nice to quiver right now. I remained in this state for a while as I began thinking of some songs that I knew at the top of my non-existent head, it helped me get rid of the stress.

"Okay…how did it go? Pressure…yeah!"

"Pressure! Pushin' down on me…Pressin' down on you no man ask for! Under Pressure!"

"Hey, you shut it!"

"The hell?!"

"I said SHUT IT!"

I felt something quickly hit the side of my face strongly, it felt like a solid rod had jacked my face, waking me up. I stared in all directions as the world of color returned and I could easily see everything clearly again, I began to rejoice!

"I CAN SEE! TALK! FEE-GAH!" I felt something quickly poke my stomach strongly as I lost my focus and tightened my stomach in pain.

"I SAID…SHUT IT!"

I looked up to see who was poking me, it was K, who was being restrained to a stone wall from the legs and hands with chains, he held in his hands his wooden sword that seemed to have been broken in half. I quickly shook every feeling joy away as I looked up to K again to see that was linked to a chain on his wrists and ankles, the chains were a bit long and allowed him to move, unlike the ones on me that pinned me to the wall tightly.

"What the-?" I whispered as I began to move both arms and legs, I was really in chains and worst of all I was in some type of jail cell. I quickly looked to K who was playing with his feet as he moved them side to side.

"K! WHERE IN JAIL!"

"NO SHIT! DUMMY!"

I looked all around to see if I could spot a sign of a single pony but nothing. After seconds of struggling, I finally let my body rest from all the movement and began to breathe quickly as something was clearly wrong. I turned to K again and he turned to me with this look of "don't look at me like that!"

"K…What is happening?" I asked taking a deep breath to calm down but maybe I shouldn't have, K raised his chained hands and aimed it to the ceiling of this place and began with, "You shouldn't have hurt her…"

I froze, he just stated something that made no sense to me, who did I hurt?

"Hurt who!?" I asked becoming a bit annoyed with the fact I knew nothing about what he was speaking.

"Celestia, you dumbass!" He answered back, scolding at me. I lifted my shoulders the best I could in these chains to express I didn't know shit about what he meant but the fear that I did something wrong began to fill me. He gave me a look of disbelief as he looked down and pondered something before getting back to me with a question.

"You serious?!"

"YEAH! I DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT HURTING CELESTIA! Well beside what we did while we fought…"

He looked down at the ground again before getting back to me and beginning to explain. I knew I wasn't going to enjoy listening to this since he looked up and around himself before beginning the story.

"Okay then…we observed your fight through Luna's magical sphere thing and boy were you getting praised for your consistency until that final moment. Celestia came at you with most of her strength into that one attack but you charged up even further and surpassed the power of that energy attack. And then you began to have some weird seizure shit…"

"A DAMN SEIZURE!? I WAS STRUGGLING TO BREATHE!" I defended myself, but he ignored it and continued.

"Well…now listen…you passed out and were about to get destroyed by Celestia's attack when…"

He hesitated for a moment before shaking it away.

"When you lost your damn mind…"

I paused to take in what he'd told me, this was all wrong, I had passed out and probably died. I shook my head denying what he was saying, he looked glanced at me and back at the floor before getting back to swaying his feet side to side. I struggled a bit more with the chains before giving up and sighing deeply.

"So…what did I do?" I asked letting my body hang from the chains, K gave me a small smile before turning it serious. He shook his head in disapproval as he picked his broken sword again and used it indicate things as he spoke again.

"You see…(fuck, they broke my sword)…you passed out and was about to get turned into a human bar-b-que but you…somehow…raised up and punched the ball of energy so hard it parted the sky and knocked Celestia to the ground-I stared strongly at the ground as I tried to imagine the scene-so she's on the ground and you looked down at her before teleporting in front of her, you had this cold look and most importantly your eyes became blank with nothing but a glowing white!"

I shook my head as I continued to hear these things, it's hard to believe something that I can't even remember doing. He proceeded despite my efforts to deny it.

"She called your name out so many times but you were…immune to it, you picked her up by the neck and held her high over the ground as you used your other hand to charge some sort of pure light-like attack, you tightened your grip every time she cried out your name…"

"FUCK! THAT'S ENOUGH!" I yelled stopping him from continuing, I was holding my breath while taking in all this information, it wasn't good for me to bottle it up like that. I panted heavily and swallowed down on the dryness of my throat and pulled on the chains harder in my distress. K looked down a few seconds before looking back up and nodding.

"Don't worry about it before you could even harm her you passed out for real…she teleported you back but for her sister's safety Luna locked us up, she put these damn chains on that don't allow us to use any form of magic," he ended as he let his body fall loosely and cross his chained arms.

I glanced at him before looking up to the ceiling and back at my hands, they chained us pretty well. We both settled in for silence for about a few minutes before realizing we were pretty bored in this dungeon. K seemed to whisper out a song and tap his feet to the beat of a song, the tune was all too simple for me to not know the name: Paint it black by The Rolling Stones.

"You like The Rolling Stones?" I inquired making him straighten his posture as he nodded back.

"Yeah…"

"AC/DC?" I asked next trying to make conversation, it seemed to work since he grinned and answered back with a chuckle.

"That too…you like Queen?"

"Under Pressure," I responded, he nodded to that too.

"Yeah…Bohemian Rhapsody."

We began to get somewhere with this, he began to slowly hum out the beginning of the first few lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody and I sooner or later followed along. The humming slowly morphed into us whispering the lines before going into an actual rendition of the song. The one thing I liked about this song was that it related to my position right now and even expressed how I felt right now.

At the end of the final lyric, we laughed out admiring how well the song actually sounded when in an actual situation. Our laughter turned faint as we began to realize that we were still locked up but I was now a bit more encouraged to get out now.

I couldn't remain locked up and not do anything. I quickly looked behind me at the chains, they were sturdy and locked tightly but this was now child's play now that I looked into it a bit more. The chain may be harnessed tightly to my wrist but the wall it was connected to just needed a dent and I would pop out free.

"Psst…K…is there any guards around?" I whispered as I scouted around with my eyes.

He looked up to me puzzled before shaking his head, I nodded with a smile as I focused on his wooden sword and told him to throw it at my hand. He caught my drift and lit up with excitement as he threw it, I caught it easily and did my best to stick it into the small gap between a chain link, it wedged in perfectly. I placed my teeth onto the handle and began to pull strongly using my cheek as a fulcrum, despite the tight pressing of my cheek, the crackling of the wall and with K cheering me on, I knew I was doing something right. I stopped to catch my breath before quickly forcing it once more, this time a slight metallic 'clank' was heard as my body fell, hanging from one hand now.

"Way to go, Ben!"

"Shh!"

I continued to dislodge the rest of them with the sword and then proceeded to K's chains. We massaged our wrists as we broke off the cuffs and chains to allow our magic to flow through again, K chuckled as he played with his magic a bit, I did the same to get a feel for it.

"Don't know how much you need it till it's gone…" He said as he looked up the ceiling and at me, I agreed before looking up as well, I sighed as noticed that getting out through there would lead to guards and probably back into the cell if they found us. I pondered for a moment before K spoke from within my mind, he got back inside, the chains probably restrained such actions before.

" _I got this!"_

I felt my hand force itself onto my forehead with both the middle and index finger on them, I instantly recognized the maneuver and agreed with him as I allowed him to take over for now.

" _Ha! I found the rest of the ponies, let's go to…Luna!"_

Poof*

I felt myself land over something, I remained with my eyes glued closed as gasps were heard throughout the area, I was face first onto something soft. I slowly blinked my eyes open, a dark blue color covered my sight…a very warm blue color. I placed my arms to my side as I lifted my face off the warm surface, the first thing I noticed was the ponies that stared at me then Luna who was at a completely lost for words as she blushed strongly. I blinked my eyes once more widely and threw myself off of Luna and landed on my bottom with my hands out behind me.

"Umm…Hey ya…Luna!" I awkwardly greeted with my hand making a kind gesture. She slowly lifted herself with her front hooves but stayed laid down on the floor, I glanced looks at everyone, they all looked rather shocked to see me.

"How? How did he escape?" She asked whispering it to herself, I turned my full attention to her and began to explain how I needed to see Celestia but she denied me any access to see her. The ponies around me did nothing to support me as I bickered with Luna about it.

"Please!"

"No! You nearly killed her!"

"Luna!-I placed my hands around her shoulders-I never meant to do whatever I did! I want your sister's forgiveness and every ponies', so please! Let me see her!"

"But…but, you…you…" She stuttered but I had to see her now, I was going to. I brought Luna up close to my face and bopped her muzzle with my nose.

"I know, I thought the same thing when I came to senses…please, Luna!" I begged.

She paused for a moment and looked down at the floor before widening her eyes as a shadow appeared over us, I did the same as Luna as I quickly rose my head and looked aimlessly in front of me. That motherly voice from before had entered through my ears and out through Luna's, we both turned around to see Celestia, she had that a joyous smile.

"Oh, there you are! I've been searching for you!" She happily explained as she separated me and Luna with her magic and lifted me to a standing position. I stared at her confused out of my mind, considering what I did when I wasn't aware, she should be angry or frightened, but no, she was happy to see me. I began to stutter in my confusion as I wondered what was happening.

"You're not…angered?" I asked, she quickly let out a creepy laugh that made me jump with and cover my face a bit. I stared at her chuckling nervously as she shook her head and giggled a bit, I looked to her left and saw my sword along with the bag of bits hovering with her magic. I wanted to have them by my side, especially now that everything was not making sense.

"No! I was looking for you to return these things!" She happily stated, I chuckled a bit more as she hovered the items to me. At last, I had my sword on my waist and the small sack of bits as well, everything was good with me but what the hell was going on with Celestia?

"HE NEARLY KILLED YOU!" Luna interrupted yelling all her disbelief out, I regrettably nodded at Celestia but she quickly covered her mouth with her hoof to hold in some laughter. By now, I, along with everypony became unsettled by Celestia's strange attitude, I leaned away from her as she lowered her hoof and waved as if to say, "No! No!"

"That was just a simulation! I was testing Ben to see if he passed the test!" She said in an apologetic but amused tone as Luna's mouth hanged wide open with shock along with everyponies' in the room, I would do the same but quickly looked down to see that my shirt was fully back on me and realized it wasn't at all damaged.

"You see, Ben's shirt is as good as new!" She hinted placing her hoof on my shirt, I looked down and laughed a bit noticing I was worried over nothing but a simulation. Luna also joined my laughter before covering her face with her wings getting both my and Celestia's attention. She lowered them showing her look of disappointment

"What's wrong?" Celestia asked her, Luna lowered her head below her shoulders in embarrassment.

"I threw Ben into the dungeon…I thought he would've hurt you…" She answered ashamed of her actions but both me and Celestia felt the same about her actions, she looked out for her older sister and that is something special on its own. I couldn't be mad at Luna for this, but then again it's hard to be mad at her to start off.

"No worries Luna, I would've done the same if someone tried to hurt you." I consoled, making her smile and feel less tense about it. Celestia gave her a similar response that made her smile widely. After a few seconds of small making up for wrong decisions, Celestia changed and began pondering something, we all quickly caught on and waited for her to express her thoughts.

"But, it was impressive how Ben burst into a full-on berserker agenda, fortunately, I stopped the simulation on time! Pain doesn't follow you when you leave the simulation," she said making me ponder my own questions, the rest gave their signs of relief but I wasn't going to let it rest.

"You mean that could happen here too?" I asked, she raised a hoof and nodded happily.

"Yes! But not to worry, this happened because you let the power consume you and you had no way of knowing…this also causes some damage to the body-"

"Like my breathing ceasing?"

"Correct!"

I guess I now knew what to watch out for next time, I sighed in deep relief as I sat down on the floor. I let myself rest a few seconds before Twilight spoke from my side.

"Did he pass?" She asked giving Celestia her faithful look, Celestia smiled down at her and nodded.

"He surprisingly did! Thus, explains my excitement!" She said ruffling my hair with her magic. I shook my head to get her off my fuzzy head and I lifted myself up and smiled.

"Well, I passed…what exactly?" I asked, Twilight looked like she about to answer but Celestia's glowing magic appeared around her mouth forcing it shut. I lifted an eyebrow as turned to Celestia who shook her head.

"It was a _personal test_ …just to see who was stronger!" she answered, I nodded accepting the logical answer but shutting Twi up wasn't necessary. I got Celestia's attention once more and asked my last question hoping to finally get the rest I needed.

"So why did I have Luna try to attack me earlier?"

"Oh…you did that?" Celestia asked turning to Luna who looked away to me, she rubbed her hoof on the other.

"I didn't want you two to fight, so I thought I could've stopped him for you…" She replied looking back her sister, Celestia smiled again and picked Luna's head up with her magic.

"I have a very thoughtful sister!"

I stared at both of the princesses as they comforted each other before the bag hanging by my side began to glow a bright pink. I picked up the bag and opened it before seeing the glowing stone from before, it was glowing red from both sides, this color is probably love or joy. I smiled before closing the bag and returning it to its place, everything seemed to be going right as of now.

"Ben…" Luna called me over, I looked up quickly and moved in front of her, she seemed to want to say something but was a bit hesitant about saying it. Celestia persuaded her to speak pushing her a bit forward from behind. I calmly waited for her to answer as she lifted her head up giving a small chuckle, she was pretty nervous.

"Umm…I know this may be very sudden, but we would like to get to know you better-" She paused and looked back at her sister who signaled her with her eyes to continue speaking. She nervously smiled before turning back to me, "So…we wanted to know if you would join us for dinner…"

Her eye twitched a bit on that last statement, I couldn't deny such an invitation coming from Luna I would do nearly anything for her, _nearly anything_. A smile made its way up my face and Luna had her answer, I nodded proudly as my mouth followed.

"Yeah! I would love to!" I replied and glad I did since Luna nearly jumped from the excitement. Both Luna and Celestia gave each other a look of accomplishment as I turned to the rest, they had been awfully quiet up to now.

They discussed with each other something before noticing me and giving me their full attention. My hand went up and waved at them, some smiled, others giggled but it was good enough for me to know they were fine.

"Geez, y'all are the best!" I complimented making them all smile widely. I chuckled my happiness back into me.

They all seemed to await my presence but this on its own was slowly going to turn into a problem, I can't be somepony's and then somepony else's…or can I? I shook the thought away focusing only on the present which seemed to be this dinner that I was invited to after a near screwup.

"Ben," Flutters spoke. "We'll leave you with the princess, have a great time!"

"Yeah!" The rest followed.

I rose my head quickly and turned to look at the ponies disappearing into a glow, at the moment I hadn't expected their leave to be so early and I quickly raised my hand. They disappeared before I could stop them, I stared at my hand that looked stupid waving at nothing and retracted it whispering only a few words under my breath. "See…ya."

"Don't worry you'll see then again, and it's almost dinner time!" Luna squeaked with joy, I liked the reassurance and agreed with her judgment.

We were alone, excluding some of the guards and servants that roamed around. Something was strange, it was just me and two princesses and it's almost dinner time, next thing you know they let me sleep here.

"Oh, and Ben…"

I widened my eyes looking downward before normalizing them and looking up to Celestia, she had this strange _exotic_ smile. "Yes?"

 _Oh no…I jinxed it, didn't I?"_

Luna looked at her sister with a small blush going, as she stiffened her back and rolled her eyes nervously. Celestia nudged Luna's behind a bit making her turn to Celestia with an embarrassed pout. This was all adding to my suspicion, will I cope? I don't know. Celestia cleared her throat and turned to me.

"We have prepared a room for you if you wish to stay the night here…" Celestia said bringing up a decision, I always hated decisions because they both have consequences. I mentally thought about it before an unwanted smile appeared over my face.

"Thanks! I'd love to stay!"

"Great…such enthusiasm is healthy for you, see you in the royal dining room!" She praised before trotting off with her sister to the dining room I suppose.

I quickly regained control of my body again and let my shaking hand show my emotions to me.

" _K…"_

" _Yes…?" he teased, emphasizing the word._

" _You and me are gonna fight one day!"_

" _Place, date and time, I'll be there…enjoy your night, I'm gonna get more cupcakes, see ya!"_

I felt him leave my body, it was strange but I kinda felt more secure with him around, now I gotta face these two in dinner and overnight. I sighed as gave myself permission to survive this night.

"Ben, are you coming?" Luna asked from beyond the open doors. I sighed deeply at how wrong I made that sound in my mind and shook my head, disappointed in myself. But who could blame me…I'm honest with myself.

"Yeah, I'm coming!"

 _lots of strange things happen at night but what might happen to Ben?_

 _You'll find out next time!_


	21. Chapter 21 - My Little Tipsy Luna

#21

We all took seats around the long dinner table that seemed to be made for a party than just three individuals. I nervously looked around the room studying the artwork that made up the walls, my excuse for avoiding eye contact, it worked too. The two princesses took seats next to each other leaving me at the far end of the table, I couldn't move anywhere nearer without signaling I wanted some closer company so I remained in my place.

I observed the princesses wish each other a good dinner before getting to me, I thanked them and proceeded to wait for something to appear on the table. As I waited, the princesses seemed to giggle something to each other that made me want to hide under the table, they were probably speaking about how anxious I was or something. They continued to do the same for a while until my curiosity got the better of me.

"Am I being left out of something?" I asked sitting up straight with my arms crossed over each other over the table. They jumped a bit before turning to me, both had these awkward smiles that meant they were up to no good and their response to my question did nothing to clear their names.

"Nope! But you seemed awfully happy about sleeping here, it was kinda…unexpected," Luna answered lifting a glass of some liquid with her magic, resembling cider, she drank it down as if it were a shot glass. I nodded with her since it wasn't me who made the decision to stay here but now that I was, I might as well enjoy it. Celestia glanced over to Luna as she took another glass and drank it down the same way again.

"Drink responsibly sister, we wouldn't want to drag you to bed!" Celestia playfully warned, Luna thought about for a few seconds and placed down the third glass she held in her magic. I stared at her before looking at the glass that was in front of me, pondering about what this really was, was it some type of alcohol? I wasn't much of a drinker but I have had my fair share of wine and bourbon in the past, but this here looked and smelled as innocent as orange juice, maybe it's spiked. I moved the glass in a circle motion studying the liquid but only got the attention of the princesses, they both stared at me before I glanced over to them.

"Do you drink?" Celestia asked me as she carefully sipped from her glass, I nodded my head as I settled the glass down and picked up a look-a-like wine bottle that had spelled in fancy letters, _Apple Cider: Drink responsibly_. I chuckled at reading the label and placed it down, I've had apple cider as a child, there was no way it was strong or even contained alcohol.

"Yes, I do! But never in my life had I seen Apple Cider as a heavy drink!" I responded laughing a bit more at the end before looking up to the princesses who found nothing funny in it. I lowered my smile and looked back at the glass, _it's just Apple cider_!

"Then try it! Let's see how many you can you handle!" Luna over excitedly challenged as she placed a hoof on the table, _I forgot she can read my mind_. Celestia scowled at her and placed her glass on the table firmly getting both my attention and Luna's.

"Luna, remember what happened last time you did something like this!" Celestia said making Luna place her hoof over her mouth before raising it up with an answer.

"Oh yeah, we couldn't take you off that guard! I think you might have traumatized him!" Luna happily exclaimed giggling to herself but Celestia wasn't as cheerful as she was, she had a hint of red appearing over her face as she looked down at her drink.

"He shouldn't have gotten in my way!" She returned trying to justify her actions but Luna wasn't buying it.

"He tried to help you onto the bed but you used him as your personal toy!" Luna struck back making Celestia cover Luna's mouth with her magic, she seemed to have no way of denying it so she shut her up.

I stared at them argue, they both had funny and shy personalities but right now it looks like two shots of this apple cider could really mess you up. I placed my hand cautiously around the glass and picked it up, both the princesses turned to me as I neared the glass to my mouth and drank it down like Luna did hers. They both gasped as I lifted the empty glass up to my face and gave it a shocked glare, this really did taste like apple cider but it was incredibly strong, it slightly numbed my mind before I shook it away, I was still sober but I could feel the effects right away.

"Okay, I see what you meant by if I could handle," I responded agreeing to what Luna said earlier, Celestia quickly nodded in agreement before Luna giggled to herself. I chuckled along with Luna as I placed glass down and took a sip from the glass of water that was to my left, if there's anything better to get rid of mind numbness, it was fresh water. I looked up to Luna as she also held a glass of water up and drank it slowly, I guess she realized she was a bit over it.

"Yes, Luna has a bad habit when it comes to cider." Celestia added turning to me and giggling a little, but after that drink of water, Luna was probably sobered enough to accept it.

"You don't say." I chuckled.

After a bit more explaining about how this cider made its way into Luna's mind, the meals finally arrived, plates were distributed evenly as silver platters among more platters filled the table. I stared at the plates, overwhelmed by such food, I had never really eaten with a table full of everything so I was a bit excited. Luna moistened her lips as he lifted a fork and stabbed into a what looked like pastry with powdered sugar glazing it, Celestia smiled as she stuck her spoon into a soft pudding like sweet and gently placed it in her mouth making her smile widen with satisfaction.

I stared at the three meals/appetizers in front of me; sweet bread that had a sweet filling on the inside, a delicate salad with a combination of fruit over it, then the final piece, a bowl of noodles that looked like it was bombarded by salts and spices. They all looked incredibly appetizing but I had to start off with the noodles, I've always had a strong liking towards warm food and the noodles were the only warm thing in front of me. I picked up the fork and drove it into the bowl of noodles before lifting it up to my mouth. I slurped the noodles that seemed to have no end until the final end of the noodle whipped me between the eyes making me blink several times before getting back to another string.

"You eat like my sister does." Celestia giggled causing me to put down my fork and look up Luna as she slurped on her own strings noodles before they whipped her between the eyes as well. I couldn't help but chuckle, Luna had this strange habit of getting to me when I least expected it, in this case, she was unintentionally provoking my feelings. Luna glanced up at me and Celestia giving us her clueless look as placed her fork into her bowl again and pulled out another line of noodles and slowly put them in her mouth expecting something. I smiled at her as I did the same as she did and imitated her movement with the fork, she ignored me as I began enjoying my noddle's again.

"Hey, Ben…" Celestia said grabbing my attention, I lifted my head up from the bowl and let my utensil sink into the remaining noodles. Celestia had changed a bit from a few seconds ago, she was curious about something and had taken another sip from her cider.

"Yes?" I asked, allowing her to continue speaking, she looked at her sister before getting to me and tapping her hoof nervously. I knew she was going to ask something I would be uncomfortable with, but I would allow her to ask anyway.

"Well…you claim to have fought a brutal war, what was that like?" She asked, making me glad I wasn't eating anything, I would've probably choked: I've never been asked such a thing. To keep the tone subtle, I planned to only express briefly how it was.

"The war…it was…traumatic…" I answered thinking back to it but only to an extent, I would probably have night terrors if I focus on it too much. Celestia nodded in agreement along with her sister before they came back with another question.

"What happened to you?" She asked, this time I was pushed a little back into memory lane, I lost a lot in that time period. I looked up to Celestia shaking my head, refusing to answer, she didn't fall back on the question though, she pressed on it instead. My eye twitched a bit as flashes of those days drilled into my head, I was uncomfortable now and Celestia couldn't care any less about the way I felt, at least right now that is.

"What happened to me?" I restated the question, mourning my past self as I remembered everything that happened back then. I gripped my hand around the glass of cider and began to tell on, I didn't want to but that wouldn't make the princesses stop inquiring about it. They moved in a bit closer and I stiffed my back on the chair, I was more unsettled than I had ever been around them.

"I nearly died, I let others die, I killed them, they killed us, and what came from it?" I rhetorically asked keeping my cool and letting my feelings speak for themselves. I glanced at them once, they seemed about as disturbed as I was but they pressed on it, so they can't blame me for this.

"Nothing…nothing but me from right now, I could've died but I didn't, I could've saved some but I didn't, I could've just pulled the trigger…ending my life, but I didn't…" I said letting myself sink into the chair as I remembered that cold day, the day I told myself I would end it but I just couldn't. I was a lifeless soul who'd been brainwashed into believing nothing but to kill, so, why didn't I? The answer was simple, I knew there was something better than war and violence, I was a kid at one time and I probably still was, so _life_ had many more things to offer.

"And now I'm here, to change it all! I haven't lost faith ever in myself…and now…I have the faith of others with mine, what more could I ask for?" I claimed with a smile, changing their mood from what would have been sorrow, to the joy of knowing they had helped me out big time. I was proud to have left behind all the result-less violence, I enjoy fighting for the good my friends than the well-being of myself. I smiled gently as I reminisced about how easily I costumed to a new world and life, it was unexplainably easy for me to have changed.

"Thanks!" I said taking the rest of the cider, these are the moments in which this stuff would be most enjoyable to take. We all took the took the cider like a shot and placed the glass down, I was glad to have them in front of me, I could express my thanks to them. Both the princesses gave each other a slight smile that showed how they were slightly out of it, I looked at the cider once more as I studied them and how Celestia was enjoying a slice of cake a bit too much and Luna had another cider shot.

" _Oh well…I'll eat my noodles…_ " I thought as I picked up the fork and placed it into my mouth finishing the last strand of noodles, they were incredibly delicious, not only did they ease my mind but they somehow provided comfort, _strange noodles_. I looked up to the sweet bread that had a creamy white filling oozing out of it, I moved the bowl to the side and brought up the plate with the bread. I could feel my mouth watering as I picked it up and teased my mouth with it, I hadn't had sweets in a while. At last, I finally had the bread in my mouth but only before it fully disappeared, _IT WAS PUDDING FILLED!_

"Okay…that's enough for me!" I chuckled as I slouched on the chair and took a gentle sip from the cider, Celestia looked up at me with a smile as she finished off her piece of cake, she gave me enough clues for me to know she was a cake addict: the pile of cake plates in front of her stood out. I smiled back before getting to Luna, she was staring at me with an embarrassed smile, I laughed a bit as seeing Luna as tipsy as she was, it was cute.

"Ben…?" Celestia called for me as she took another shot from the glass. I turned to her surprised by how she changed from being warning to careless, she was also tipsy maybe a little more than Luna. Luna had a higher tolerance to the cider than Celestia did, this worried me, no telling how much it affected her.

"Yes?" I asked drinking from my water, I wasn't going to be drunk tonight especially when these two are around. She swayed her head to me making her mane hit Luna's face, which made her fall out her chair, I stared worrying for both the princesses and myself.

"Can you help me to bed?" She replied with a blush appearing over her face as she smiled widely with her eyes closed. I felt sirens go off in my head, warning me but I quickly responded with, "Okay"

"Yay!" He happily exclaimed which wasn't normal by her standards, she swayed her head back and forth as I stood up and moved over to her. I was shaking a bit as I tried to find a way to get her to her room, _which was where_?

She opened her eyes and quickly jumped from the chair to the floor, she would've tipped over if I weren't there to stop her. I looked over to Luna who was still on the floor unconscious, she was really out of it.

"Okay…The room is *hic* that way," She answered raising a hoof before I caught her again from tipping over. I looked to where she pointed her hoof, a hall that leads to multiple places, what a nightmare!

We spent about fifteen minutes looking into rooms: showers, storage rooms, kitchen, even a dungeon downstairs. After a few more minutes she finally raised her hoof to a room that she told me to not enter before, _this was the right room and the dining room was right there_! I opened the door and revealed a neatly organized bedroom, a huge king-sized bed stood in the middle, a restroom connected to the left, and drawers of something on either side of the room, and to add on, it was comfortably warm in here.

"A-ha! This is it, now to get to the bed!" She said as she moved over to the bed and hopped on it, I stared at her as she stayed on one side of the bed and not the middle, there was room for about ten more Celestia's. I stared at her as she somehow passed out completely, she didn't even struggle to cover herself with a blanket or anything, she was out.

"Okay then…*sigh*…now Luna…"

I returned back into the dining room to get Luna, she was there, still snoozing on the floor with her body loosely spread out. I walked up to her and observed her as she murmured some strange words, she was red around the cheeks and out like her sister. I kneeled down and moved my hands under her, she twitched her hind hoof a bit as I carried her up and let her hang over my shoulder.

"You'll sleep with your sister tonight…" I whispered as I made my way back to the room in which Celestia was asleep in. I made it about a few feet from the door when Luna murmured something again, she had her eyes closed but she was conscious, I walked slowly to the door as she began to make sense from her words.

"Ben?"

"Yes?" I responded casually, she was still a bit out-of-it but she could now comprehend things again.

"Can I sleep with you?" She asked, yawning at the end of her question, I looked up to the ceiling of the hall and back at her, well I saw was really her backside.

"If I knew where my room was?"

"What do you mean? It's this one…" Luna whispered as used her magic to open the door for the room that led into where I put Celestia. I stared into the room in disbelief, Celestia was still asleep but now I had a new worry, this one.

"Oh no, looks like my sister also wants to sleep with us too…oh well," Luna said pushing me with her magic, she pushed me into the room and shut the door behind us quietly. I couldn't react, why had I been placed in such a troubling position? I don't know, but I wondered how I would deal with this, nothing came to mind. Luna forced me to edge of the bed and she slid off onto the bed rolling in it, she snuggled and turned with the pillows once she got here hooves on them but this only heightened my anxiety.

I stared for a few seconds before something grabbed my shirt and pulled me towards the bed, sharply. I had to used my hand to stop myself from falling over Luna as she playfully tugged on my shirt with her magic, after tugging on my shirt for a few seconds, she somehow put me on the bed, between her and Celestia.

I could feel the heat radiating from their bodies and Celestia's soft breathing as Luna turned me over to face her, it was dark but like I said before, I have pretty good vision at night. She must have been drunk, this wasn't how she would act in this type of situation, I stared into her dark eyes, they were more than daring and more than lustful, they were not hers. They looked like they did when I confronted her at Rarity's, demonic but less violent than before, I felt some shivers go down my spine as she grinned a little revealing a set of sharp canines. She wasn't the pony I carried into the room earlier.

"Hi there…" She hissed out at me making me feel like I had gone pale, the grin she had widened a bit more. I took a deep breath before responding, I was a little more focused on who this was besides having her next to me. Multiple questions surfed through my mind: Is this a dream? Who is she? Why is she cute? What happened to Luna? I haven't got a clue to answer these questions.

"Hey…and you are?" I asked, staying idol. She smiled fully now revealing all her teeth to be as sharp as her canines. She bobbed her head a little before giving me a malicious smile, I stared into her eyes, they gained an evil like feeling and not to mention the change in color and pupil shape. I wasn't scared of her but more surprised to be speaking to this essence instead of Luna.

"It is I, the Nightmare," she whispered into my ear, upon hearing this I sighed in relief: _This must be those lucid dreams I've heard about._

"I'll be damned, a cute nightmare, I bet I won't have too many of those," I said letting my head fall back onto the pillow, although I must admit, this dream is far more realistic than most I've had before. As soon as I shut my eyes, I quickly shot them awake when I felt this 'Nightmare' give a nudge with her hoof on my head.

"You can be cute but not annoying," I responded looking over to her, she had reddened slightly across the face and was faintly glowing blue. I couldn't tell if I would wake up from this but she seemed to persist on about being a 'Nightmare'. She either didn't get the hint that I knew she was a nightmare, but there is no way I'd be afraid of someone as cute as she.

"You fool, I'm the Nightmare! Don't you get it!?"

"Yes, I get it, so please let me wake up eight hours later…you can torcher me tomorrow." I said closing my eyes again, I wasn't too annoyed, I actually enjoyed her presence. My eyelids slowly began to become heavy and I began to breath slower, at last, I would finally wake up to Canterlot morning.

After a few seconds of inactivity, something pounced on me and spread across my body, I shot my eyes open again, to catch her crossed hooved on my chest. She stared at me with a lustful smile as she rested her head on her hooves, I was speechless _if only nightmares where more like this then I'd always go to sleep early_.

"Then I'll be your special nightmare…" She inquired making ponder one thing: _did she just read my mind_? I let those words flow on through me, she was just a dream after all, so I couldn't take her seriously. I let my head fall against the pillow but upon doing so she scooted up my torso and met me face to face, she still had her lust but now she had pumped it up a bit.

"I'll admit it, you come off better than most stallions and for that, I'll give you a prize…" She whispered staring down at me, I had an incredible view of her eyes now, sapphire blue. Despite me not taking her seriously she continued to press on, I closed my eyes and ignored her, dreams are going to become something to experience every night from now on if this keeps up.

As I was about completely close my eyes, I felt another force make me open my eyes, but this time it was different. I saw her again, but all I saw was her closed eyes as she pressed onto my mouth, the same swirling I had felt from Vinyl and Flutters was now coming from her but now it felt strange. As unexpected as it was, I returned the same actions back to her, it felt like hours had passed by. I was in full control of my body, nothing acted on its own, I was going by my own accord. The moment accompanied with the heat of the room led this moment into the night until she finally departed from me, like Vinyl, we were connected by the thin line of saliva that slowly made its way to my chest as she panted heavily. I looked up to her, and unexpectedly she imitated Vinyl's same reaction, her tongue hanged out and her lustful eyes showed her satisfaction before she finally loosely fell on me and giggled quietly.

"Can we do this again…*yawn* tomorrow?" She asked with her eyes closed and slowly drifting to sleep. I looked up at the ceiling before placing my hand over her mane, I was also incredibly tired after that. "And for you, I'll actually sleep this night."

"Sure…good-" I couldn't finish what I wanted to say, my eyelids blinded me as I felt my head land on the soft pillow behind me. I could finally rest without having her bother me anymore, _who knew lucid dreams were so…realistic_.

W _ait a minute…when did I fall asleep though…Fuck it, I'll find out tomorrow…"_


	22. Chapter 22 - Ecstasy

_#22_

I was asleep but not for long, I could feel a numb stinging on my neck and heat pressing against my body as I involuntarily raised my hand to rub my face from the right side. I slowly began to open my eyes, it was still dark out, I blinked several times before finally opening my eyes fully and staring at the ceiling. My body and mind where numb by the sudden awakening, I could feel my eyelids trying to close down on me as I could feel my eyes roll back again but another numb sting made my eyes slightly widen, enough to see the blurry ceiling.

"What the…" I whispered as I raised my hand to rub the blurriness out of my eyes. I blinked them again and fully exposed the ceiling just before another sting came from my neck again but this time I felt the slight pain that came from it. Fully aware of my senses, I moved my eyes to my left to spot her again: The Nightmare.

Her eyes remained closed as she bit down on my neck holding me with one hoof while the other went between her legs. I blinked again several times before she tightened her eyes more and bit down harder on my neck as she let out moans in ecstasy. I cringed my face as she bit down harder and harder as she moved her hoof between her legs faster.

"L-Luna…!" I whispered in an alarming tone, I couldn't take the pain anymore, she slowed her movements before slowly opening her eyes, her eyes reflected off the moonlight that entered the room through the window as she began sucking on the spot she had bitten me. The pain eased a bit as she gently sucked away at my probably punctured neck, I began to feel the lewd effects of her actions affect me, the painful bulge in my pants and heavy breathing.

I gulped down heavily as she began moaning even louder, her moans made my back arch and my fingers stiffen as my shaft couldn't handle any more restrainment. I ran my hand to the button that held my pants together and undid it, releasing the buldge and stress out of me as I looked back to her. My eyes widened as I came to the realization that what I had done before wasn't a dream, it was as real as this pain, and so was this "Nightmare" I spoke to.

"Who…who are you?" I asked under my breath making her blink her eyes a few times before widely opening them, her sucking ceased and so did her masturbating. I stared at her the same way she stared at me, I had done something wrong and I felt it as the get up that this 'Nightmare' wore just evaporated into the darkness of the room and her eyes reverted back to Luna's. I felt the sharp points of her teeth in my neck become dull and a few whimpers come out of her.

 _HO-LY…FUCK!"_ I thought as she disconnected her mouth from my neck and tears began streaming down onto the bed as she raised her completely soaked hoof to her face. The lewd smell that came from her hoof and companied by her excessive whimpering put me in a state of _"what the fuck just happened!?"_

"Ben…I-I'm sorry…"

I was silent, shocked into silence, she was crying and probably regretting everything; this night and probably everything before that: I couldn't have that happen. I wrapped my hand around her and gently wiped away her tears with the other even as they continued pouring out. She glanced at me. Shocked as she may be, I wasn't going to let her feel wrong for what she did, this was my rule.

"Don't feel ashamed for what you did…" I whispered to her as my hand slowly rubbed around her body, she gave a slight shiver as I passed over her belly and rubbed around a couple times, her leg twitching every time I tease about going lower. I smiled as she let out a heavy breath full of ecstasy, within that time, it looked like she wanted to near my face a bit but stopped herself.

"Don't worry Luna, I'll encourage you…" I whispered lowering my hand lower, deeper into the crevasse her legs made and rubbed gently the area above her trap, I could feel her legs tightening around my hand as she took faster breaths of air and drooled a bit on the arm I used to hold her. I felt the area around her legs; warm and wet, almost the way I felt inside right now.

Her breathing turned to moans as I finally drove my hand over her slit and rubbed on it up and down and split it open. She huffed out her moans with her tongue continuing to drool on the bed hanging as she threw her hooves around my head. I smiled widely before she pressed my face to hers, our mouths finally connecting, followed by the long-lasting tongue to tongue combat we had as we allowed our minds to carry forward.

"Ah! _Ben_!" She moaned out loudly arching away from me, before covering her mouth with both of her hooves as I let one of my fingers slip through her lips and burrow as deep as I could send it. I thrusted in and out and squirmed around her love tunnel, making it produce strange sounds as she trembled. The lewd sound she was creating forced me to insert my second finger in, which threw her off the grip of sanity, she began to laugh out short breaths as she stiffened her arch and used her magic to force in another one of my fingers.

"Kinky are we now?" I asked as I forced all three fingers to mess her up, she couldn't contain her moans and heavy panting. I knew she wanted more and so did I, I placed my mouth against her chest and gave her a slow and prolonged licking session, making her even louder.

"Ben…you-ha! Will make me wake up my sister!" She lewdly exclaimed, I grinned at her response and slipped my hand out of her vagina leaving a trail of love juices as grabbed both her legs and turned her over. Her eyes widened as I chuckled at such a close view of her royalty, I had her pinned to the bed as I lowered myself below her and sank my mouth into her tunnel.

"Ben! Ha! BEN!"

"What is it?" K asked as he slouched over Flutter's couch and took a chunk out of the cupcake Pinkie had given him. Flutters looked out the window with both hooves on it as she hovered in the air, sighing at the absence of Ben in her home. It was about three hours past midnight and Flutters hasn't slept, leaving K to result to his curiosity.

"Do you think Ben will be alright?" She whispered turning to K, he placed the cupcake on a lampstand before sitting up straight on the couch with a grin over his face.

"Ben isn't the type to leave and not return, especially when he's got an over-attached pony by his side," K said referring to her, Flutters raised her head and tilted it over to one side as she smiled shyly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course, I'm always right!" He said playing around hoping to get her to lay off Ben's case, Flutters giggled before nodding her head and moving up to him on the couch and resting a bit. K raised an eyebrow as she placed her head on his lap and yawned.

"You have some courage to do that…" K admired as he took another bite out of his cupcake finishing it off, Flutters opened her eyes half-way with a smile over her face and a slight blush appearing on it. K's face twitched slightly as the sweet frosting in his mouth gained some more flavor with Flutter's smile

"Why? You're *yawn* another friend I love…"

K gulped down what seemed like the rest of the bread but it was only his feelings, his hand slowly found a way to land over Flutter's mane and stroked it gently. His insides were a mix between how he ended up being so kind and what to do with Flutters: _Was I too kind? What will become of me? This isn't bad, is it?_

"What about Ben?" K asked looking down at her as she closed her eyes and loosely let her body rest.

"I love the both of you, can't I have you both?" She faintly asked as her smile faded, K smiled an emotional smile, something he never thought he would do.

"Of course you can…" K said chuckling a bit, Flutters smiled along as she slipped out a few words.

"I know, I trust you…"

"Why?" K asked raising his brow again, Flutters giggled a bit before sighing and finally falling asleep but not before giving K his answer.

"Because…you're always…right…"

"Of course I am…" K whispered out as he placed his hands under her and picked her up, she was light, warm, and about much of a wonder as K's existence. He walked her to Ben's room and flung the door open, he looked around as he entered the room and put Flutters in bed, her smile disappeared when she left his hands.

K took a step back and lifted his hand to his chest before concentrating his energy on it, in a matter of seconds K felt a strong pain that forced him to the ground as he grunted in agony. He huffed away the pain and stood back up, now he had charged up energy into a ball that glowed with a dark aura and radiated his energy as he looked at Flutter's innocent look.

"I'll never forget what you did for me tonight, as a gift, I'll give you this…" he whispered as he powered up the ball that contained a piece of his soul…his demonic and powerful soul. He placed his hand over Flutters chest as she pressed his soul into hers gently, trying to not wake her.

"Mmm…" Flutters moaned as K finished placing a piece him in her, he smiled widely, his face drenched in sweat and his hand remained shaking violently and his legs feeling like thin sticks on the verge of snapping. This was his last one, the last and only pony he would do this for, no other pony would take the honor K has given her, the honor of being a Demon Holder. Even if it seemed too quick, he wouldn't care, he was one to take risks and watch it all work out in the end.

K's soul was split in three: one piece is his own, the second was in Ben's soul, and now Flutter's was the third. K smiled as he couldn't support his legs anymore and crawled to the left side of the bed and climbed onto it, sighing in relief once he made it on. The pain he felt right now would be unbearable if it weren't for who he gave this power to, if he were to split his soul into four…he'd die instantly. He turned to Flutters to see her smile had returned as she wrapped her hooves around his arm and held it tightly.

"Protect your friends too Flutters, goodnight…"

She forced my head further into her crotch with her legs and magic as she covered her face with a pillow, stretching it to the point of nearly to rip it. I tasted the flood of juices she released as I pleasured her further, she tasted sweet and I had no argument against the way she forced me down.

"MMFFGGGM…!...MMMM!" She muffled louder with the pillow over her face as I softly bit down on her clitoris and finally triggering her final stage. She tightly squeezed my head to her crotch with her legs as she had finally released all the stress and heat she had built up onto me.

She slowly let go of the pillow. Once it came off her, she panted heavily with her tongue hanging out, completely lost in the heat of the moment as I moved up to her side. She turned to me with a nervous chuckle escaping from her as I bopped her on the head.

"Not that hard was it…" I teased making her throw the pillow at me, it was soaked with her saliva.

"I…I…I love you!" She yelled as she embraced me in a tight hug, I did the same before something stung me below and Luna lifted an eyebrow as she looked below herself, our eyes widened as it was clear my erection had not been satisfied, she studied my erect shaft as it twitched insanely quick.

"Woah…" she whispered as she flipped to face it inches away from her face, I was going to sit up but was immediately stopped when I felt her warm breath hit the boxers and it twitched again.

"What is this?" She asked as she placed both her hooves around it making me stiffen up from the back and legs. She noticed and smiled a bit as she used the top of her hoof to tease the head, moving in a circular motion and applying pressure to all sides, making my breathing heavy and slow.

"You know…what it is…" I responded trying to speak between breaths of air, she tilted her head and looked it curiously before looking back at me.

"But it's huge!" She exclaimed in a whisper, I shook my head in denial.

"You know I got nothing…to a stallion…" I said as she used her magic to peel off the boxers, she struggled a bit as she pulled them off until she used her teeth to pull them back, scraping the already sensitive tip. I recoiled my face a bit as it bounced back and forth as Luna stared at it wide-eyed.

"I don't know what you mean…THIS IS HUGE! and funny looking, you've gotta take in that you're way bigger than stallions!" She repeated as she picked it up with her magic making it stand straight up, proud and mighty. I realized how true it was, I was way bigger than a stallion when it came to physical body size.

"So, this is a human's shaft? Smells funny." She rhetorically questioned, looking a bit dazed as she placed her mouth closer it, by now it gradually twitched with every breath she took. I stared at her with a few chuckles escaping my mouth as she cautiously opened her mouth wide open to take it in. I shivered as the warm air that radiated from her open mouth, wrapped around my rod.

"Have you done this before?"

"Nope, but I've seen dreams about it!"

" _Figures…Woah hey! CONTACT! CONTACT!"_

She placed her lips on the tip and slowly let the tip widen her mouth as she slid down it. I placed my hand firmly onto the bed sheet and gripped it tightly as she reached about half-way down before she stopped. I could feel the back of her throat as she closed her eyes and tried to go further, my eyes widened as she slowly began to move it down her throat.

"Woah, take it easy…you-"

It was like my words made her do the exact opposite, she used her hooves to grip onto my thighs as she full-forced my dick down her throat. I gripped on tighter to the sheets as she rose up again and did the same again. She gained a steady pace as she traveled up and down and rotated her tongue around the tip all the while I began to feel the stress build up as I neared my climax. It seemed the more I tried to hold back, the faster and sloppier she got with it.

"Damn it…" I whispered as I let my head hit the pillow behind me, I could now feel the satisfaction and how strangely addictive this was.

This went on for minutes, I felt like soda bottle being shaken up but the cap just won't pop out. I looked down at Luna as she smiled, she was smiling up at me and I grinning back at her. She had found a way between my legs and was teasing me with her tongue, which I found to be the most spine-tingling. In a matter of seconds, I could finally feel it, it felt like death from satisfaction and exhaustion would be the way I go as my shaft began twitching madly. I lifted my hand up to her before balling both up into fists, she looked up at me for a split second before her eyes widened fully as she forced herself down my shaft once more, lighting the short fuse.

"Gah!" I exclaimed as I used my hand to force her head down, she seemed to not fight back as I filled her mouth up with what she had worked hard for. I could hear Luna gaging for air but she still showed no signs of pushing back as I found my cumming ceaseless. To my surprise, Luna instantly began bobbing her head up and down again when I finally removed my hands, I couldn't tell what Luna was trying to accomplish but soon felt another load coming as fell back in shock.

"tch-tch-tch! Luna, you're…!" I exclaimed as I unleashed another load into her mouth, before she finally pulled back. Luna seemed to close her eyes happily as she did so, and I did my best to pull off my most exhausted smile. She seemed to giggle before rising and leaving my shaft alone.

" _THANK EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY!"_ I thought as I weakly smiled at Luna, it's not that I didn't enjoy it but it's hard to continue when you've already gone once. Luna giggled as she climbed up my chest and bopped my head with her hoof before opening her cum filled mouth, I stared at her as she closed her mouth and swallowed letting out a heavy pant to finish it.

"Yay! That was fun!" She exclaimed hopping to my side and embracing me tightly, I don't think I could move even if I tried. I smiled the best I could and before falling back and completely blacking out. I was exhausted but this was the price for fun, you can have too much or you'll end up in a snare.

"I'll let you replenish for the rest…"

"K…" Flutters moaned gripping tighter onto K's arm.

"Huh?"

K opened his eyes to reveal he was still in the same room except now he had two different ponies by his side, Flutters was to the right but Derpy was on his chest while to his left the little pony grabbed onto his arm. He blinked multiple times before he finally realized he was between three ponies and he still couldn't move because of what he did earlier, when the moon still sailed the sky.

"Woah…how did y'all get in?" K asked as he tried to pick his arm up but it was a failed attempt, he looked to his left and right before looking down his chest at Derpy.

"Hey…wake up…"

She didn't respond, she continued sleeping. K rolled his eyes as he picked up his head but barely.

"I'll buy you more _muffins!_ "

"MUFFINS WHERE!?" Derpy sprung up.

"AHH!"

Now everyone was awake, K looked to his sides as both ponies were spooked while Derpy searched rigorously for the non-existent muffin. Flutters managed to fly back down, all shaken up and shocked, while the little pony rubbed her head with her hoof: she fell off the bed.

"Derpy? HOW DID YOU GET IN?!" Flutters asked pinning her to the bed with her wings fanned out, Derpy looked up at her before covering her eyes with her hooves and trembling in fear.

"EKK! DON'T HURT ME!"

"What…no, I wasn't going to hurt you…" Flutters whispered as she let her go and Derpy rolled herself back upright but off the bed. A thud was heard as Flutters looked away for a second before looking back worried, K moved his eyes in the direction where she fell off and mustered the strength to lift his hand a few inches before it fell back down.

"Ow…I'm okay!" Derpy said raising a hoof, Flutters sighed before reverting back to K with a confused eyebrow lifted up.

"Wait…was she sleeping with us?" Flutters asked.

"Ya!" K responded with a chuckle, but Flutters seemed to not find it so amusing but a bit embarrassing.

"Oh…umm…okay then," she quietly said as she flew up to K's side, K gave her quite the confused look before an idea made his face light up with a smile. Flutters returned at him with a puzzled glare as K mustered the strength and placed his hand on her chest.

"Hope you don't mind, I riding with you today…" He said as his essence began to turn into an aura that seeped into Flutters. Flutters stared with the widest eyes she could make as K fully disappeared into her, she placed her hooves over her chest and looked aimlessly at the wall of the room.

" _Don't worry Flutters, I promise you, I won't bother, harm, or disturb you in any way, I just need a place_ _to rest,"_

"A-are you in me?" Flutters asked and K's voice chuckled.

"Yeah…"

"Umm…okay…" Flutters whispered out as she took her move by jumping off the bed and picked up the little pony.

" _Thanks, Flutters!"_

"You're…welcome…"

Flutters placed the little pony on the bed as Derpy stared at Flutters strangely pondering something.

"Yes?" Flutters asked, Derpy knocked her head with her hoof before raising it high.

"Let's go buy more muffins for Ben!" She happily said, Flutters was confused about this, she knew Derpy had a bag full of them yesterday.

"What happened to the ones from yesterday?"

"They disappeared!"

K smiled in his new place as he imagined another bite from the muffins.

"I guess we could do that," Flutters said as she gave the little pony a playful tickle on the side, Derpy jumped on the bed and grabbed the bag of bits that K left on the stand. Through Flutter's eyes K could easily see it and facepalmed himself.

"LET'S GO!"

"Ben!"

I stopped before I reached the door of the room and looked back, Luna was barely waking up again she was incredibly sleepy, unlike me, I felt active and energetic.

"Yes?" I asked looking at her before my eyes widened at what she held with her magic.

"What is that!?"

She giggled as she floated it to me, I reached my hands out as she dropped the pinkish stone in my hands. I picked it quickly and studied it, it had a blue gem in the middle and was a rose-colored stone around it. I recognized the type of stone it was and turned to Luna with a raised eyebrow.

"Who is this one for?"

She giggled a little more before lifting my sword and bag of bits off the side of a wardrobe and floating them to me as well.

"You'll find out sooner or later." She teased, making my curiosity spark as I pocketed the stone.

"Fine, well see!" I excitedly stated before placing my sword around my waist and bag of bits around it. I had gotten up to search for Celestia who wasn't in bed by the time I had awoken, something was up and I needed to find her before returning to Ponyville.

"Luna, I gotta find your sister, umm…" I said as I impatiently gripped the doorknob trying to not dismiss myself early. She smiled calmly at me as she waved her hoof at me in dismissal.

"She might be her room, it's easily distinguishable, bye…"

"Okay, Thanks!"

"BEN! Wait!"

I had made it about a few inches before I flipped back around and peered my head around the door. Luna had gotten up and met me at the door but now she had something up, more worry than what had happened before.

"Why are you looking for my sister?"

I looked down to my pocket before pulling out the stone that had both their cutie marks on each side, Luna's was blue with worry while Celestia's was green…take a clue. Luna gasped at the sight of the stone, I nodded in agreement and pocketed it.

"It's been like that all night long…"

"You think she's…"

"I'll find her, you-"

"NO! I'm coming with you!"

I looked down at my pocket before looking at her, I guess she could easily take me to the room. I lifted my head and nodded, she took my hint as she teleported us both to a new location. This new location had a massive door and more importantly it had a sun on it, I glared at it before walking up to it. I gave Luna a worried look as I placed my hand on the door and gave a slight knock.

"Celestia? You there?"

After a few seconds of no answer, I hovered my hand over the door again before I finally heard movement on the other side.

"Celes-?"

"WHAT!?"

BOOM*

The door swung open violently as some sort of energy force pushed me off my feet and back to a wall, my back collided with the wall making both Luna and Celestia gasp as I fell to the floor.

"Ben!" Luna yelled out as she rushed to me and helped me up, I don't know what I had been hit with but I felt like I was slightly paralyzed from my left hand and left foot. I managed to use my active limbs to get back up but Luna's magic helped the most, I looked up to Celestia, she was shocked into silence as I chuckled a bit.

"You got lucky with that hit!" I played as I looked at my hand shaking madly as I used my other to stop it from doing that. After a few seconds of squeezing my hand, it became numb before finally stopping the shaking and paralysis from both my leg and hand.

Celestia quickly spoke up.

"I'm sorry! I didn't…"

"It's okay…I probably deserved it anyway…" I said as I spiraled my arm around getting a feel for it, she glanced at me before looking down at the floor, ashamed. I raised my head up once I finally had my hand fully active and walked up to her, once she got my shadow in her view she looked up to me as I slightly kneeled down in front of her.

"I'm sorry for not…you know…letting you in…"

She slightly blushed as she looked down, disappointed with herself. I sighed as well, disappointed with myself, I had done it again, I ignored someone else's feeling.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Luna asked moving up to her sister and consoling her as she lifted her head with her magic. I didn't ask the question since it wouldn't exactly make me look too good but now I had the right to agree with Luna, I hinted the same thing by looking up to her expecting an answer.

"I…I was afraid…" she responded looking down again embarrassed by her answer, both me and Luna glanced at each other as Celestia continued.

"I've never been in a situation like that! I never even thought about it till you showed up and started…doing that…" She said in some way hinting that I was the cause for this, but not in a negative way. She had her hoof on my chest as she shook her head a few tears going down her. I raised my hand up to her mane and moved it away from her face before wiping away her tears as I smiled.

"Begin afraid, isn't your downfall but your uprising,"

"What?" she asked as both of them gave a curious look. I looked at them as I stood back up and placed my fist out in front of them, they stared at me as positioned myself with a fighting stance.

"Just because you couldn't conquer it now, doesn't mean it's your last chance!" I exclaimed as I pumped my fist, they both glanced at me before giggling and laughing probably at my actions.

" _Oh great! I made a fool out of myself!"_

"You're something else, Ben." Celestia complemented as she went up to me and embraced me in a tight hug as she hovered in mid-air. I smiled as she gave me a slight kiss on the cheek before hovering back down with her sister.

" _Woah, it is possible!"_

"Thank you, Ben, maybe we can have that 'threesome' you speak of some other time!" Celestia said as Luna agreed over-excitedly as she embraced her sister tightly, her eyes probably glowed from the excitement.

"Really!?" Luna asked again, trying to prove she heard right, Celestia nodded happily.

"Sure!"

"You're going to love it sister!"

" _I don't think they understood how that sounded to me…"_ I thought as I smiled feeling awkward on the inside but joyous on the outside.

We all shared a moment to settle down before sunlight blinded me. I took a step back and let the ray of sunlight climb a wall before I looked at the window that let in the sunlight and my mind clicked on the other ponies.

"Celestia! Luna! I think it's time for me to take my leave but I'll make sure to come back, promise!" I said as I placed my hand on my forehead like K did before. The princesses smiled, giving me the permission to leave. I closed my eyes as I began concentrating on any pony I could easily find, but I had a hard time focusing on my energy on ponies. I exhaled deeply as I tried again and this time I got something, not a pony but that demonic energy that could belong to no other than K. I opened my eyes and waved at the princesses with the other.

"See ya!"

"We'll visit too! Enjoy yourself! Bye!" Luna yelled while Celestia waved.

Poof*

I had closed my eyes as the sudden change in image that appeared in front of me, I had what looked like the most peaceful looking place on…Equestria? A countryside with a home on the top of a hill with a field of corn stretching as far as the eye could see, trees surrounded the house providing the shade that it needed as gray rolling clouds rolled over head.

" _What the hell…this isn't Ponyville, and where is K?"_

"BEN! HEY!"

"What the…K?" I asked as I looked at the figure that poked its head out the house, it was too far to see who it was but the voice was K's. He waved insanely as she signaled the house and for me to come over, I quickly made my way via flying as I braked in front of the house, that was small and looked like those country club homes.

"Woah! What is this place!?" I asked as I admired the beauty of the home, it was nostalgic to see such a home considering this was similar to my old home. K nodded excitedly as he pushed me into the house and closed the door behind me. I looked everywhere as K threw himself on a couch that looked like a recliner, I threw myself on it as well and kicked my feet up as the foot stop rose.

"Damn! This is awesome! But seriously, where are we?" I asked as I rested my head on the back and closed my eyes to enjoy the comfortable couch. I heard K chuckle a bit before he did the same as me and crossed one leg over the other on the foot stop.

"We are inside of Flutter's soul…"

"Ah! Okay…wait up…WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY!?"


	23. Chapter 23 - Badass Fluttershy

#23

"Chill out! We're inside Fluttershy's soul!"

"But-but-but HOW!?"

K thought about it for a few seconds before looking up at the ceiling, I looked up as well.

"I was inside here, and you must have teleported to me or something," He explained raising his finger up and pointing to the ceiling, the explanation made sense but a question still bothered me: what was he doing in Flutter's soul?

"And what are doing in Flutter's soul?" I asked crossing my arms, I wasn't angered or anything, I just found it impressive he could go into other's souls besides mine. He glared at me with a grin as he launched himself off the couch and onto the floor before collapsing.

"Dafaq!? You havin' a seizure or something?"

"No, you idiot! This how I would look if I left this soul!"

"Oh…" I responded nodding to his peculiar demonstration. "Why? You hurt?"

"Sorta, I tired myself out last night!" He said, scratching the back of his head before stretching.

I nodded and turned to the window that showed the field of corn that still was something to admire, K looked out the window before backflipping his way into another room. I quickly turned and jumped out the couch to follow him, he led me to a room that was full of outfits on either side of the room, neatly hanging from steel hangars.

"Woah! That a lot of clothes!" I exclaimed, he turned to me quickly and studied me a bit before running through a bunch of the outfit.

"Yeah, you can take them into the real world but they'll disappear the moment they are cut or something," He said as he continued looking through the clothes, I paused and thought about it before remembering my incident with Rarity.

"I would have loved to have known that sooner!" I chuckled as I studied all the outfits in the room, there were all types of clothes: jeans, shorts, shoes, T-shirts, button-down shirts, long-sleeve, short-sleeve, uniforms, and outfits.

"So how did the night with the princesses go?" He asked as he turned to me. I smiled at remembering Luna's face but instantly shook it off when he glanced at me with a playful grin.

"I guess I should thank you for deciding for me…"

"No problema!" He said getting back to finding whatever he was searching for but he continued speaking as he searched. "How was it?"

"Crazy, mysterious, and not what I expected from a one-night stay," I replied as my mind drifted off to what happened, K nodded silently before glancing another look at me.

"Nice, were they…WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" K said as rushed to me and used his hand to tilt my head to the side. I quickly pushed him off of me as he stepped back waving a finger at me.

"Oh, I know!" he teased as he cheered and praised me. I raised my hand to my neck and massaged it as he got hyperactive.

"What?" I asked pretending to not know when I did, he smiled widely as he leaped and punched the air.

"Was it a threesome or just two?" He asked, I raised my head to face him eye to eye, he widened his eyes as he expected an answer. I didn't want to answer, for multiple reasons, one being it was Luna and Celestia I was speaking of, I couldn't hurt their reputation like that.

My silence must have had an effect on K, he grinned as he placed his hand on my shoulder and nodded. I looked at his hand and at him as he aimed a finger at himself.

"I'm just messin' with ya! Don't get too serious…but seriously though just asking about the bite…" He said as returned back to his outfits and pulled out one. I shook my head as he placed it over his clothes and looked at himself in a mirror.

"The bite came from Luna…didn't it?" He asked as he threw the shirt into a pile he had made before walking to me to look me eye to eye. I looked down and nodded, a bit disappointed with myself for giving him his answer. He smirked as he studied the bite a bit more.

"Was she in her, Nightmare Moon form?" He casually asked, now he had interested me, I lifted my head with a cocked eyebrow as I slowly thought back to what the 'Nightmare' said, "It is I, The Nightmare!"

"Yeah…she was…" I admitted at such a realization, I looked at K with a hard stare and he looked back with a serious look too.

"Luna can easily transform between her demonic side or her regular state, yet she holds no control over it." he added as he crossed his arms and began to explain more, the more information he spat out the more things made sense pertaining to last night.

"Demonic?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, even if they claim it's her split personality, I saw right through it the first day I met her! Her power is immense, many levels stronger than her sister's, if she were to allow that power to overtake her, she would be a pain in the ass to stop!" K said as he shook his head and looked to his right, I stood taking all that in, I couldn't deny any of that since I didn't know how to. Luna as a threat might be dangerous, but what interested me now was how easily I just spoke up to Luna's 'Nightmare' form. I pumped a fist in joy. I had made friends(maybe) with this side of Luna, this could prove to be an advantage.

"But Celestia, she also has something…hidden inside her…" K said as she hesitated a bit to say it, even after that, he hesitated to say something else, he took a deep breath as he went completely serious for a few seconds. I looked up to him confused, I was all ears to K, he gulped heavily as he tightened his hands into fists.

"I'm frightened, ya know?"

I quickly shot my eyes into his as he nodded, I never expected him to say this, usually, he would've pumped himself up but no…he admitted something. I did my best to comprehend him as he continued nodding before chuckling to himself.

"Sounds stupid but…"

"Nah…it sounds right, if Luna has a demonic side to her then maybe Celestia might have one too…and believe it when I say that we don't really know their strength." I said making my own conclusion, and even if it did frighten him, I might be able to befriend this side of hers if it presented itself. He chuckled as he nodded back with a "Thanks"

"No problem."

He raised his fist to me and I meet it with my own before I looked over his shoulder to see his pile of clothes.

"What were you looking for?"

"I was looking for something new to wear, but I found nothin', it seems everything Flutter's soul is composed of is strictly…you know… _Fluttery_ ," He said as he looked back at the pile of clothes, I didn't know why he would find a change in style but I had an idea in mind for him.

"I would recommend Rarity's place, she'll hook you up well, just don't let her get her "Sissors from Hell" out." I recommended, he turned to me nodding as he kicked away the pile of clothes.

"Thanks, I'll go check it out once I can move-"

He stopped at about mid-sentence before his eyes became serious and his hands balled into fists as he looked up to the ceiling. I looked up to see what he looked at but nothing was there besides a light, I turned down to him before he looked at me, nearly sinister like.

"Something is wrong…" He said as he quickly ran to the entrance of the house and flung the door open, I stepped out of the house behind him and stared into the countryside. It was being swallowed by darkness, almost like ink spilling over paper. K immediately looked up to the sky again before a visual began to appear, it was like seeing what Flutters was doing in her eyes.

We both looked as in a matter of seconds something appeared, a strange creature: half lion, half eagle. K shook his head as he placed his hand on my back and folded the fingers on his other hand in a strange way. I looked at him and back up as the creature seemed to swipe a talon at us but very slowly.

"What's happening K!?" I asked him, getting chills all over from the sight taking up the whole sky.

"Remember you'll be controlling Flutter's body so watch it!" He exclaimed before closing his hand, with the strange hand motion, into a fist.

"What the…no way…"

I felt my insides tingle as in a matter of seconds my vision changed from looking at a visual to seeing the actual thing. The talon came at a fast speed but I managed to back my head away from it, well maybe it was Flutter's head but I was still the one in control here. I looked down to the ground as I realized how close I was to it and how tall this creature was, I wasn't fazed, even if I wasn't in my own body I could just as easily react. Gasps were heard from all sides as I looked up to this creature with a grin, I never stopped to think how a grin would actually look on Flutters face, _probably strange_.

"How did you?" She whispered out, making me turn to her.

"What's the matter? Too fast for ya!?" I taunted before grinning even wider at the way Flutters voice made me sound. Her eye twitched before he launched another swipe from her talon but this was way too easy for me, I tilted my head to one side letting the talon pass close by making her slightly struggle to keep her balance.

"Phew, that one was close, I commend you for your efforts though," I said as I quickly put out a hoof to her, trying to stop her from attacking any further but I guess she took it as a taunt. I raised an eyebrow as I tried to use the rest of these hooves to move, it was fairly simple actually, it was like crawling but more comfortable and with upgraded stamina.

"Do you think you can best me!?"

I grinned again before placing my hoof down firmly and getting at an angle to prepare myself. She gave me a sinister smile as she chuckled her evil laughter. I closed my eyes as I chuckled internally, she had no idea what she was about to get into.

 _Maybe I'll scare her off with a Kaio-Ken…nah might hurt Flutter's body,"_ I thought as the enemy seemed way too confident of herself and taunted even more.

"FLUTTERSHY, DON'T FIGHT WITH HER, SHE'LL HURT YOU!"

I quickly lost all concentration and turned to face the group of ponies to my left, it was everyone I knew and some new ones, I gave a slight glance to them and back at the crazed creature but it was already too late, I felt a strong push against the left side of my face before begin lifted off the ground by her attack and flying away about twenty feet and colliding with a tree.

"That'll teach you to mess with me!" She said in an evil laughter, I didn't know how much damage Flutter's body had taken but all I knew now was that I was probably the most crazy looking pony in this zone.

"FLUTTERSHY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Dash yelled as she got to my left and helped me up, I couldn't feel any pain but I was sure that Flutters would if she got her body back. I looked at Dash and winked at her before quickly getting up in the air using these wings, and giving another grin to the creature.

"Okay Ms.Temper Tantrum, you picked the wrong pony to fight with!" I taunted making her look at me with a smirk before she went about laughing. I smiled as she coughed out the rest of her laughter.

"Fluttershy, was it? Aren't you supposed to be in tears by now!?" She mocked making me move in her direction slowly, she laughed a bit more before stopping and looking down at me, confused. I could tell everypony was unsettled by what I was going but I was going to prove something to this crazy beast.

"No! But I will give you to the count of five to leave everypony alone…you understand me!?" I said becoming a bit serious as I firmly placed my hoof down and straightened my whole body. She mocked me again with her laughter, but she'll get what's coming if she doesn't listen.

"You can't be serious!"

"One…"

"WHAT!?" All the ponies to the left yelled, both worried and confused.

I gave her the most daring look I could, and being in this body wouldn't affect its power. She flinched a bit when I looked her dead in the eye and taunted her by stomping my hoof on the ground.

"Two…"

"Come on, just stop pretending and run away like you would!"

I felt a bit angered now after that last taunt, I wasn't about to have some vile creature make fun of any my friends, especially the most innocent one. I glared at her before I closed my eyes and concentrated on the strength my old body had. I stood in silence before I quickly reopened my eyes.

"Three…" I said as the aura that surrounded my human form now surrounded Flutter's body, I looked around myself before looking up at her. She stared at me wide-eyed as I looked down again and took a heavy breath. Everypony to the sides also showed their shock with their looks and silence.

"Four…"

"Wha-WHAT ARE YOU!?"

"My name is Ben! And don't you forget it!" I yelled back making everyone flinch as I quickly stopped her talon from swiping past Flutter's face again. I glanced a serious look to her as she tried to remove her talon off Flutter's hoof but I somehow managed to grab it tightly, _strange_. I slowly lifted a hoof up to this creature's chest and placed it firmly in position.

"Wha-"

"Five…"

I closed my eyes and turned away before looking back at her, my hoof sparking like I had grabbed a handful of fireworka, but of course I hadn't done anything yet. She was about as petrified as she could be. I let go of her talon and let her fall back as she looked at me, shaking in fear. She grabbed her talon with the other as I let go if my aura and offered Flutter's hoof to help her up. She stared at the hoof, not wanting to accept it.

"Come on-"

In a split second, I felt myself disconnect from Flutter's body as I spawned in the sky right beside her before falling to the ground, back in my human form. I rubbed my back in a bit of pain as I stretched getting a feel for my actual body, I felt cramped up now.

"Ow, that hurt!" I groaned.

"BEN!?" The ponies from earlier yelled as I smiled slightly. I smiled as I turned to them, nervously waving.

"Who are you supposed to be!?"

I looked up at the strange creature before chuckling to myself as I laid down the ground.

"I'm Ben…you have a good swing with those talons of yours!" I exclaimed flipping myself and catching Flutters off the corner of my eye. I looked down at Flutters before kneeling down to her with slight worry.

"Sorry Flutters if I sorta got you hurt," I said but quickly took those words back as she gave me an angered expression and lashed something at me.

"What the hell you do that for!?" She yelled at me making me feel low and wrong as I tried to explain myself.

"I got distracted, please! It was an accident!" I explained trying to redeem myself but this only made her laugh madly. I lifted my head up and looked at all the ponies around before getting back to her.

"Flutters?" I asked before she frowned.

"No, it's me K! WHY DID YOU SWITCH OUR BODIES?!"

I flinched back and looked at K in Flutter's body before I lifted my hands in confusion and defense as he tackled and pinned me to the ground. I felt my back collide with the ground as K surrounded Flutter's body with his dark aura and she lifted a hoof to hit me.

"K! CHILL OUT!" I yelled as I grabbed him and held him away from me as I tried to get one of the ponies to help me out but they were staring with their mouths all dropped wide open, even the weird creature. K managed to break off my grip and smack me a good one on the forehead, I threw him away and rubbed my forehead in pain as K studied his newly acquired body.

"Hey, Ben!"

I managed to get up and gave him a frown as he chuckled loudly as his aura grew bigger making me worry about what was going to happen next. "Yes?"

"Remember when Flutters said she would Final Flash our food away!?"

I gulped down as I nodded unwillingly, he grinned widely as he placed both hooves out and charged them up. I quickly threw myself away from him with both hands out, trying to get him to stop but he liked how I reacted.

"K…NO!"

"FINAL!" He yelled making both hooves he had out spark violently with two spheres appearing on each as I locked my knee in position and placed a hand in front of me. He grinned even wider as he increased the size of the spheres.

"K, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? IF YOU-"

He swung out both hooves towards me as a rush of dark and sparking energy made its way to me at a quick speed.

"FLASH!"

"DAMN YOU K!" I yelled as I placed both my hands out and felt the burning sensation of the energy hit my palms as I did my best to keep my hands from bending and locked them tightly. I could feel the magnitude of his attack, _immense_. I grunted as I did my best to push the attack back, I wasn't giving this my all and I knew K wasn't but this was still a lethal amount of power he shot out.

" _Damn it, he really Final Flashed me…fuck,"_ I thought as I quickly let one hand force the attack down as the other reached for my sword before quickly unleashing it under the attack. I flipped myself away from the attack guiding my sword with me as I did, redirecting the energy into the sky. I looked back at K as he smiled and got rid of the aura.

"Give Flutters back her body!" I demanded, making him roll his eyes and nod as he returned to the ground and placed a hoof over his head. He seemed to try to mediate for a moment before widening his eyes and turning to me worried about something.

"How?!"

"Just switch like you did with me!" I said and he quickly growled.

"YOU TOOK FLUTTER'S SOUL WITH YOU!"

"WHAT!? HOW!?" I asked and he flew up grabbing me by the collar.

"I DON'T KNOW BUT SHE'S INSIDE OF YOU! LET HER OUT!"

"HOW!?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"STOP FIGHTING YOU TWO!"

We both looked over to Twilight who was trying to calm us down but K was having a hard time calming down, he threw quite a tantrum about it. I stared at K as he had Flutter's hooves pulling on her own face in stress, but Twilight put him right with another shout.

"Now listen! What is going on here!?" She asked and instantly got her answer as K grabbed her with Flutter's small body.

"I'M STUCK IN FLUTTERSHY'S BODY!" He yelled at her making her push him off and used her hoof to smack him upside the head.

"Calm down!" Twilight yelled before K lunged at her.

"THAT HURT!"

After a few seconds of them arguing I began to hear faint whispering from somewhere.

" _I just wanted some muffins…"_

I quickly blinked my eyes wide open as I looked around myself before placing my hand on my head.

" _FLUTTERS, IS THAT YOU!?"_

" _Yes, where am I?"_ She asked and I looked around before sighing.

" _Umm…inside me…"_ I responded mentally as I saw that K had pinned Twilight down in his tantrum while Dash and Applejack tried to pull him off but he easily over powered them.

" _What!?"_ She yelled from inside me making me shiver as I tried to get her to calm down.

" _Listen…I'll get your body back, just give me a moment,"_

" _Hurry, MY BODY IS ATTACKING TWILIGHT!"_

I quickly turned to K and rushed over before pulling him off of Twilight. He shook away his tantrum as he looked up to me angered.

" _Why is my body so mad?"_ Flutters asked and I couldn't agree anymore with her question, K has lost it.

" _K is inside of it…"_

" _WHY IS HE IN THERE?!"_

" _I don't know, let's just say we wanted to help you deal with…where did she go?"_ I thought as I turned to where the creature was but had disappeared, _must have run away_. I shook it way as I got back to Flutters and her body issue. " _Well, you were in trouble and K wanted to help, and he ended up in your body!"_

" _Oh, my…"_

" _Yeah…"_ I agreed.

I quickly felt K give me another good one on the forehead but this time I didn't let him go, I held on tightly as stared him down.

"Now listen here- *pop* STOP HITTING ME!" I lashed out as he gave me another one, he pouted and waited for an answer.

"Flutters said she wants her body, so how do we do that!?" I asked a bit annoyed by his actions, he looked at me and then down at the ground before widening his eyes and whacking me on the head again. I began to feel a bit enraged as he quickly slipped off my grip and placed a hoof on my chest.

"Okay, this should work now that Flutters is active, or I'll be stuck in this body for a while," he said as he closed his eyes gently and sighed deeply. I stared at what he was doing and felt a warm feeling slowly begin to grow on my chest as he pressed tighter.

"Flutters, can you hear me?" K asked.

" _Yes-"_ Flutters responded before she got cut off and her physical body went flying to the group of ponies in front of me. I stared at them as they all tumbled down making them all groan as they laid down.

" _HA! SUCCESS!"_ K responded from inside my head, I ignored him and quickly rushed to the group of ponies and assisted each one in getting back up. Once they were all up I looked to them as I sighed in relief, wishing for this to never happen again. I quickly helped Flutters up as she seemed be a bit more out-of-it than the rest.

"Thanks Ben…" She said taking gentle breaths to fix herself.

"No problem!"

"Fluttershy! Are you back to normal?!" They all asked as I slowly helped her off the ground and stared at everypony dazed. She looked at her hooves before getting up straight and giving a few trots.

"Yes, I think so," She said before shaking away all the shock she had and looked all around. She looked at us all before she got a worried look on and looked at herself. We all stared at her as we couldn't believe what we were seeing.

I stared down at her with as much disbelief as everypony and leaned in to inspect Flutters a bit more.

" _Holy mother of…Celestia…"_ K said as he spoke for everypony as we saw Flutters touch herself trying to find out what was wrong with her. I kneeled down to Flutters and gave her small snap of my fingers to get her attention before I placed my hand over her head. She gave me a confused look before I grabbed what she had on her head.

"What are you-" She was stunned into silence once I fully gripped it, a blush grew on her face as she slowly reached a hoof up to touch it herself. She felt it multiple times before she paused for a moment and widened her eyes before looking at her friends. Everypony was about as surprised as Flutters was, Twilight was the first to trot up to Flutters and feel it herself before covering her mouth in shock.

"You're…an Alicorn…" Twilight whispered in about as much disbelief as she could conjure. Flutters trembled she recoiled her body greatly, trying to hide from our stares.

"W-what?"


	24. Chapter 24 - Another One Bites The Dust

#24

Flutters seemed to be having a moment to take it all in as I discussed this with K, and he had about as many theories as I had questions. Twilight helped Flutters calm down as all the other ponies surrounded her and gawked at her new form, but clearly Flutters didn't admire her new look, contrary to her audience, she was terrified. I raised my head as Flutters backed away from all her friends, terrified of their attention, but her friends were too amazed to even notice her fear. They piled question upon question until Flutters closed her eyes and looked away from them.

"HEY! Leave her alone, can't you see you're traumatizing her!" I yelled over all of them, they turned to me and raised their eyebrows before turning back to Flutters, she was backed up into Derpy and my little oneFlutters looked at her hooves, asking herself mentally if _this was really happening_ , before covering her eyes with them in stress. I felt bad for her, she wasn't expecting all this to happen to her but it did, and now we have to find a way to help her. I did take the blame for it, I had to after that confusing body swapping.

"Flutters, don't be afraid, I'll help you if you need it." I compassionately assured in an effort to cheered her up, she looked up to me before back down at her hooves and tried to pull off her best smile but it failed as she shoved her face in her hooves. I scratched the back of my head. "Damn, is it really that bad?"

"T-thank you, b-but I just can't accept this!" She sobbed, I knew what she meant and understood her situation, but she shouldn't fear change: I'll show her that. I lowered myself and sat down next to her and nudged her with my shoulder, she raised her sobbing head and faced me, confused about my odd interaction.

"Don't hurt yourself by telling yourself you can't accept this, remember, nothing is going to change unless you let it, you're still Flutters ain't you?" I motivated, while she did her best to follow along. I could see she wanted to listen, but her fear blocked her from accepting anything I said. She looked away to the ground beside her, she wanted to ignore me but I wouldn't leave her to suffer in her fear.

"I'll always see you as Fluttershy, my friend, a special and important part of me, come on, you can't just ignore me like that." I said letting my feelings enter the moment. She raised her head before turning to me with a smile trying to appear on her face, her face trembled as her will to smile was in limbo with her fear. I smiled calmly as I placed my hand on her mane and stroked it down before wiping away her tears, she blushed lightly as I rubbed her cheek and chuckled. "I like you Flutters, so don't change."

"Yeah, we all do!" All the ponies in front of us exclaimed giving Flutters the last ounce of motivation she needed for her to smile brightly. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her in for a gentle embrace making her blush a bit stronger before letting her head rest on me.

"Thank you, everypony and Ben…" She whispered, loud enough for everypony to hear, I smiled as she smiled at them before they looked up to something, I could hear heavy panting as I turned around along with Flutters.

We all turned and stared as K did his best to stand up, he had a trembling thumb going up with a sweat pouring down his face as grinned slightly.

"Me…too, I'm sorry…for what I did!" he exclaimed as fell to his knees and used his hands to avoid colliding face first into the ground. We rushed over as he grabed his chest in pain but he shook his hand and rolled onto his back. Flutters was the first to appear beside him and study him intently, I walked up to him next and was followed by the rest.

"Are you alright!?" Flutters quickly asked as she worriedly placed a hoof on his chest, he gave her a small chuckle before he removed her hoof and tightened his hand into a fist to combat his pain. I tightened my fists as I remembered what he had told me before about how he would look if he were to leave Flutter's body. I kneeled down on the opposite side of Flutters and studied his chest area.

"You weren't kidding…"

"Nope…and I'm in dire need of a healing!" He grunted as he slowly lifted his back off the ground and placed a hand on his head.

"Umm…okay!" Flutters whispered as she looked at him before looking at her hooves and back at him. I glanced a look at Flutters as she closed her eyes, in an attempt to harness the power of her horn. I quickly looked back at K, ignoring her to not distract her, I waited for a few seconds before a strange dark aura began to surround K, it spiraled around him before he widened his eyes and looked at Flutters. Flutters had her eyes open again as she concentrated on him with a nervous smile on her face as she observed K slowly begin to tighten up his body.

" _For her first time doing this…she does it well…"_ I studied both of them with a smile seeing Flutters starting to work some of that handy magic. Soon K was on his knees before fully standing and studying his body. Flutters cut off the magic she was using on him before taking a step back and studying her work. K quickly grinned as he played with his magic. Flutters gave a faint chuckle as she observed him jump around and give a few punches into the air.

"Woah…" I whispered out as I picked myself from my kneeling position and looked at Flutters. In the midst of admiring what she had done, I leaned in closer as I noticed something was different, oh something was missing, the horn that claimed her an "Alicorn" had disappeared.

"Flutters, it's gone…your horn!" I reached down and placed my hand over her head to confirm my claim, her horn was gone.

"What?" She asked before using her hooves to double-check herself, she raised an eyebrow as she lowered a hoof and scratched her head with one. "Oh…that's strange…"

"No, it's not!" K claimed as he moved up behind Flutters with an energy ball floating over his hand, everypony, me, and Flutters turned to him as he looked at his hand like he had made a discovery. Flutters questioned what he meant before he kneeled down and placed his hand in front of her, Flutters looked intensely at the sphere as K explained.

"I left most of my energy in your body when we transferred and that energy made you an Alicorn but when you used your magic on me, you transferred all the energy I left in you, so I was able to heal up quickly and you reverted back to normal!" K explained in a well-educated pace, we all gave K the "thank you" he deserved for explaining. He took a playful bow as he turned to Flutters, who seemed a bit more than over _it_ at the moment. K lifted himself from his knee and placed a fist out.

"NOW I CAN FIGHT YOU BEN!" He exclaimed as he launched a punch at me only to have it returned to his stomach by my fist, I shook my head as he chuckled happily and rubbed his belly in pain. Everyone gasped as I retracted my hand and massaged the wrist as I smiled back at him.

"Not now, for now, let's be happy we settled all this madness." I said holding out my fist to him, he chuckled looking at the ground before he ran his fist onto mine. He looked over to Derpy before disconnecting his fist and reaching down for her.

"Right-right, let's go get some muffins!" He said as he raised Derpy, who had a bag that clinked full of bits, she smiled widely before letting the bag of bits fall out her mouth and onto the ground. Everyone ignored the bag as they cheered K on about muffins but I concentrated on the glowing that erupted from the bag. I carefully looked back at K as I reached down to pick it up, once I had it in my hands my eyes widened as I saw what was inside.

" _Holy…something_!" I thought as I observed another one of those stones, this one was strange compared to the others, it was dark with green and black swirls that seemed to actually spiral around slowly. I picked myself off the ground with the bag of bits on one hand and stone in the other hand, the stone glowed green with jealousy.

"K, where did you find this?" I asked getting K's and everyponies' attention as I held up the stone to him. K glanced at it and me before simply answering."I found it in the bag of bits on the ground, near Pinkie's place."

I nodded as I turned back to it, the stone looked different compared to the other two, this one was more "evil" than the others. I stared at it as I picked myself up and flipped it around before pulling out the other two in my pocket and looking at them all together, studying their differences and similarities. I studied it slowly before the dark one quickly floated off my hand by a purplish glow, I placed the rest in my pockets before quickly reaching out for it but it had gone too far for my arm to reach.

"You shouldn't have these, only those who are chosen can hold them!" Twilight said as she turned to K and gave him a small lecture about the stone. K, somewhat offended by her words, stopped her mid-lecture.

"And what if the stone picked me! Have you thought about that!?" K interrupted making Twilight stop her explanation and look back at the stone before looking at K with a suspicious glare. I stared at Twilight as she floated the stone in mid-air and performed some strange magic on it. K also stared intently as Twilight lifted the stone up even higher.

"Okay then, let's see if you're really the chosen one," She said as she sent a beam of purple light straight into the stone before the stone deflected the beam at K but K quickly unleashed his glowing broken wooden sword on the beam and deflecting it to the sky. Twilight froze in shock as the stone fell straight into K open hand and he gripped it tight.

" _Oh look, he still has that sword!"_

"See! That means it's mine, right?!" K proudly asked as he flipped the stone like a Bit and pocketed it, Twilight bit the edge of her hoof as she stared at K grinning with pride. I looked at Twilight and smiled as I called her attention, she turned, still nervous about what had happened.

"It's K, you shouldn't worry unless it's a crazed somepony he's gonna meet." I said defending K but she quickly flew up to me and grabbed my cheeks with her hooves before pressing her face on mine. I flinched a little as she inhaled a large amount of air.

"It is some crazed pony he's gonna meet! Well…BUG!" Twilight nervously exclaimed making me nervous about how sane she was. I reached my hand and grabbed her before pulling her off of me, she didn't break her stare with me as she bit down her hoof and I gave her a reassuring smile. I knew K could pull off anything, it was something I knew for a fact even if he was a bit crazy, there's no reason to fear.

"Trust me! K is a pro at handling a problem, he just hides his common sense for when it's needed!" I reassured her. She debated mentally before sighing deeply as she nodded unwillingly. "Alright, but I'm trusting you to watch after him!"

"Sure!" I responded ending her little dilemma but she still had the worry lingering around, I couldn't say I wasn't a bit worried but she did the test and saw it was K's stone to keep, so he would be the one to meet this mystery pony. Twilight sighed once more before trotting away into town by her lonesome without saying a word which made me worry a bit for her, I watched her until she took a turn and fully disappeared from my sight. I gave a small wave in her direction before turning to K and the others, my mind still processing what just happened.

I looked up to K and the rest of the ponies who hadn't paid attention to our little discussion and were speaking among each other. I stared at them before blinking curiously and lifting finger to count them all, at the end of counting them I turned around and found the end of Flutter's muzzle bump my nose sharply. She quickly retracted herself and I did too as we gave each other curious looks.

"Umm…hey."

"Hi…" Flutters whispered silently a bit embarrassed by what happened, I chuckled at her reaction before giving her a smile to show how glad I was to have ended most of the confusing events up to now. She smiled back slightly as she scratched the back of her head with her hoof like I would with my hand, I stared at her awkwardly knowing she was hiding something by the way she continued doing the same action.

"Is something wrong?" I asked making her jump in the air like she had been figured out, she bit her lower lip as she placed both her hooves together and swayed a bit side to side. Something strange was afoot, this way of acting was new coming from her and she had this worried look on her. She slowly flew a bit closer to me before looking away to the ground by my side, my curiosity increased slowly as she hesitated to begin speaking.

"When I…I saw…um…"

"Just tell me, I'm not gonna get mad or anything," I stated encouraging her to speak, she glanced at me before looking back at the ground as she placed a hoof on my arm. I looked down at her hoof and back at her as she sighed deeply.

"So, I was inside you, right?" She began, and I already knew this was gonna get to me when she finally spills what she wanted to say, I nodded. "Yeah…"

"Well…I saw something…Luna and you were in it," She whispered even quieter. I froze for a good few seconds before biting down on my tongue and swaying my arms back and forth. I knew what she meant right away and boy was in for some explaining, I would've been a bit more embarrassed about it if I hadn't enjoyed it as much as I did.

"Oh…you mean that…ah…" I responded nervously scratching the back of my head. Flutters gained a blush as she nodded and I followed with my own nod. We both looked away from each other as we continued speaking.

"She looked very…happy," Flutters added, now I was feeling some tension begin to increase between me and Flutters as she blushed stronger and pressed her hoof onto my arm. I felt like burying my nails into the back of my head as she continued.

"Does it really feel…you know…like that?" She asked shaking the hoof that she pressed on me, I looked at her and chuckled a bit before biting down on my tongue again. She was slowly reaching to that point that I won't be able to hold back information, yet that's what she was aiming to do.

"I suppose so, you have to experience it-" I calmly said before slapping my mouth mentally as she looked up quickly at me, her face represented her confusion and faith

"What!?"She asked, outraged with embarrassment.

"Well...I meant…you could-I mean…um," I struggled to answer feeling a bit wrong for the way I answered before, but she seemed to only grow more curious upon hearing my response. I felt her hoof gently come off me and she slowly take in a huge amount of air.

"Can you…um…do that…again?" She asked making me slowly realize what is to come next, I looked down at her but all I saw was the top of her mane as she looked away in embarrassment. I tried to smile but all that came out was my worry as I asked her.

"Flutters…I can but-" I tried to ask but before I could she covered my mouth with her hoof and force me quiet as she took another heavy breath, I stared wide-eyed at her as she gave me a reassuring smile that threw me off. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, Flutters the most innocent pony, was actually going to ask me something of this magnitude… _OH MY CELESTIA_!

"WHAT!? THAT'S NOT FAIR!?"

"EKK!" Both me and Flutters yelled as we quickly turned to face Dash holding a frown over her face, Flutters blushed heavily as she placed both of her hooves together. I looked around Dash to see that the others had not been alerted by Dash's huge yell.

"What do you mean Dashie?" Flutters asked as she blushed even more, it was a wrong move by Flutters to have asked, she was easily blowing her cover. Dash gave her the "don't play with me" look as she got closer to Flutters and placed her hooves on Flutter's shoulders.

"You can't tell me you don't know! I heard your conversation!" She said exposing our conversation to ourselves. I glanced at her, feeling confident I was going to give her a hard time with this. I cleared my throat to get Dash's attention but also got Flutters.

"Why did you listen in?" I asked making her flinch defensively as she let Flutters go and turned to me, she looked down to the ground as she tried to come up with something. She had been eavesdropping on our conversation and now dragged herself into a deep hole and she'll suffer for it.

"Well…I thought you were hiding something!" She replied making me nod in agreement but she wasn't off the hook that easily, I glared at her with a grin, unnerving her.

"Why wasn't it fair?" I asked referring to what she yelled earlier, now she could feel it, she blushed slightly which was a rare thing from what I've noticed. She bit her lower lip as well as she looked up at me, a bit angered and embarrassed, she was now in the place I wanted her.

"You…can't just…do that…without…me," She responded lowering her voice to a near-mute, I might just give my ears a prize for their effectivity, she was now opening up a bit more. Flutters stared at me, open up Dash as she was now with her ears dropped low and her blush was on a new level of red.

"I see…I guess so…" I replied think about what was happening, I have two ponies asking for sex, what do I do? The answer is simple: just give in slowly. I looked up to Flutters and Dash as they both stared at me, embarrassed and awaiting an answer.

"I'm sorry…" Dash responded softly, I felt a bombshell fall on me as her words took me to what Luna had said that night: _"I'm sorry…"_. I looked up to Dash and smiled slightly as I placed my hands on Flutter's and Dash's shoulders, they both quickly looked up at me confused and faithful.

"No need to be sorry, I'm not just going to shove over a friend!" I said to Dash before turning to Flutters. "And I'm glad you trust me like that Flutters, I think the same way of you…"

I looked at them glance a look at each other before looking down at the ground then up at me with embarrassed smiles. I nodded with my own smile as I gave them a thumbs up, I knew something was going to happen but who'd a thought it.

"So…when?" Dash asked trying to not sound as interested as we all were about the time. We all flashed looks of confusion at each other before Flutters twirled her mane with her hoof, we both gave Flutters the attention she tried to get. She gave a faint chuckle before looking up at me.

"Tonight…?" She whispered nervously.

"Sure!" Both me and Dash yelled enthusiastically before realizing how we came off and chuckled nervously. Flutters seemed to light up with excitement and embarrassment as both me and Dash nodded at her.

"Umm…now what?" Dash asked, we all glanced at each other once more before I looked off to K who had a pile of bits next to him as he counted them and separated them into even stacks. Both Dash and Flutters smiled as they saw K count his muffin money.

"How about muffins?" Flutters asked turning to us.

"YES! I needed some breakfast!" I yelled as I punched the air above me, they giggled as I began to make my way to K and they followed. K counted the bits in his pouch as he pulled out one by one, Derpy by his side and the little pony both observing him.

"235…236…237…23-uh? Oh…Ben!"

Hmpe saw my shadow approach him and turned, he had quite an impressive number of bits. I glanced at his piles as he quickly threw them into the sack of bits and stood up and aimed his finger in the direction of Sugar Cube C. I looked in his direction before looking at how many ponies were left, only a few: Derpy, the little one, Scoots, Belle, Bloom, and Bonbon.

"Where did the rest go?" I asked, K looked around himself before he placed his hand on my shoulder and revealed all their destinations, apparently most of the ponies had to take care of some strange business that K can't inform me about. I let it slide by and focused on getting to the muffins, but I won't forget about this "secretive business".

"Hmm…fine then, I guess we'll have to enjoy those muffins without them." I said turning to the ponies that where left, they all seemed to be excited about something but I dismissed it for now.

"Right! Let's go!" He yelled as he placed the bag of bits to his side and pulled off a 360 in the direction to Pinkie's place. I chuckled before reaching down for the little one, which still had me pondering of a name. She giggled as I lifted her but as I expected, she escaped and climbed me like she would and positioned herself like she had done before.

"Lead the way!" I said letting him go on but before I allowed him to move, he glanced at me from the corner of his eye with a suspicious look. He was glad to be getting muffins but he wasn't acting like that as he watched me, I was a bit shook by it. As he slowly got farther away from me, I felt a soft hoof rub on my head.

"Are we going to get a muffin?" The little one asked, distracting me from K's look as I began to walk in K's direction. I hadn't noticed it but Dash and Flutters had stayed behind me, waiting for me to move.

"Are you okay?" Dash asked me flying up behind my shoulder, I glanced at her before looking at K's back, my mind pondering the intentions of his look. Flutters quickly asked the same from my other shoulder, I glanced once at each and back at K.

"I'm not so sure, but I'll find out eventually." I seriously stated as I quickened my pace to catch up to the rest, all three ponies gave each other worried looks as I began to become more serious by the second.

"Ben? What's wrong?" Flutters asked worried and strict, I raised my head and nodded with her worry. All I felt was worry as well but the type of worry in which someone might get hurt. What really bothered me was how all this was triggered by just that single glare.

"I don't know, I feel like something is going to…hurt…but I don't know, so for now…I won't let my focus go down, let's continue walking," I said as I kept my head low with one hand hanging loosely over the handle of my sword, I wasn't lying when I said that I could feel hostility nearby. Dash and Flutters, even the little one, looked around themselves nervously as I followed K from behind.

"How can you tell?" Dash asked coming up one side, I didn't look in her direction as I explained it to her, the rest listened intently as I began.

"I don't know…all I know is that it's incredibly nearby, I didn't pick it up until I saw K staring at me in a strange way," I said as I felt a pulse of worry go down my arms and my hand grabbed the sword and the other twitched rapidly as I tightened it into a fist.

"Ben? Calm down…it might just be something messing with you," Flutters said nearing me from my left, but I quickly ignored it as another pulse came through and my sword was forced a few centimeters out. I could feel the sweat that had been coagulating drip down my chin as I shivered a bit, I could feel the hostile presence near but I couldn't find out where. I felt Flutters grip my arm as I clenched my teeth and Dash quickly do the same on the other, I couldn't deal with this any longer, it was like waiting for death that never came. I never really felt like this before, it was like having a blade piercing through my skin and it got deeper with every moment.

"K!" I yelled out to him, he stopped before quickly turning his head to me with a lifted eyebrow, I stared seriously at him forcing him to turn his whole body. All the other ponies had stopped and stared at me as I slowly pulled out a bit more of my sword and K squinted his eyes at me before taking a step back.

"Hey, calm down, what are you doing!?" He asked as he glanced over to me with his hands ready to stop any incoming attacks. I wasn't going to attack him but the feeling I was going to was too great to be ignored.

"What is this!? I know you feel it too, so what is it!?" I exclaimed as I felt my sword fully come out its holster, I had no idea why I reacted this way but I've probably never felt so threatened. K raised his head up as he slowly walked to me, even if I trusted K, my hand slowly rose and aimed my sword at him. K didn't slow or speed his pace up and met me about a few inches away from me.

"I know…I didn't really want to tell you though, but I guess I have no choice…"

"Wha-?"

He raised his hands over my head and quickly lifted off the little pony off my neck and I instantly felt a wave of relief rush at me as I caught myself from falling. I felt both ponies by my side help me up as I looked up to K.

"What…no way…that can't be!" I said as I saw K hold in his hands the little pony who was crying slightly as her eyes glowed a strange golden color. I looked at her before nearing my hand to her only to have it nearly cut off by a rapid beam of light. I retracted my hand as all the ponies gasped and I was left speechless. K wasn't surprised as he held her up with his stare going on.

"She really was a danger from when we first found her, yet her innocent mind clouded ill intent, but now, she is slowly giving into this intent." He said as he still held her but only before he quickly tilted his head to dodge a beam that she fired at him. I stared as he leaned his head back in and had a slight cut on the side of his face that dripped blood slowly. I felt something inside me yell out to quickly save my friends, yet my instincts told me to protect her. She was on the floor now as she stood up but fell down before trying again only to fall again.

"K!" Flutters shouted as K's blood began to slowly drip down his shirt as he looked down at her with a sadistic glare, I slowly began to feel a decision begin to sprout inside me.

"No…no…no…" I whispered under my breath as I saw the little pony's eyes glow gold as she picked herself up and panted heavily. K looked over to me as used his thumb to rub off the blood before placing it in his mouth, he wasn't going to be as soft as I was right now.

"What is going on here!?" Bonbon asked with all three little ponies by her side and Derpy hiding behind her. I couldn't part my sight from the little one, my mind raced with so many questions and worries.

"Ben…I'm sorry…I didn't want to have to do this but I have no choice…"

K's words came into me like spears, my lungs hurt from the quick breaths I was taking as I quickly switched between him and the little pony. K had extended out his hand and was powering something heavy while the little pony just fell over her own hooves like she did when we first found her.

" _So that's it_? _I failed at what I said I would be_ …"I thought as I tightened my hands into fists and my imaginary tears flowed down my face, I can't even cry straight, I had to purposely imagine them. I glanced away from the little pony, all I could hear was the crying of Flutters and the others as they all covered their ears and eyes.

Something quickly stopped me from moving, something that messed around with me: a cry.

"Do I have to find another Daddy?"

I felt it all freeze, I quickly turned to her as she stared at the ground her eyes buffered out between her normal eyes and that golden tint. K had also frozen a bit but his intentions were the same. She sobbed as she rubbed away a few tears and lifted her head up to me, staring at me with a wide smile. I quickly flinched away and fell to the ground on my knees as I stared at her smile, just shaking my head in objection. I wanted to cry but nothing came out.

"Ben! WATCH OUT!" K yelled as another beam of light erupted from her horn but it I was so paralyzed to even bother dodging it. I felt a stream of blood begin to fall down my cheek as I stared at the pony's smile. I shook my head in denial as I probably got everyone's attention.

"Even if it was for a few days…I'll always like you! Goodbye Daddy!" She happily finished as I felt my feelings pile but K was cold when it came to this, he placed his hand in front of him before glancing once at me and sighing deeply.

"I'm sorry…Disappear."

"HOW COULD THIS DAY BECOME SO WRONG!" I yelled out as I ran my fist into the ground, cracking a small radius hard dirt, K stopped before turning to me, he hadn't done anything yet but he still had his hand out.

"I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN, K! YOU HEAR ME!" I continued, K gave me a serious look before looking down with a smile, I was a bit angered by his expression and picked myself up to confront him. He smiled as he looked down at the pony as she patiently waited for her demise.

"I know…I did my research, and after deep thinking I remembered some shit: There are Devine Beasts and Beasts; Devine Beasts being created for the soul to serve a master, and this here is just that." He said with a grin as he charged his power up, even more, I looked up at him before questioning what he meant, he smiled as he aimed the energy at the little pony.

"W-what?" I asked, no way to respond to such confusing terms.

"I'll place her soul into you, like I did with Strike," He said as he slowly reached his hand down, I couldn't explain how crazy I felt at the moment: I was about as close to giving K the manliest hug or the biggest suckerpunch I'd ever given anyone, but I restrained myself from doing so as I saw the plasmatic hand come out his palm and attach to the little pony.

"DAMN IT K! YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING SOONER!" I cursed but he just shrugged as he answered the casual K way.

"Just wanted to see your face."

"Fuck you K…" I chuckled as I rubbed my hand on my face in desperation. He chuckled back as I removed my hands to see the pink sphere in his hands with a sleeping little pony inside.

"It's all yours," He said as he tossed it to me and I caught it with cupped hands. I stared into the soul once more, I'll say it again if I have too. "Ponies are so cute when asleep."

I let my hand guide in the soul as I felt happiness overwhelmed me, I sucked back in my imaginary tears. Now that makes two souls I have in me, I couldn't feel them inside but K was apparently able to speak to them and I'm sure he'll look out for them.

"Is it over?" Flutters cried out with her hooves over her eyes making me quickly look up to her before tightly embracing her.

"Wha…Ben?" She asked as she removed her hooves and looked around confused by everything, I looked back at her with my wide smile that made her smile along with me.

"It's alright now! K had it all worked out, the crazy demon!" I joyously exclaimed as I hugged her tighter, Flutters chuckled nervously as she blushed at my actions. I allowed her to leave my hands and look at K who was turned looking away from everypony, he looked off into the town as he stared into the stone from earlier before pocketing it.

"So, where is she?" Flutters asked.

"In my soul. It may sound strange to others but…I'm glad to have a demon as a friend," I said as I stared at K begin to walk off into town by himself, everypony stared but didn't stop him.

"Yeah," Dash said as she placed her hoof on her my shoulder, she had eavesdropped on me and Flutters again, but I was thankful for that now. Bonbon and the other three smiled widely, they also listened in, Derpy was still behind Bonbon and shyly hiding from me with a smile. This goes from good to bad to good, it makes no sense…but I love it anyways, I looked to K once more before he fully disappeared into town.

"How about we finally get those muffins, I'm buying." I offered.

"Yeah!"

So, it seems a crazy day has begun but it can only become stranger. Over at the princesses' castle, Luna and Celestia are speaking of an important topic while they had brunch.

"Sister…you felt that massive wave of power, right?" Celestia asked Luna, she nodded before nervously smiling at her. Celestia also smiled back as she took a bite out of a sweet bread and Luna sipped on some tea.

"Looks like Ben has quite the popularity," Celestia mentioned making Luna look up with a smile, Luna had no way of denying it but she didn't worry about it.

"He's a lovable, talented, and romantic one, that makes him special," Luna said sipping again from her tea, before drifting off her own fantasy, Celestia smiled and nodded before sipping her own tea.

"Yeah, that just about sums it up."


	25. Chapter 25 - Another Night, More Heat

#25

The nights of Equestria where beautiful, nothing but stars, shimmering and twinkling in the night sky as I rested my head against the bark of a tree. I let my body hang from a branch and my back rest against the tree's body, how I got up here was a mystery, I just walked and climbed without consciousness, probably lost in the pool of wonder, wondering about life.

"Wow…" I whispered amazed by the stars in the night sky. My mind drifted back and forth between what happened earlier today as I sighed deeply. After all that craziness, the rest of the day went on to be full of joyful moments; from Flutters trying to name the little pony, _which we didn't_ , to Dash having to practice her moves, and Bonbon whispering a lot to herself, _which was cutely strange_. Now, I was here.

"How did today go by so fast?"

I stood up on the branch before looking behind; it was Ponyville and the number of lights that filled it. From this view, nearly anything was visible: Flutter's home, Applejack's, even the princesses' castle could be seen in the distance. I was at the peak of this gigantic tree before floating myself back down and beginning a pace in the direction of Flutter's home. I hadn't stopped thinking about what Dash and Flutters had told me earlier and how excited I was, no telling what will happen. I slowly walked past tons upon tons of forest, enjoying the silent night as I made my way back.

"So now I have two souls in me…I hope the two of you are comfortable, sorry it had to be this way…" I said, not really wanting a response from them, but I did hope they heard me realized I was actually intended on caring for them.

"I do care for you, that goes for you too Strike, even if our encounter was ill driven, I just want you yo know that."

After a few minutes of walking, I was still in the forest and I was being trailed by something but I ignored it as I continued walking calmly. I was calm for the simple reason that whatever I was being trailed by didn't seem hostile but curious, yet I still kept alert on the outside. Whoever this was seemed to hold a small amount of magical strength but I knew better than to underestimate anyone, I continued a bit more before coming to a complete stop and turning behind me. I couldn't fully see the pony from behind the bush it jumped into but the blue blur was enough for me to predict who it was.

"Come out Lyra, I know it's you," I exposed with a small smirk on my face. I patiently waited for her to come out but she didn't. I gave a slight frown as I walked over to where she supposedly was, creeping ever so steadily to avoid detection.

" _That had to be Lyra, no mistake!_ " I confidently thought as I looked down on the bush that was supposed to be where Lyra was before I quickly moved aside the bush, the first thing that came into view was a blue blur before my mouth followed.

"A-HA! Ha…ha…oh…Who are you?" I asked as I stared down at a pony who obviously wasn't Lyra. I took a moment to recheck before asking again at the spooked unicorn. "Umm…Hello?"

"Umm…" was her response as she picked herself off the ground, she seemed to have fallen when I moved over the bush and startled her probably. I stared at her as she used her hooves to lift her wizard's-like hat that was the same pattern as the cape/robe she wore: a bunch of stars. She got herself onto her hooves and looked up at me, nervous, as she placed a hoof on her chest.

"I'm…the Great and Powerful…Trixie." She stated nervously taking small pauses between words making me chuckle a bit at such a name and how nervously she said it. She gave me a small frown as I turned away to contain myself and let out a few slips of laughter out.

"And what might yours be?" She asked with a daring tone making me turn back to her and place my thumb on my chest, I smiled back confidently as mimicked how she introduced herself.

"I'm the Totally Confused and Random Dude…Nah it's just Ben!" I said chuckling a bit making her pout. I smiled before rolling my eyes at her actions, although the way she introduced herself was funny to say the least.

"I'm just playing around, no need for that!" I said trying to get rid of that expression on her, she looked up at me before giggling a slight bit. She quickly corrected herself and shook those giggles away as she turned to me seriously. I continued smiling at her as she cleared her throat to speak.

"Fine…Trixie demands you tell her how you made Fluttershy an Alicorn!" She exclaimed as she placed a hoof out in my direction. I lifted an eyebrow and crossed my hands across my chest as I became slightly serious.

"Why?" I asked making her frown as she asked the same thing again but now I wasn't going to waste time when I needed to get home. I ignored her and began my pace towards Flutters home without saying a word, I ignored her for two reasons: I had to get to Flutters, and I wasn't going to let her know about the Alicorn business. With that being said, I didn't really admire my actions.

"TRIXIE DEMANDS YOU STOP!"

I stopped before turning to her and tilting my head in confusion and mockery. She panted heavily from that last yell as her horn glowed with a beam extending out to me. I quickly turned down to the beam as I noticed it seemed to be pulling out something out of me, without a moment to lose I quickly unleashed my sword on the beam making it shatter like glass before it evaporated into the air. I was a bit shocked by her move but I was feeling a bit soft at the moment.

"Okay now you're getting on my bad side, I'm not going to tell you anything because I don't know!" I exclaimed as I turned and began to walk off again only to be stopped by her voice again. I stopped and bit my tongue as I turned back to her holding an embarrassed look as she looked down at the ground.

"Yes?" I asked, a bit annoyed by her stubbornness, she looked up at me before at the ground as she used her hoof to make imaginary circles on the grass hinting towards something. I raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head to one side and blushed making me a bit nervous but I kept my composure. I focused closely on her as she looked up at me again with a strange seductive smile.

"What if I offer you something?" She inquired, my hand slightly twitched as I glared at her with a curious look, my interest had been triggered.

"What could you have to convince me?" I asked, I really didn't know how low she could go but it was interesting to find out considering I was already expecting the obvious. Her actions and the way she was acting was enough to predict.

She giggled a bit as she became seductive, she approached me and rubbed her head on my leg as she gave me a glimpse of her lustful eyes. A grin appeared inside my mind as I recalled my prediction, I was prepared with an answer.

"How about me…"

"No." I bluntly responded, I wasn't going to let sex be my last straw, although, she was cute, to be honest. I felt the wave of words come at me as I stared at her confused and angered look.

"Wha-NO!? HOW CAN YOU REFUSE THE CHARMING AND BEAUTIFUL TRIXIE!?"

"Like this, NO!" I said ending the conversation and turning away and walking away again, I didn't like doing this, I thought that ignoring her would make her drop the question but I was wrongly mistaken. I felt a strong tug on my pants as I looked down to see Trixie using her teeth to stop me from walking away using her hind hooves to brake.

"Wha-HEY, LET GO!" I exclaimed trying to drag my leg but she forced me to a stop using her magic. I looked at her as she glared at me, angered, and began to speak despite having my pants between her teeth.

"YOU ACCEPTED LUNA'S BODY, WHY CAN'T YOU ACCEPT TRIXIE'S!?"

I paused and stopped struggling against her magic making her let go and place her hoof over her chest as she coughed out the taste of fabric from her mouth. I stared ahead, into the lights that barely made it through the thick tree line.

"What…how do you know about that?" I dumbfoundedly asked refusing to look back at her, I had no idea how she knew but she did. Her silence forced me to turn around to her as she rubbed her hooves nervously and gave a slightly nervous giggle, I looked down at her as she refused to look at me.

"I saw you come out of Everfree forest…and followed…" She said looking up at me with an embarrassed look. I lifted my head and thought about it, when I came out of Everfree Forest it was my first time meeting other ponies but I never met her there. I lifted my hand to my chin as I thought back to then and tried to recall any memories from then on.

"You were there?" I asked a bit interested, she nodded silently and looked up at me with a broken smile. She seemed harmless, but it didn't excuse that she stalked me. I looked at her off the corner of my eye as I turned away and thought about something.

"How long have you followed me?"

She remained silent letting me know she's been doing it frequently, I sighed deeply as I turned back and kneeled down to her and looked at her from under her hat. She jumped a bit upon seeing me appear and stared at me curiously.

"I guess you meant no harm, I'm sorry for ignoring you but I really can't tell how to turn a pony into an Alicorn." I said hoping she could understand, she looked down at the ground disappointed for a few seconds before looking up with a smile. I looked back at her as she got up on her hind hooves and pecked me a kiss on the cheek before getting on her fours. I froze before placing my hand on my cheek and rubbing it gently as she smirked at me with a small blush.

"Trixie wasn't here for the information…but it was worth a try," She said as she took a few steps back and giggled as she wrapped herself in her own blue glow. I looked up at her as she looked at me, I didn't know if I should stop her to ask what she meant or if I should let it be.

"Trixie demands you not speak of this with anypony! Oh…and bye!" She stated before disappearing into a cloud of smoke, that once it died, she had fully left the area. I stared where she stood as I lifted myself off my feet and shook my head quickly, she had left like a magician.

"What the hell was that?" I looked around before rubbing my head.

"Shit, I'm going home…" I whispered under my breath as I began my way to Flutter's home but at a slower pace as I thought about this Trixie pony. I couldn't say I wasn't intrigued by how fast that just happened and that I had something strange to ponder about. The fact that I still had questions made me slightly pissed that I let her leave so quickly, or even asked anything about who she was. I cursed at myself as I continued to think about what I did know.

"If she wasn't with me for Alicorn business, it probably was in an attempt to get closer to me." I tried to comprehend everything but it was all mixing in with what awaited me at Flutter's home. I continued to think about it until it got too heavy and I placed it aside for the sake of my mind.

" _I guess I'll keep it hidden for now_."

In minutes of walking with my eyes closed, to calm down, I felt a light breeze flow by my face before opening my eyes. I had exited the forest and the lights of Ponyville flooded my eyes making me squint at the glare as I smiled gently.

" _Looks like many are still up,"_ I thought as I looked up to the moon, it was only about two hours past nightfall. I sighed at the sight as I began to walk over to Flutter's home, I could have flown or even teleported to her house but I enjoyed the bliss of night and the beauty that accompanied it.

I walked past many homes and waved at a few ponies that spotted me as I continued walking, everything looked fine here. After more minutes walking, I found myself with my hand on Flutter's doorknob as I slowly opened the door and looked inside. The house seemed empty…except for the huge box in the middle of the room.

" _What is that_?"

I slowly made myself to the box and crouched down by it. It had my full name written on it with a heart over the "I" and "J" in Rarity's handwriting, apart from that, the box looked like a normal packaging box. I curiously studied the box before using my sword to cut away at the seal down the middle and studying the inside. To my surprise, it was full of all types of clothes, from shorts to shirts and even gym clothes. I looked around as I whipped out everything that I got my hands on.

"Woah, she outdid herself! Is that a headband?!"

I studied all the things inside the box as I pulled out all the clothes and stacked them into separate piles. I placed the headband on my head before grabbing more and making a fool out of myself as I played around. Admiring the clothes, I hadn't noticed who had actually approached me from behind and gave me a slight scare when they tapped my shoulder. I jumped in response and flipped myself around to face Dash with a shirt in my hand as a weapon.

"Hey, it's just me!" Dash quickly reassured as she retracted herself with her hooves out to me, I shook away the goosebumps as I looked down to my hand and quickly hid the shirt behind me, a bit embarrassed. She giggled as she looked at the piles of clothes I had made and picked up a shirt that had an interesting design to it.

"I like this one!" She said flying up to show me the full shirt, I studied it a few seconds before pulling out my sword and placing it side by side to the shirt. My eyes widened at the impressive similarity between the dragon on my sword and the one on the shirt.

"She really outdid herself! They're identical!" I exclaimed turning my sword's face to Dash making her exchange looks between the shirt and sword before she reacted the same way I did. I nodded as I unwrapped my holster and slid my sword in it, Dash observed as I placed the holster by the couch, carelessly, and continued looking at me as I selected various clothes from the different piles of clothes I made.

Of course, after a long day, I needed the most soothing part of the day.

"I'm gonna shower, I'll be right back!" I darted off to the shower leaving her alone. I set up the shower and placed my clothes into a basket off to the side as I walked into the cool water. I'm a quick-shower guy and in about ten minutes I was done with everything. I dried myself off and quickly placed on all my clothes and brushed my teeth with the brush I was given.

"Ah…record timing," I whispered to myself as I flattened my hair with my hand only for it to stand up again. I smiled as I observed myself with a new shirt, this shirt had a different design from the others, it was button down and was a pure mix of white and baby blue. I picked up my gloves and shoved them into my pocket of my new deep blue jeans, I remained barefooted for the moment despite the socks that came in the box. I quickly flung the door wide open as I presented myself to Dash, but I wasn't expecting Dash to greet me with her own presentation.

"I'm out! Oh…?" I whispered, stepping out of the shower before looking at Dash. This was so strange and made me want to squirm in my place off of just seeing her be so cute: she had the shirt from earlier on her. I stared at her curiously, she had somehow managed to place the shirt on her, and she put it on perfectly, but, adorably, it was just way too big for her. We stared at each other in awkward silence until she slowly grew red around her cheeks.

"Umm…hey…" She waved making me wave back unintentionally as I walked up to her, she was on the floor with no explanation for how she got into my clothes. I chuckled as kneeled down to help her out of the shirt, she gave me an embarrassed lower lip bite as I grabbed the shirt from under.

"Raise your hooves up."

"O-okay…"

Once she lifted her hooves up, I quickly lifted the shirt right off her and she fanned her wings out, she must not have been able to move them in the shirt. She sighed in satisfaction as she stretched her wings out before stretching out her whole body. I smiled as I placed the shirt in the pile it belonged before putting all the piles into the box they came in.

"So…just how did you end up in my shirt?" I asked as I placed the box aside and threw myself on the small couch. She looked up at me and giggled as she tilted her head from embarrassment and played with her hooves.

"I was kinda curious," She responded making me smile, she looked cute when she had the shirt over her but she was cuter when embarrassed.

"I thought so…"

"Of course, you did," She sarcastically said as she threw herself on the same couch I was on and placed her hooves on her face. I looked at her off the corner of my eye before looking ahead to the wall and probably pondering the moment.

"You're a cutie Dash, ya know?" I complimented making her blush as she sank into the couch.

"Don't say that…" She responded as she looked away. I smiled as I reached over and placed my hand under her neck and tickled her slightly. She recoiled before giggling and covering her mouth.

"Cute…" I said before she blushed a bit stronger.

"Fine…I'll take it from you."

I smiled as I relaxed a bit. "Cool."

We waited a few seconds in silence, trying to reignite conversation, we finally found ourselves pondering a question, the obvious one actually.

"Dash, where is Flutters?"

She looked at me as if I had told her a joke that wasn't funny, I returned the same look at her.

"I thought she was here…" Dash responded making me nod as I agreed with her, for a few seconds we didn't react until if finally hit us: she was missing. Dash quickly perked up and I placed on my socks and shoes as Dash quickly went about checking every room rapidly.

"She's not here…" She said making me rise off the couch and slowly inspect the house again, hoping that she inspected so fast that she missed her. After a few minutes of searching nothing came up but me and Dash staring at each other, worried for our friend.

"Where could she be?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen, the house was empty besides the Angel, to which he just shrugged. I shook my head before walking out the house into the open darkness of night followed by Dash. Once out of the house I looked up into the night sky and sighed deeply as I looked out to town, still alive with lights.

"Do you think she's still-"

"LET'S GO!" Dash cut me off.

In town, K held in his hands a book about Equestria as he quickly skimmed about the pages. He had by his side three piles of books that he had already reviewed but didn't find the information he searched for. As he continued skimming through pages, he quickly turned a page before stopping and violently placing his finger on the page.

"What have we here?" He deviously whispered as he ran his finger down the page slowly, once he reached the bottom of the page he continued reading about twenty-five more pages before he came to a full stop. He chuckled an evil laughter as he placed the book down and looked up to the ceiling of Twilight's home.

"The Changeling Kingdom, the sanctuary of the Changelings…and Queen Chrysalis," K whispered as she pulled out the stone from his pocket and studied it. He chuckled joyously before grinning at the stone as it glowed green. "Jealous, are we? I guess K's here to fix that…"

He put the stone away before quickly standing up off the couch that suited him well. He looked up at the gigantic telescope and admired the size of it before taking a few steps towards a huge map, that had projected buildings and places. K studied it intensely, taking mental notes on many places and whispering out the names of the main places to remember.

"Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Manehattan, The Crystal Empire, and The Changeling Kingdom," He whispered as he quickly nodded and placed his hand according to the compass on the map.

"The Changeling Kingdom…due southwest of here…that way," He said as he aimed a finger in the direction of a window. He grinned as he looked out the window and chuckled loudly.

"Get ready Chrysalis cause I'm comin'," He said as he placed his fingers on his head and concentrated on Ben's energy, "Found ya!"

poof*

"Damn it, she's nowhere to be found." I panted, Dash did the same as we practically circled Ponyville in search for Flutters. I felt Dash lean up against my face as she threw herself over my shoulder, completely exhausted, she was worried sick about Flutters wellbeing.

"She has to be around here! She has to!" She cried out as she tried her best to move but her body rejected her commands.

"Just rest, for now, we'll find her," I reassured her, I took a few seconds to breathe in the heavy air of the night before getting back onto the search.

"Alright, lets-"

Poof*

"K!" I faithfully exclaimed as I saw him emerge from nowhere even Dash had quickly jolted up at his sight. He stared at us confused by our sudden cry. We both gave him our looks of faith as we explained it all to him. He quickly grinned at us when we finished the summary.

"No worries, Flutters should be easy to find…wait up," He said as he placed his hand on his head and closed his eyes. We both stared at K as he tightened his eyes and forced himself to find her location. After a few seconds of searching, he quickly opened his eyes and glared a frown towards the ground.

"Hey, Ben?"

"You found her?!" Dash quickly interrupted. He stared at her before clearing his throat.

"Yeah, but she's sorta…how do I put it…in heat, well, at least it seems like it."

"WHAT!?" I asked loudly startling Dash, K kept his hand to his head as he concentrated more on what he was seeing through his mental image. I waited anxiously with Dash, he had his hand up at us to halt us from asking. After a few seconds of silence, he put his hand down and gave a nervous smile.

"Well…she might be in heat, she's home with her hoof between her legs and drenching your bed in sweat…" He explained as a grin slowly appeared on his face, both me and Dash stared at him in disbelief as he continued to change expressions. The only room in the house we didn't inspect because it seemed too _far-fetched_.

"Wha-okay thanks, LET'S GO DASH!" I yelled as I quickly lifted myself off the ground and took flight towards Flutters home as fast as I could, I looked below me as I saw Dash struggling to keep up. I slightly grinned down at her, now that I knew Flutters was home and she's doing it with herself, I could enjoy breathing.

I let myself fall idol out of the sky and fall to my feet.

"YOU'RE INSANE!" She cheered down at me, I quickly turned around to her while freefalling and have gave her a nod of agreement before turning back around. In seconds, my feet hit the ground and I was forced into a roll before braking with my feet and standing straight up. I chuckled as I noticed my aim wasn't bad, I managed to land right at the doorway.

"Ha! WICKED!" She complimented as I panted heavily after that move.

"Thanks!"

After a brief moment to catch our breaths I let my hand guide the door open as we entered. We entered the house and within seconds of thinking it through Dash yelled out for Flutters and I stood alongside her with my hands over my ears.

"FLUTTERSHY! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"In my bedroom, silly!" I said leaning down to her, she lowered her cupped hooves off her mouth before scratching the back of her head.

"Oh yeah…sorry."

"Yeah, now follow me," I said as I walked over to my bedroom door and hovered my hand over the door. Dash encouraged me to open it but I couldn't when I knew what I would find, we spent a few seconds trying to convince ourselves until she finally took over.

"Move over!"

"WAIT! DASH!" I exclaimed but by then she had already opened the door with her hoof out, I quickly took a step back and watched to see how this would play out.

"FLUTTER…shy…oh…"

I looked over at her as she quickly turned away from what she was seeing and stared at me fully embarrassed about what she had done. I facepalmed myself as she stared at me wide-eyed after what she saw.

"Now we have no choice," I stated as I placed my hands on the wall that divided the room and prepared myself.

"What does that mean-?"

"This!"

I quickly flung myself around the wall and into her room, Dash gave me a petrified look as I pulled off the perfect grin. I found it hard to keep this grin on me as Flutters stared at me, frozen like a statue. She sat upright on the bed with her mouth wide open in embarrassment.

"Heyyy…Flutters!"

She didn't respond, she continued frozen.

"You okay?"

She remained idol.

"Okay then, you're not okay…alright…let's see what I can do!" I said as I rubbed my hands and gave her a bit of a sadistic smile as I neared her from the right. She remained frozen nonetheless, but I knew something that would make her active. Before pulling off my scheme, I looked at Dash and signaled her over, she was hesitant but came over.

"Okay Dash, she's frozen with something! So, you put your hoof between her legs!"

"WHAT!? NO WAY!" She countered back at me making me close my eyes as she created a breeze with her voice. She was blushing strongly at the sudden request but if she wasn't going to cooperate then I would.

"Fine, would you rather I do it?" I asked making her widen her eyes, I had placed her between a difficult decision. She glared a pout to me as she lifted her hoof and hovering it over Flutters legs, slowly and hesitantly. I stared amazed as she closed her eyes and sunk her hoof between the crevasse in Flutter's legs.

"Okay, n-now what!?" She asked with her eyes still glued closed, I grinned at her as I felt a bit…playful. Anyways, I needed to get them in the mood before doing anything.

"How does it feel?"

"What?" She asked calmly confused about what I asked and what I meant. I chuckled silently as I grabbed her hoof and began to slowly slide it in and out of Flutter's legs.

"W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" She quickly exclaimed, tightening her eyes more and blushing like never before seen. I continued as I slowly began feeling a bit more "in the moment". Dash seemed to be a bit more uncomfortable and she held her breath as I forced her hoof to continue sliding up and down.

"How does it feel?" I asked again in a more seductive tone, she let out her breath and seemed to take control of her hoof. I slowly let go of her hoof letting her take over, as expected, she continued without my influence.

"I-it feels…w-wet…and w-warm…" She shuttered as she continued to go on with her hoof, her eyes remained closed but she loosened the force she used to keep them closed. I smiled at her response and looked up to Flutters, she was now taking a few choppy breaths but remained silent still a bit shocked. I smirked before looking at Dash's hoof.

"Drive your hoof in…" I demanded as I scooted in closer to Dash's side, I gave Flutter's a slight push that made her fall on her back motionless. My plan hadn't worked to the point I hoped for but now she breathing more than before, a sign of better things to come. Dash, having her hoof in between Flutter's legs, was pulled down my Flutters and fell down alongside her.

"Wha-what!? What happened…WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" She yelled out as I slightly placed her hoof over Flutters snatch, _lovely sight_. She trembled as I forced her hoof to slid up and down and tease Flutters, Dash remained with her eyes closed as I guided her hoof slightly into Flutters. She tightened her eyes before slightly opening one.

"D-Dashie, y-your hoof…is…warm…"

Both me and Dash quickly perked up slightly as Flutters had finally responded. Dash opened her eyes and stared into Flutters half-shut lustful eyes before looking below her at her hoof. I had let go of her hoof once more and she had taken full control again. "Y-your mare part is warm…"

"You're finally awake," I said making her pant out a heavy breath followed by steamy saliva. Dash stared at her wide-eyed, not knowing what to do. I grinned at her confusion and decided it's time I join in, I got myself behind Dash on the bed and ran my hand over her belly before running below her " _waistline_ ".

"Wha-Ben…d-don't do that…" She panted heavily as I let a finger play _tease_ with her slit. She clenched her teeth as she ran her own hoof deeper into Flutters, making her moan loudly. Dash stared into Flutter's eyes, moaning like she did as I shoved a finger into her. Considering they were smaller compared to the princesses, they would have smaller… _bits_ , I might have to take it easy.

"It's so warm…Ben…no…" Dash moaned as her face slowly twitched into a smile, I smiled along with her as I guided another finger in. The more I upped a gear, the deeper she forced her hoof into Flutters. Flutters quickly threw her hooves around Dash, gripping her tight as she neared her climax that she had played with before we even got to her.

"Looks like Flutters is suffering the consequence of starting without us," I whispered in Dash's ear as I forced in another finger and bit down on her ear gently, she lustfully smiled as she did her chain effect. She moaned louder and took quicker breaths as I violently messed her up and she did the same to Flutters.

"D-Dashie! It's too deep!" Flutters exclaimed as she tightened her embrace around Dash and pressing her mouth to hers. Dash returned at her and pleasured her above and below as Flutters was at the brink of her climax.

"I know!" Dash responded as she felt the same pleasure from my fingers and pressed her lips on tighter to Flutters. Both of them moaned loudly they finally reached there point and just needed that extra push, I let my fingers grab onto the end of Dash's clitoris and pulled strongly making her lose her mind along with Flutters as they moaned out of control and showered the bedsheets. Oh my, a sight to behold, two mares orgasming all over my bed, _nice_. They panted heavily as they released each other from their mouths and let their heads rest on the pillow they both fit in.

I glanced at them as they both gave each other a lustful glare before turning to me with devious smiles. I stared at them confused before they quickly jumped me pinned me down to the bed, I was a bit terrified by the sudden occurrence but what harm can these two do? They giggled at each other as they made their way down my waistline and to the hill on my pants, _oh, I didn't really realise he had awoken_.

"We can't fully enjoy this if we don't include you in!" Dash said as a bit of saliva drooled from her mouth, Flutters stared at the bulge in my pants curiously as she poked at it making me groan a bit in pain. Without hesitation, Dash gripped the button on the pants with her teeth and ripped it clean off, unnerving me.

"You're not gonna do that with me, are you?"

"We'll see…"

" _Oh no…_ "


	26. Chapter 26 - A Friend or Foe

#26

K grasped in his hands his broken sword as he stared its splinters that spiked out off the top. He gave a quick sigh before running his hand over the splinters, scraping his palm deeply. He looked at his hand calmly as he noticed slight red scratches grow redder every second. He shook his head as he quickly got off the bench and onto his feet.

"Time to go see this Chrysalis."

"Who?" Asked a voice from behind him making him draw his splintered sword at the source and stance himself ready for battle. The new lanky pony-creature thing he stared at didn't react to his movements but instead used her magic to fully vaporize the sword in his hands. His eyes widened as he gripped his hands only find nothing there.

"What…no…my beautiful creation…" He whispered bringing his hands down to his face and staring at what should've been his sword. She glared at him with a grin and chuckled, K's eye twitched as he lowered his hand slowly and stared at her with a pout. She was dressed in a black robe which was a good way to hide in the night, but K was great seeing through disguises; he just had that intuition.

"That was uncalled for! That shit took me nearly a whole thirty seconds to make!" He yelled out, she lifted her head with another chuckle before using her magic to spawn another sword and levitate it. He stared at the fine steel sword that had the same design as the wooden one from before, he smiled widely as he jumped a bit from the excitement.

"You didn't say you were offering me a better one! Hell yeah, gimme-gimme!"

He reached his hands out to grab it only to have it quickly swung at him. He grinned as he held the steel between his fingers and tried to tug it away from her magic but it quickly disappeared making him fall on his bottom.

"NO! I nearly had it!" He cursed as he swung himself to his feet and stared the strange being with a pout. She widened her eyes with an insane smile appearing on her face as she brought it back. K's pout turned into a grin as he crossed his hands across his chest, he was quite the child when it came to weapons.

"You want it?" She asked him in her seductive voice, she must have caught on on to K's attitude.

"Gimme-GIMME!"

"Fine then, give me all your magical strength…"

K quickly lowered his grin and chuckled, amused by her request. He was crazy from time to time but he knew when to be smart, a great trait to have.

"I'm not as stupid as I may seem, I wouldn't give my energy to anyone! Wait…I would…but only to some, not you!" K countered making her grow a bit annoyed. K grinned as he acrobatically threw himself a few feet away from her and placed his hands in a fighting stance.

"Sorry Chrysalis, you want my power then earn it!" K motivated revealing her identity, she stared at him before using her magic to quickly make her hooded robe disappear. She revealed herself to him and K revealed his white toothy grin.

"You know what, you're a lot cuter than that book described you to be!" K complimented trying to taunt her with honesty. She hissed at him before frowning and spreading her hooves evenly on the ground to prepare for a battle.

"Shut up, I'll rip your mouth off if you speak like that again!"

K flinched a bit as he frowned.

"NO! Dummy, we can't fight here!" K yelled out, ironically keeping his stance and tightening the grip on his fists.

"BUT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S PREPARED FOR BATTLE!" She returned making him shake his head and wave a finger at her.

"Yeah, but we can't fight here! Others will get hurt!"

She took a small moment to ponder it before pulling off an evil laughter. "The more the merrier!" K lifted an eyebrow as a grin appeared on him, and his hands glowed dimly with his aura.

"Then I'll finish you off as fast as possible! Don't worry though, I need you alive so you won't die!"

Chrysalis blinked her eyes wide-open in response but quickly shook it away and growled at him. "Just shut up already!"

"Sure…pretty eyes!" K taunted with a wink at the end, she growled louder as her angered look twitched into a slight smile before disappearing.

"You're going to regret that!"

"I love that feisty attitude, you're mine after this baby! You hear!?"

"Y-YOU!"

"Calm down, Dash!" I persuaded but she was obviously not going to. She stared at my throbbing erection along with Flutters, who was a bit dazed by the sight unlike her. Dash had activated her sirens when she pulled back and revealed "little me," which is a big understatement.

"It's…it's…!" She began, stuttering over the same word over and over again before Flutters, surprisingly, responded for her. "Very big…"

Dash looked over at her, surprised by her response, a blush ran across her face as she looked at Flutter's hypnotized look. It was obvious to both me and Dash that Flutters was a bit too into this as she stared at it without blinking. I shrugged as Dash turned to me, I had no way of answering her for anything. She gulped down as she returned to her laid position on the bed before placing her hoof on my shaft making it twitch a bit.

"How did Luna get take all this in her mouth?" Flutters asked as she began to breathe gently on the tip and make tease with it. Dash's eyes widened as she turned to me, she didn't know about it, but she did now.

"You did this with Luna?!" She asked surprised, I smiled nervously and scratched the back of my head awkwardly, _What could I say_. "Yeah…"

Dash looked away.

"Oh…did she like it?" She asked as he neared my painful erection, I didn't have to think about it, I knew what to say. "Yeah."

She took a few seconds and began taking a few sniffs of the air around my dick before curling her mouth into a smile as she used her hoof to stroke up and down the outside. I chuckled inwardly as Flutters neared in with Dash with a heavy blush going on and did the same. Oddly enough, their hooves were strangely warm and forced a smile from me.

"Do you like that?" Flutters asked, looking at me with a tilted head as she smiled at my reaction. I nodded back silently as I tightened a hand into a fist when they both got into rhythm. Flutters gave a slight giggle in response and removed her hoof and let her saliva drip onto it before doing the same again, Dash stared at her, still a bit shocked by her attitude, and did the same.

They seemed to want to advance quicker than I thought, well, Flutters at least. Without warning, she ran her lips onto the tip of my shaft as she gave gentle/heavy licks around the head, leaving Dash completely speechless as she stared at her friend do as she never imagined. It seemed Flutters has learned something from what she saw from inside me Dash exchanged looks between my erection and Flutters as she tried to figure out what to do, she was lost in the embarrassment of what to do.

"No worries…Dash, just do what you enjoy…" I grunted out in pleasure, she looked up at me and gave a few seconds to think about it. I let myelf fall on the pillow behind my head, Flutters had somehow caught on really quick and took a fourth of what's to come. She closed her eyes halfway as she let her head begin to gently bob up and down as Dash climbed onto my chest. I stared at her as she sat down on my chest and bit her lower lip, I stared curiously up at her as she made a ring on my chest with her hoof.

"Can you show me?" She asked. I widened my eyes as a smile slowly crept up my face.

"Sure…" I replied excitedly as I grabbed the thighs of her legs making her yelp a bit as I pulled her closer. She stared at me anxiously curious as I chuckled a bit and gave her toothy smile.

"How about we start like this?"

"Wha-BEN!" She exclaimed before covering her mouth and staring at the wall behind the bed as I gave her something to experience for the while. She was burning hot inside her tunnel and I could only feel it getting warmer as I played inside her with my tongue. She moaned out for every movement I made, and for every movement I made, I felt a jolt of pleasure come up from below me, Flutters had taken me about half-way but that didn't stop her giving quite a special.

Within seconds into my foreplay, I could feel some liquid drip on my forehead as I gripped tightly to her thighs. Dash had her tongue hanging out as she gave faint laughter filled with pleasure, I hadn't really fully drove into her but her reaction begged for it.

"Gwa! Ben! It's too hot, I can't!" She laughed insanely as I plunged my tongue as far as I could and let her move her hips along with my movements. I could feel her coming to a close as she began to twitch from inside, I also felt the same way as Flutters forced more into her mouth but she couldn't go any further.

All I could see was Dash's belly as she continued her moving back and forth as her juices flowed around my mouth and onto the bed. I kept my eyes closed throughout it all as I tried to contain myself and hold back from climaxing, but I was no match for Flutters throat, it tightly wrapped around my cock as she simulated swallowing.

It happened almost instantly, Dash arched back, Flutters gripped down tightly on my thighs, and I grabbed tightly onto Dash's hips as both me and Dash gave in to our pleasures. I felt like I had probably exploded out inside of Flutters throat as she quickly slid it out and panted heavily and coughed. As for Dash her loose tongue and my soaked face said it all, she twitched from her whole body before collapsing on her back on my chest.

"(Heavy panting) That's too much!" Flutters exclaimed as she continued gasping for air and coughing repetitively. I faintly chuckled before wiping a bit of sweat from my eyebrow and letting my twitching hand fall loosely on the bed.

"Ben…don't argue to Fluttershy about dinner, I'm available anytime..." Dash sleepishly said as she rolled off my chest and landed face first into the bed sheet with her tail straight up. She was incredibly tired and instantly passed out within a few seconds, guess it's her first orgasm. I couldn't really think about anything after that powerful orgasm but I could answer her the only way I could.

"Fine," I panted out as I used my hands to pick myself up and stare at Flutters who continued staring at my rod, it still remained high and mighty.

"Why…why is it still…up?" Flutters asked a bit sleepy and shocked at the same time, I chuckled as I placed my arm over my eyes and let myself fall onto the pillow, this was the curse of a man: you may be tired but "he" will still go on.

"Looks like he can still go a few more…" I whispered as I closed my eyes gently, only to have them rudely awakened by Flutters. I shot my eyes below me as Flutters climb over me position herself over my arrow and hovered her trap over it. I couldn't feel a stronger sense of alert arrive as I stared at her, shocked by what she was doing.

"Flutters, what are you doing?" I asked calmly assuming other things but I knew exactly what ran through her mind. She glanced at me with a worried look before looking below her at what was happening, she seemed to not have planned this out.

"You've never done this?" She asked me as the blush around her cheeks reddened a bit more, I also began to feel the red around my face increase.

"No…I haven't, have you?" I responded, thinking about it for a brief moment before answering. She glanced at me a saddened look ( _she hasn't done this before)_ before letting herself fall back on the idea and moved up to my other side, I stared at her a bit worried if I had done something wrong. She quickly changed her face into a smile and gave me a surprise kiss on the cheek before letting herself fall back onto the same huge pillow I rested on.

"Umm…this wasn't bad…was it?"

"It shouldn't be…are you worried about it?" I placed my hand around her cheek and rubbws it slightly, making her pur on it.

"No…this was…just what I wanted," She cheerfully expressed before throwing herself on me and embracing me tightly. "I was worried I would mess up…and that you wouldn't like it…"

I laughed slightly before blushing. "I really wouldn't have cared if you messed up, I find it pleasing enough that I got to share time with you, but I'll admit, you have skill."

She blushed a bit harder as she rested her head on her pillow. "Can we do this again?" She asked before shrinking a bit. "I mean, if you have the time…"

I flashed her a smile.

"Anytime…"

She was shocked for a moment before she finally acknowledged my words and attached her mouth to mine. You know, Twilight was right to have named me a "charmer" and "romantic" I have a hard time disappointing.

She detached and glanced her thankful smile at me before resting her head next to mine. Damn, if Flutters kisses aren't the best, then no one's is, they were so smooth and warm and perfectly timed.

"Umm…once you decide who goes first…down there…I would like to know how that feels…goodnight." She whispered as she gently closed her eyes and sighed heavily. She probably hadn't expected a response since she quickly let sleep befall her. I stared at her a bit amazed by what she said, I was glad she had given me such permission to chose who goes first, not many would give you such freedom.

"Thanks…goodnight…" I whispered back as I turned my sight to the ceiling before closing my eyes as well. That ended quite wonderfully.

After a few seconds into closing my eyes, they quickly opened halfway, by a sound that could only be described as I faint explosion in the distance, but my eyelids quickly overpowered my comprehension and shut down heavily. Sleep had befallen all of us.

"Hey! Tell me again why you came to me, I was going to visit anyways!" K grunted as held up a metallic rod, he detached from a house and used it to hold back the magical attacks being launched at him. Chrysalis was more than taunted, she kept on pressuring her magic on him as she grinned widely at his defensive tactics.

"Your power isn't special, it's just too much for your body!" She laughed making K chuckle to himself at her misunderstanding his power. K had no intentions of going all out just to avoid killing her but the more she taunted the more motived he was to surprise.

"Fine!" He yelled out as he quickly traded the metallic rod for his hand and absorbed the magic, he grinned as he flashed his sharp canines at her and made his aura boost up greatly. "Would you like to see the demonstration of this demonic energy?!"

Chrysalis quickly flinched a bit at the sudden power increase but shook it off and growled at him. He chuckled a bit as he aimed a hand at her and tilted his head.

"Do you?"

She insecurely lifted her hind hoof slightly before placing it down firmly and giving him a daring look. "You're a bluff!"

K nodded back at her before straightening his body and placing his hands on his sides, while Chrysalis stared at him with a slight look of regret on her face. K closed his eyes slowly and tilted his head down as he tightened his fists tighter and took slow-deep breaths of air. Nothing seemed to be happening out of the ordinary but K meditating.

Inhale* Exhale*

Chrysalis stared at K as his shoulders dropped and rose with every breath, and slowly the wind began to pick up. She continued studying him before quickly jumping to a sudden screech erupt from behind her.

"CHRYSALIS!?"

"DAMN IT!" K gaged out in pain as he quickly fell to his knees and covered one eye with his hand, he had been distracted in the middle of his mediation, this wasn't good. He was now split into two states of concentration, this meant only one of two: He'll either have to quickly unleash his energy somewhere or face serious internal injuries.

Both ponies remained silent as K slowly picked himself off the ground and still covered his eye, they stared at him as he wobbled a bit standing up before shaking it away. After a few seconds of silence, Chrysalis was the first to speak and ask, her tone was a bit shaky and worried; barely.

"Is he okay?" She asked as Twilight stared.

"I don't know…"

K blinked multiple times as he tried to get both ponies into clear view, he slowly lowered his hand from his face before staring at both of his hands and wiggling each finger curiously. Twilight gasped while Chrysalis stared at K's strange new feature: his eyes were now different from each other and his tongue was more snake-like.

"What happened to you K!?" Twilight asked loudly making K give her a slight grin. Chrysalis stared at him confused about what she was seeing but curious most defiantly. K knew what they meant but this wasn't the time to ask, when probably all of Ponyville could explode.

"I'm a bit stuck…if you don't mind, can you please take me somewhere where there isn't a single pony?" K asked kindly as he pulled off an awkward smile and kept his hands into fists, that twitched violently as he tried to hold in his power. Twilight instantly jumped up from the request and rose her head up high to teleport them.

 _Vanish*_

They all reappeared in a new location, it clearly was uninhabited with all the desert that surrounded them. K quickly looked around himself as his hands began to slightly open as beams of dark light escaped between his fingers.

"Oh shit, where-where-where-WHERE!?"

"OVER THERE!" Twilight pointed out with her hoof to a huge mesa in the distance, K quickly looked over before swinging both his arms out at it and a dark beam of light exploded out of his hands. K grunted loudly as he tried to keep both arms from bending at the pushback of his attack, both Twilight and Chrysalis had covered themselves in protective bubbles as the stared at the destruction K's attack was leaving behind.

After a few seconds, K's attack dissapeared and his hands dropped weakly as he stared at the destruction before him, it amused him how crazy a simple attack can become so deadly. Twilight and Chrysalis stared at K's back, both had their eyes widened as they took quick breaths and remained frozen in place. Everything in that direction was gone, the mesa was vaporized, the ground made a "U" shape and steamed out as sparks still flashed every now and then.

"Phew, that shit was too close!" K sighed in relief as he stretched out a bit before turning to his petrified audience. He grinned widely as he smacked a fist into the palm of his hand.

"Let's go home! I'm satisfied for today and hungry!"

They both stared at him with stern and surprised looks. K didn't look them eye to eye but he did place a finger in the direction where Ponyville was and smiled.

"It's over there…just so you know…" He added hinting to take him back to Ponyville, but they both ignored and remained in place. After a few seconds of confusing silence, K took a step in their direction making them both jump backward.

"Okay…then, do I have to force you or are you gonna take me back?" K asked as he kept a finger in the direction of Ponyville, he knew the direction from Ben's energy still popping up in the distance. They didn't react and remained still and idol making K sigh deeply before charging a magic up that quickly got a reaction.

"YES SIR!" Twilight yelled out as she wrapped everyone in their magic and made them all reappear back in Ponyville. K chuckled at her quick reaction and looked around himself to see dozens of ponies had actually taken to the outsides of their homes. All of the ponies gave gasps as they focused in K's direction.

"Hey! HOW'S IT GOING?! Do any of you have food by any chance!?" K cheerfully greeted as he raised his hand to everypony but they didn't react, they stared right through him and behind him. K lifted an eyebrow as he quickly made a 360 to look at Chrysalis suffering from some heavy staring. He nodded in response as he made his way around to her side and threw his arm around her neck.

"Aren't Y'all gonna say, HELLO!?" K exclaimed making them all wave weakly and reply quietly. K smiled a bright smile before looking down at Chrysalis, who was going about her blush game way too strong, she was staring into the crowd of ponies that increased every second. Her anxiety was rising along with her rapid eye movement.

"What's the matter!? Aren't you all a lot livelier than this!?" K continued with the crowd but he was clueless to what was actually going on. After a few minutes of nothing happening, K accepted that the crowd was probably just dead on the inside and turned to Chrysalis. She quickly turned to him when he tapped her on the head.

"This is some weird shit, they're usually more active than this," K whispered into her ear making her quickly look back at him before moving away. K frowned back in confusion, his arm was left hanging in position.

"ARE THAT CLUELESS!?" She lashed at him, her blush had grown to a point that she couldn't stand it. K had a habit for doing that to ponies and now changelings.

"The hell are you talkin' about?" K asked her as he stood up straight with his arms crossed across his chest. She gave a faint laugh in disbelief before going at it again.

"I'M QUEEN CHRYSALIS! I'M NOT A PONY OR ANYTHING! I'M THE MONSTER THAT ATTACKS INNOCENTS!"

"Okay now you're just making this sad, you shouldn't label yourself like that!"

"LIKE YOU'D KNOW!?"

"ENOUGH TO KNOW, I CAN SEE YOU AS A FRIEND!" K responded with his hands panned out to take up room, unlike past yells, he actually raised his voice _seriously_. She stared at him with her eyes widened with disbelief as he panted heavily. K gave her answer seriously and let a bit of emotion flow into the response but he wasn't done yet.

"I may be a bit stupid but I still have room to think and feel! I LIKE SOMEONE WHO CAN FIGHT ME WITH CONFIDENCE!" He yelled back as he tightened his hands into fists and pumped one up, "And if you know right from wrong…Then you aren't a monster! YOU'RE SOMEONE WHO CHOSE TO DO WRONG! BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T CHANGE!"

K yelled at her seriously ticked off, she stared back at him, trembling slightly as she covered herself in her aura. K clenched his teeth as she slowly began to fade away, he tightened his fists even more as he felt some strange wave of rage rushed through him. In seconds, gasps where heard as he had her by the neck and pinned to the ground as he stared into her wide eyes.

"YOU CAN'T GET AWAY FROM YOUR PROBLEMS LIKE THAT!" He yelled at her making her put a weak frown followed by a slight sob before she fully disappeared into a green cloud: she had been moved…emotionally. K stared at the ground as he remained in his position and pondered what the hell just happened there?

"Damn it! I'll find her! And I'll-"

"No," Twilight interrupted from behind him making his eye twitch as he looked at her shocked. Twilight had a strong sense of "safety" that blinded her from seeing like K did, K wasn't a big fan of her ways.

"NO!? But she's-"

"I SAID NO!" Twilight fought back making K feel more rage upon what he felt right now, he tightened his stare on her as he stood up and shook his head. "Fine," Twilight stared at him as he slowly began to walk away and not looking back as he did, she looked down at the ground and wiped away a tear from her eye.

"Have it your way, maybe she'll find a way to find herself in time…see ya in the morning," K calmly said dismissing himself into the darkness of night, leaving Twilight drowning in her ways. She looked down at the ground, moist with her tears, as she slowly felt guilt upon guilt stack.

" _No…no…I'm the Princess of Friendship! I should've let him!"_ She abused herself mentally as a few ponies crowded behind her and placed their hooves on her shoulder to comfort her. Lyra, Bonbon and Vinyl always seemed to be strangely attached to each other.

"Don't cry, I'm sure you meant well," Lyra comforted but that only made her situation worse, she closed her eyes as she did the same as Chrysalis and disappeared from the crowd. Lyra clutched her chest tightly as she worried for her friend, Vinyl and Bonbon provided Lyra comfort as she began slowly dripping tears as well.

"Maybe she's just tired, no worries!" Vinyl consoled.

"Yeah! Don't cry, you make it hard for us all not to cry!"

FULLY DRAMATIC CRYING SCENE*

Now, over to Chrysalis…oh wait…she's touching herself…shit I guess that ends this chapter. Oh, never mind one more thing.

"SHINING!"

"Yes, dear?" Shining asked turning around, focusing his attention from the night sky over to the bed ragged mare.

"Have you seen the two new stallions in Ponyville!? They are apparently among the strongest in all of Equestria!"

He took a moment to take that in, but nothing rang a bell.

"Uh…no,"

"WE MUST GO SEE THEM!" She ordered.

"NOW?!" Shing asked stepping away from the balcony. She smiled widely before shaking her head.

"No! Tomorrow! Tonight we have some fun!"

"Like every night?" He asked, unimpressed by her offering, but still smiling with gratitude. She paused and giggled nervously.

"It's not every night silly," She objected and Shining just rolled his eyes with a chuckle.

"Whatever, but I'm on top this time!"

"B-b-but!"

"Nope! No buts! Just yours below me!"


	27. Chapter 27 - Music Man

#27

When I woke up, it wasn't like I had expected, both Flutters and Dash were quite strangely absent-minded about what had happened last night. I let it slide as an attempt to get rid of the embarrassment, a good theory since I did the exact same. Now, I slouched on the couch in Flutter's living room, staring at the sword on the opposite side of the room, as I argued with myself about what the future holds. I had no need for it right now but I truly never knew what the future holds in store.

"What to do?" I whispered to myself as I slouched over to my other side and continued eyeing the sword. My mind was either leaning towards finding something to do or show off something new. I liked the opportunity to show something off but I had so many things I could do that I couldn't decide.

"Maybe some magic tricks? Nah…"

"How about a race!?"

" _Oh shit!_ " Were the only words in mind as I jumped to my side to find Dash laughing at my slight jump. I chuckled along as I shook away the creeps I felt. She gave me a grin as she firmly smacked her hoof on my arm to make up for scaring me. For once I actually thought I'd end up bruised, she hits hard for a pony.

"What's this race you speak of?" I asked as I rubbed my arm to rid the slight pain, her ears pointed straight up as I smiled back at her. Upon the question entering those ears of hers, her grin turned to a nervous smile as she scratched the back of her head; she lied to me about this race that actually intrigued me, how sad.

"Well, it's not today but in a few weeks!" She replied trying to lighten me up with an overexcited tone, it worked. I smiled a bit wider before leaning forward and looking at the floor, it was weeks away so I still needed something to do. I stroked my hand down my chin as I thought about it, I could actually feel a bit of my beard coming back after the last shave which was last week when I lived alone in an empty home.

"Sounds like fun, but I still need something to do today,"

"Right…but what?"

We both pondered it for a few seconds before Dash lit up with an idea, she flew up and aimed her hoof at me in excitement. I stared curiously at her as Flutters trotted into the room, I noticed her but my full attention was on Dash.

"How about Guitar!? Applejack told me you could play that!" She excitedly claimed, I lit up with excitement as well, I had forgotten about that. "You're right! I need one!" I agreed with a finger aimed at her.

"You can play guitar?" The soft spoken voice came up.

I quickly turned to Flutters, she had this calm smile over her cute little face as she aimed a hoof at me as well. I nodded with a smile before looking to my sword and picking up the bag of bits off it, just the bag. I tied it down to my side and left the sword there, I had no need for it, but Dash and Flutters thought differently.

"Are you gonna leave the sword?" Dash asked as she flew down to the floor and stared curiously at it, I looked at her and at the sword before nodding again. "Yeah, I don't think I'll need it for today."

"Fine," She replied giving me the "suit yourself" tone, I ignored it and I made a 180 for the door. As soon as I placed my hand on the knob, I was pulled back by Dash's hoof, I let her hoof spin me around. She exerted a great force with that sudden grab of my shoulder which called for some seriousness.

"You won't tell anypony, right?" Dash asked before Flutters nodded in agreement. I obviously wouldn't say a thing, I wasn't that type of person but they didn't know that. I smiled reassuringly. "Of course I won't, unless y'all tell me otherwise."

They sighed in relief as they gave faint giggles. "Thanks"

"Don't mention it."

I turned to the entrance again and revealed the bright glare of the world beyond the door. I had to shield my eyes for a few seconds before taking my first step out the home, it felt great to feel the nice climate, not hot or cold, just perfect. Easily noticeable, it was strangely noisy in the direction towards the town but I refused to pay attention to it as both ponies came out a bit uneasy. I would've been uneasy too but I was good at dealing with stress, that is _specific_ stress.

"Come on! I'm gonna show ya something with that guitar once I get it!" I motivated, they took the motivation but didn't rid their insecurity. I smiled as I turned away and began in the direction of the center of noise, they followed but with their heads hanging low.

The trip to town was uneventful and silent, which was expected after what was going on with the two behind me. The town was a bit aggressive now that I was close, from the way they spoke to the way they scoffed when I greeted them. Something was wrong, very wrong, either I did something to anger them or they turned rebellious against me; I thought so because I had accumulated a crowd of three ponies in front of me, each cursing at me for a strange reason consisting of unfamiliar names.

"What?" I asked out of the blue, I had no clue how to respond to the insults I was getting or why I was getting them. Dash and Flutters emerged from my sides and asked the same as I did, that wasn't the best move, the group infront gasped when they saw them come from behind me.

"Fluttershy!? Rainbow Dash!? What are you doing with this monster!?" One of them asked loudly. I wasn't offended, maybe they weren't familiar with me or something, as for Dash and Flutters, they took the question offensively and defended me.

"What do you mean monster!? He isn't that!" Dash defended while Flutters, surprisingly, added on. "He's our friend, he hasn't done anything wrong."

They retracted a step back but firmly returned with something towards me. "Then why did he make Twilight cry!?"

"Yeah?!" the ponies by her side added.

I gave them all a glimpse of my confusion as I lowered my hand to stop the ponies from behind me from speaking, they took a step back. All three of ponies in front of me retracted a whole step and stared at me with worry as I looked down at them seriously. I would've walked by them before they mentioned Twilight but now that it was on the table, I wanted to know.

"What happened?" I briefly asked making sure that I got my point across, they seemed to back off a bit but that didn't stop them from continuing.

"You should know!"

"But I don't," I continued, answering only briefly, with good reason, they seemed to calm down. They exchanged a looked amongst their group before they all glanced up at me.

"You are friends with Chrysalis, we saw you, everypony did!" They responded in unison, I looked up and around at the town of ponies, they all stared at me piercingly strong. I had a basic idea of what was going on but to explain it was a problem. In my mind, only one name circled or letter: "K"

"I think I understand part of it, but who's Chrysalis?" I asked hoping to get insight, they frowned at me as they became annoyed by my questions.

"Chrysalis is a monster! Simple!" Another responded, I lifted an eyebrow, for such a pretty name it had such a bad description. I crossed my arms and smirked at their response, I knew that whoever it was probably wasn't that bad, no one is really a monster until I see them with my own eyes and label them "monster".

"Don't attack me for this, but this "Chrysalis" honestly doesn't sound like a monster," I answered back, they quickly returned with a hoof out at me. "THAT'S WHAT YOU SAID TO HER!"

"Okay listen, that wasn't me but someone that looks like me," I responded back hoping to get them to back off me. Both Flutters and Dash came from behind me and added on to my point.

"Yeah, his name is K."

"And they're almost identical!"

All three of the ponies took another step back before smiling nervously at me, they believed me now.

"Ohhhh! We…er…sorry about that!" They all responded in unison as they began trying to leave but I halted them quickly. They froze and turned a bit fearful, I would've let them go but I really needed to know what they meant by Twilight crying and this "Chrysalis" character.

"Y-yes?"

"You mentioned Twilight was crying, why?"

They paused for a moment to think about it before aiming a concerned hoof at me. "K, was it? wanted to go after Chrysalis but Twilight didn't let him, now that I think about it, Twilight was a bit too harsh about it."

"Ah, so Twilight must have felt bad about it! That's one answer, now the next one, who's Chrysalis?" I asked they exchanged a look among themselves making me add another word to my question. "Seriously…"

"Well, we don't know much, but we know that she's Queen Chrysalis-"

"Of the Changelings! Well…was," Flutters responded from my left before Dash added from my right. "She's not cool at all!"

I thought about it for a few seconds but only to remember the details I had heard: they were going to come up later, I know they would. For now, I let it slide, I needed to get to my main objective for today not to say I still wanted to get to it.

"I guess that answers another question, but I still got one more."

"Yes?" they asked curiously, I raised my hands to my chest to emulate a guitar and strung an invisible string.

"Where can I buy a guitar?"

This place wasn't as I expected but it had instruments all over so I knew I was in the right place. I greeted the bored clerk that leaned over the cashier counter with her hoof pressed her cheek, I didn't get anything but a weak wave.

"She's pretty bored," I mentioned as I spun in circles looking at all the instruments that hanged and spread across the floor evenly.

"Can you blame me, I haven't had a customer since last week!" She responded back to me as she laid her head on the counter and sighed sadly. I chuckled a bit as I looked down to the sets of drums that bombarded a corner.

"Well, ya got one now!" Dash happily exclaimed.

"I do?…I DO!" She cheered as she jumped from the back of the cashier and landed face first onto the floor before quickly rolling right side up. I would've asked if she was fine if it weren't for how quickly she began introducing the store and showing me the wide variety of instruments.

"What would you be looking for?!" She asked finally taking a breath of air, she was worrying me a bit with her color going from gray to blue. I gave a small spin before aiming my finger at the line of guitars on stands.

"I need a guitar!"

"A guitar?!" She asked, outraged by my selection. I lowered my hands and crossed them across my chest as I frowned slightly.

"Yeah, what is wrong with it?"

"It doesn't have a harmonious tone or any musical sense for that matter!" She exclaimed as she shook her head in disproval and continued on with a rant. I felt offended, she must have lost her mind or she's never heard a guitar go at full potential before, because for me a guitar tops all instruments. If there was anything that might give the guitar competition it would be the piano. For every insult she threw at the wooden instrument, the joy of proving her wrong surged through me. She wouldn't be saying that for long.

"And then it-"

"What if I show you?" I offered, she glared up at me with suspicious eyes as I grinned with positivity. She shook her head and chuckled as if I was going to lose a bet, she triggered my inner challenger. There was no backing away from this, I was going to give her a run for her Bits and I will make her suffer for the insults.

"Do you have any idea how silly you sound?" She smirked as she looked off the corner of her eyes to a huge cello. I glanced over at it before nodding and turning to her, chuckling to myself, I like it when my challenger actually challenges me.

"Silly? We'll see who's the silly one when I make you cower before my skills," I countered making her giggle to herself a bit before shaking her head and walk over to the guitar section. I followed her as Dash and Flutters kept quiet behind me, they both seemed to bite their hooves in worry as they followed.

"Fine then, we shall see, where would you like to show me your superiority?" She giggled as she passed a few guitars and looked at them with disgust. I couldn't pay any attention to what she was saying since my mind was lost within one damn question.

"Why do all these guitars have two strings?!"

Both Dash and Flutters came from behind me and to my rival's side as they all stared at me, confused. I aimed a finger at the guitars as I indicated the strings again, they glanced at it and back at me.

"What do you mean? That's how they are!" Dash responded making me gasp in shock as I ran my hands through my hair in disbelief, _they couldn't be serious_!

"Yeah," The Flutter added making me want to rip out a good handful of hair off my scalp, thankfully I'm not that crazy. I sighed deeply as I lowered my hands and turned to the clerk, she studied me with a cocked eyebrow as I began using my fingers to count the materials I would need.

"No worries, do you sell any strings separately?" I asked quickly, she glared up at me with a nod as she trotted off to behind the cashier counter and with her mouth placed a select number of rolled up strings on the table. I walked over and studied all four rolls she placed on the table as she began explaining each one.

"These are guitar strings (two strings per roll), those are lyre strings (seven strings per roll), here are cello strings (four strings per roll), and these are harp strings (forty-seven strings per roll)," She explained, I didn't even have to think twice about it, the harp strings where the only ones long enough and the right thickness.

"I'll take these!"

"Very well, forty bits!"

"There, and one more thing, do you also sell the tuners for the guitar?" I asked as I handed her the bits she asked for. She took the bits and disappeared under her counter only to appear with the tuners I asked for, she placed a pack of two on the table.

"Nice, I'll take six of them,"

"Alright, thirty-five bits!"

She got her bits and she gave a smile before letting them fall into the cashier machine. I smiled as I had all the pieces I need all I needed was a guitar shell for my size, and I knew exactly where to get one. I turned back to her, she reorganized the collar around her neck as I grinned down at her.

"Where would you like to have a musical showdown!?" I asked as I clenched in my hands the materials, she giggled as she turned away to a poster on the wall. I looked up at the poster, it read in big fancy cursive, " _A Canterlot musical performance from the best talents in Equestria, anypony allowed to join in! Major News: Special performance from Octavia! Harmonious Genius!"_

I felt something rush through my veins, either adrenaline or fear, maybe both. I stared at the poster with a grin as I clutched the materials in my hands tighter. Both Dash and Flutters gave me worried looks as they flew came up my sides and gave me a slight tap.

"Ben…you can't be serious!" Dash exclaimed from my right as Flutters agreed with worry from my left. I chuckled as I nodded my head, she looked at the poster before winking at me playfully. I had all the motivation I needed: The fear and adrenaline.

"You know what, I'll even beat this Octavia pony too, I'll show off my true potential on the guitar!"

"But she's right in front of YOU!" Dash yelled aiming a hoof at the rival pony who had placed herself by the huge cello and picked up a bow. I quickly turned to her, she gave me another playful wink and rubbed a hoof on the cello's wooden side. I widened my eyes in excitement as I realized my rival was this "Octavia" pony.

"SWEET! I'LL GIVE YOU A RUN FOR YOUR BITS, CANTERLOT BETTER PREPARE ITSELF FOR A TRUE SPECTICAL!" I exclaimed in all my excitement as I quickly went for the door and placed my hand on the handle before stopping myself and turning around. All the ponies stared at me wide-eyed as I scratched the back of head awkwardly.

"When is this thing gonna happen?"

Octavia gave me a curious look as she trotted up to the poster and gave a glimpse at it, "Past tomorrow, in the afternoon," she responded cautiously.

"Thanks! Come on Dash and Flutters! We gotta ask Applejack for a tree!" I yelled as I flung the door open and stared into the town of ponies. I paused for a moment, in the background I could hear them speaking amongst themselves.

"Your friend is something special, but can he play as beautify as he looks?" Octavia asked making me chuckle a bit before turning around to her. I liked the compliment and I couldn't leave with that without responding her.

"I would ask the same of you," I complimented back making her blush and turn her body to face the poster on the wall. She giggled a bit before turing her head to me and replying. "Of course, I can!"

"I like challengers like you, maybe we'll meet again off the stage, see ya!"

I waved as I left the door open so Flutters and Dash could follow, they closed the door behind them but not before a word slipped through the door.

"Maybe…"

I smiled softly as I turned to the town to see they all had changed from before as the group of ponies that halted me before waved at me joyfully. I waved back with a smile as I began walking in the direction the led to Applejack's place, the two ponies behind me followed as I made my way past a few homes before stopping at the hooves of another group of three ponies. I looked at three ponies that had pretty stern looks over their faces, _and so I thought I had finally got the negative past me_.

"Hey Vinyl, Lyra, and Bonbon! Hows it going?" I asked cheerfully, they didn't respond but instead gave a mean stare at the two ponies by my side. I looked down at my side and back at them, giving a weak effort in laughter. "Is something wrong?"

"You tell me," Vinyl responded making me slightly ponder the strange approach from her before placing my hands down. Flutters took a step behind me and hid while Dash stood by my side with a worry lingering about her.

"What are talking about?" Dash asked with a weak laugher to cover up for her worry, all three gave each other a slight glance before turning to Dash with blood-chilling suspicion. Dash gave a weak chuckle as she slightly hid from them like Flutters, behind me.

"But aren't you the one who spent last night with Ben at Fluttershy's?" Bonbon pressed Dash making her blush uncontrollably as she quickly hid from them. I stared at them, serious with annoyance as I studied Bonbon carefully and then Lyra and Vinyl, it was obvious they knew so there was no point in hiding it.

"You stalked us?" I asked seriously, making them quickly turn to me sternly but their looks only lasted until they looked me in the eyes. They quickly turned their sights to the ground as they Bonbon began to speak out in a whisper.

"I observed you…do those things…to them" She began taking pauses at times, making me nod while biting my lower lip. I sighed deeply before turning behind me to see Flutters and Dash staring wide-eyed at each other in disbelief while trembling. It was a bit stressful to see them this way, they tell me to not say a thing but it appears these already know.

"I know, but you should at least be more considerate of how others feel, they're your friends," I explained hoping to at least get them to feel some way. They looked at each other again before looking up at me with the strange wavy smiles from some time ago, it's been a while since I've seen those.

"You're right, it's just…weird when a friend gets something you want," Lyra answered letting out some sadness before getting two hooves over her mouth. I didn't know why they covered her mouth since they all felt the same way, yet Lyra had the courage to say it.

"I know Lyra, I know," I said, looking at her as the two by her side turned to me before looking down at the floor, defeated. They let Lyra speak again, even though she already said all she needed to, Vinyl and Bonbon softly giggled as they turned to me.

"I guess she's right, we shouldn't let jealously strive us," Bonbon remarked as she looked to Vinyl, Vinyl lowered her shades down with a smile. Both dash and Flutters reappeared from behind me with thankful smiles but still remained shy.

"Agreed!" Vinyl exclaimed.

"Cool! I like that attitude! Now we can go build my guitar!" I exclaimed as I held out the items in my hands to show them, they glanced at the items before scratching their heads.

"Why not just buy one?" Lyra asked me, making me recall the ones from the store and how I couldn't accept such a thing.

"NEVER! I don't need a two-stringed guitar, I need a six-stringed!"

"SIX-STRINGED?!" They all exclaimed even Dash and Flutters joined in. Whenever they yelled it was like a tide of air pushing against me, I quickly shook away the ringing in my ears and nodded.

"Yeah!"

"HOW DO YOU EVEN PLAY THAT!?" Lyra asked as she out of nowhere took out an instrument that resembled the same one on her flank. "I can play this, but a guitar with six strings is like playing two lyres at the same time!"

"Yeah, but I have fingers! Look!" I explained as I wiggled my fingers in their faces before it hit me: maybe that was why those guitars in the store where two-stringed, for their hooves. They all gasped as they realized how crazy it was, they didn't seem to have noticed till now that I had fingers.

"WOW! How did we not see that!?" Vinyl asked as she lifted her shades to study my hand, they all stared at my hand as Lyra used her magic to manipulate my fingers.

"I know, they were right there all along!" Lyra added on with Bonbon continuing for her. "Is it like having five hooves on your…arm?"

"I wouldn't really know, but I do know they will guide me to the victory!" I stated retracting my hand, they obviously had no idea what I just said, except for the two that knew.

"Victory?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna get into that Canterlot music thing!"

They didn't react like I imagined it in my mind, they laughed flanks off as they refused to believe the "nonsense" they heard. Dash and Flutters frowned at them as I smiled with their laughter, no pony would ever know how talented I am until I show it off.

"Alright then, be there past tomorrow and I show you what I got!"

"DON'T PLAY LIKE THAT!" Vinyl sternly replied as she slowly came to the fact that I really was going to enter.

"I'm not!"

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" Bonbon then added with the same attitude as Vinyl.

"I'M NOT!"

"CAN YOU EVEN SING!?" Lyra asked next like the past two, I sighed deeply and tightened my hands into fists.

"You know what! I'll show you what I can do!" I offered as I quickly ran past them before turning and waving at them to follow.

"COME ON! WE NEED TO GO TO APPLEJACK'S!"

As Applejack wondered about her trees and studied them to make sure they were fine for bucking, she quickly came to a stop as she turned to look at K who had in his hands two guitar shells and a new wooden sword. He smoothed out the splintery edges of the guitar shells with some magic he used before he finally came to a stop when Applejack's shadow crept in front of him.

"Hey AJ." He calmly greeted as he flipped one guitar over and ran his hand along the edge. Applejack's eye twitched as she gritted her teeth and grunted in frustration.

"HAVE YOU LOST YER MIND!?"

"No, why do you ask?" K calmly asked back as placed the guitar shell in his hand down and began with the other guitar shell.

"WHY!? YOU JUST CUT DOWN MORE OF OUR TREES! AND HOW DID YOU CUT THEM DOWN SO QUICKLY!?" Applejack argued as she looked at the two tree trunks that remained, she had checked on them a few minutes ago and now K had cut them down and had two guitar shells and a sword.

"Oh…never mind that, it will go to good use!"

"WHAT USE!?"

K aimed his hand at the guitar shells by his side and smiled as he gave each on a slight knock.

"TA-DA! Two guitars…almost, just waiting for Ben to come with the stuff."

"WHY NOT JUST BUY ONE!?" She asked, outraged by his reasoning. K quickly leaned away before shoving his pinkie into his ear to numb the ringing in his ear.

"Geez stop yelling, you're a foot away from me. Obviously, the ones at the store wouldn't suffice with just two strings…so I plan to help Ben make one, and out of it I got my sword back and my own guitar!" He explained, Applejack closed her eyes as she clenched her teeth once more and shook away her anger.

"Darn! I guess if it's for Ben, then I can deal with it but don't ya ever go and do that again! Ya understand!?" She asked trying to get reassurance that K wouldn't continue on his tree murdering spree. K shook his head and looked at the tree stump.

"Nope, but I'm sure Ben will make up for it!"

Applejack paused for a moment before glaring at K's cliché grin as he looked back at her. "How?"

K chuckled as she reached his hand out for her hat and gave it a flick up with his thumb, "He'll let you rodeo him from dusk till dawn!" K was no good in keeping these types of secrets especially when they involve ponies.

"Wha-WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?" Applejack quickly asked jumping a bit from the response, she had a small red blush growing as she stared at K demanding answers.

"Ask Dash and Fluttershy, they know what it means…" K responded tersely as he sighed deeply with a bit of disappointment following. Applejack quickly coughed out the little laugher she could before whimpering a bit.

"What…you…you can't be serious!"

"Shit, I wish I could say the same! I still haven't even gotten a blowjob, let alone some tongue!" K countered feeling disappointed with his own unachieved goals. Applejack quickly tackled K to the ground and pinned him down on his chest, leaving K staring back at her, dumbfounded.

"No, no, no, no, no!"

K stared at her as she continued saying the something over and over again before placing his hand on her chest and pushing her slightly. "Woah, calm down! I might look like him but shit I'm trying to get Chrysalis first!"

"HOW COULD BEN DO THAT!?" She asked pinning K down again and forcing K's hand to retract cautiously. K shook his head and shook a finger up at her.

"You have to understand that it isn't easy being surrounded by cute little ponies, especially when you're the only guy around!"

Applejack seemed to understand as she nodded but she couldn't get over the fact that her friends got the prize she wanted. "But, but, but, I thought…we had something,"

"Who said you didn't, Listen! It's like having to choose one friend to save and the rest will die, who do you choose!?" K helped, to see if she could understand how Ben saw the scenario. She understood that too but like before she couldn't accept her friends getting what she wanted.

"FINE! I get it! But…couldn't I have been…ya know…the first,"

K chuckled a bit before aiming a finger up to her. "Oh, about that, he still hasn't given that away!" In an instant Applejack gave a huge jump that probably defied physics and landed back on K's chest making him grasp for air.

"Really!?"

"Yeah…Flutters and Ben made sure to save that for a special someone!" K breathed out with thin air before taking in a great amount of air.

"DO YOU THINK IT'S ME!?" She asked placing a hoof firmly on K's chest and smiling widely as she now had her spirits lifted.

"Shit don't ask me! I'm trying to get some Changeling pussy, you go get Ben's dick!"

"I would've whacked ya head for that, but I'm going to pretend ya didn't say a thing!"

K paused for a moment before smiling like he'd lost his mind as he grabbed Applejack's hoof and neared his forehead. He lifted the hoof a few inches from his head and faintly laughed out in fake laughter.

"I SHOULD KNOCK MYSELF OUT FOR REVEALING MY PLANS, ASK BEN FOR A GOOD-!"

Pop*

"WHA-NO! WAKE UP YA CRAZY IDIOT!"


	28. Chapter 28 - Paralyzing Tone

#28

I wasn't shocked when I found myself in front of K and Applejack, just the fact that he was passed out surprised me. I stared at Applejack resting on K's chest as they booth snoozed but K had a hoof printed on his forehead, _how in the world did this happen_? K wasn't one to be easily knocked out but Applejack must have thrown a fit after seeing the two stumps that now provided a good seat to rest on.

"Woah what happened here?!" Dash asked as she circled them and along with a concerned Flutters checking Applejack's breathing. Vinyl and her crew stood beside me as I picked up a guitar shell and studied it. It was well made and even had the right echo I expected as I knocked at it a bit, only thing that was surprising about it was how fast K created: He must have heard us speaking about it at the store or something.

"Looks like Applejack gave K quite a knock on the head," Vinyl responded as she levitated the second guitar shell and gave it some spins before gawking at its massive size. I looked at her as I emptied my pockets of the things I bought and began assembling the guitar, luckily these Tuners were made for just attaching and screwing on.

"This is huge…what are you doing?" Vinyl asked glancing at me placing the Tuners on the head of the guitar. Luckily, I had this wooden sword at my disposal that made it simple for me to screw on the screws. I leveled the Tuners with how the string would go.

"I'm trying to attach the Tuners, just need to get them precise and straight," I answered biting down on my tongue as I did my best to maintain the Tuner still to screw it in place. Vinyl quickly rose to my side and studied as I tried to screw on the tuner only to have it backfire by the massive length of the sword limiting my mobility. I cursed under my breath before her magic surrounded the screw and like that, she screwed it on.

"Need a hoof?" she kindly asked as she lifted up another tuner and handed it to me, I took it with a smile making her smile back with a light blush. "Thanks"

I placed the Tuner to the guitar and found the right spot for it. Vinyl quickly screwed it on and passed another to me and did the same pattern for the other four. Lyra and Bonbon stared at us as they giggled to each other, being behind us was a good place for them to be or else Vinyl would have noticed in an instant and _boom_ you got trouble. I lifted the guitar's head to mine and checked to see if it looked right, it did, it was ready for the strings but it needed a paint job, which I should've prepared for.

"Okay now, a paint job, then a polish, and last, the strings!" I excitedly exclaimed as I pretended to play some invisible strings and moved my fingers accordingly to a song in my head. Vinyl stared at me curiously along with Lyra and Bonbon who appeared by her side. I ignored them for the moment while I tried to get a feel for the guitar's shape, it was quite comfortable and would do perfectly for me.

I let my fingers smoothly glide up and down as I smiled the whole time, nothing will ever beat the joy a guitar brings. Right now, all my head could think of were songs that only I could master the vocals and skills.

"What are you doing?" Lyra asked as he stared at my fingers, Vinyl and Bonbon did the same as they tilted their heads to get an angle/understanding of what I was doing. They were right to be giving me those looks; my fingers began acting on their own and actually thought they were playing something, I stopped them and tightened my hand into a fist to avoid doing that again until I had some strings on the guitar.

"Sorry about that, I must have thought I was actually playing," I chuckled, they giggled along before Lyra quickly took all the attention. She smiled as she lifted the strings up to me and pushed them against my chest, I grabbed them as I stared curiously at her.

"What?"

She smiled gently as she used her magic to lift the guitar and indicated it with her hoof, both Vinyl and Bonbon quickly lit up with excitement as they nodded to each other. I didn't need an explanation after that, they wanted me to play something. I turned to the half-assembled instrument and smiled; painting could always wait. Without saying a word, I undid the knot that held the roll of strings together and evenly spread them out on the tree trunk next to me. All ponies except Dash and Flutters, who were trying to wake up both K and Applejack, observed me as I hovered my finger over the forty-seven cords and picked out certain ones.

I knew what to look for, it was like instinct by now for me to recognize the right type of string and the sound it would produce, I picked out the six strings in an instant.

"Got em!"

"Put them on! Put them on!"

"Patience Lyra, patience" I calmed her as I placed the guitar flat on my lap as I began to place the strings on the guitar, it was almost crazy how intense it felt to be placing one string at a time but I endured it. Lyra had me on my edge with how intently she studied me as I slowly connected the strings to the suspenders and Tuners, she tilted her head side to side curiously as she tried to find out how it would look. Vinyl and Bonbon seemed to have these irreversible smiles as they stared at me connect string after string. I smiled as I placed the last line on and tightened the tuner on it, it was almost like fireworks had gone off as I lifted the guitar in accomplishment.

"TA-DA! IT IS DONE!"

"What?" Flutters and Dash responded as they turned to me.

"YAY!" Lyra harmoniously screamed as she shook Bonbon violently. Vinyl stared at the guitar curiously before running her hoof over all the strings to reveal a broken sound, she flinched a bit before doing it again.

"Yeah, it needs to be tuned," I claimed as I turned the guitar back to a playing position, Vinyl lifted her shades as she watched me play with the first string. I listened closely as I plucked it several times and turned the tuner, slowly and slowly it got to the right deep note I expected. I knew how to tune a guitar, I had done this so much it was child's play. She lit up with excitement again as I finally struck the string and the smooth note flowed through every pony making them all quiver a bit.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" K quickly yelled as he reanimated and launched Applejack a few feet away from him, Applejack quickly sprung up too as she had her own way of phrasing what K said. "What the hay was that!?"

Dash and Flutters also expressed their surprise as well as I strung the same note again, they all quivered again as expected, _it was such a powerful note._ I smiled as I quickly got surrounded by everyone and as I began on the second note, they all expressed their interest but I ignored them as I tuned this cord.

"Shh…let Ben concentrate!" Vinyl hushed them as I continued plucking the string, it was difficult to do the high pitches but it was walk in the park now that it was silent. K leaned over my shoulder as he stared at me tune, while all the other ponies stared at my fingers work diligently. After a few more checks I finally got the right tune, it was a bit crazy how they shivered when the heard me pluck a perfectly tuned string.

I continued tuning in silence until I got to the last one, the last one was a strong one, it practically hypnotized them. K quickly reached out a leg to catch Flutters from tipping over before he did the same for everypony except Vinyl.

"Come on you, stand straight!" K demanded as he tried to get Lyra to stand but she was stunned frozen.

"Wait up K, I got this," I said as I placed my fingers according to a pattern and placed my hand over the first note and teased to strum down. Vinyl looked up at me surprised as I strung it once. I sighed deeply as the forest of apple trees became frighteningly quiet and I strummed the first two strings then the first three and back to two in a pattern. I strung it so slowly I could feel the sound ring in my ears and tease me to go faster. The sound was slow and mellow "the sound of silence", a very sad and beautiful piece of music.

"Woah…" Vinyl whispered as she placed her hooves on my lap and stared at me play the same few notes. I smiled at her reaction, I was going to give her a great little show, without warning I quickly switched the fingers on the neck and played a faster sound and strummed all six cords in a pattern. Vinyl jumped a bit, her mouth trembling as I began playing in this one dance song I knew "American Pie", the fast pace combined by how insane my fingers must have looked made me believe the look on Vinyl's face. I continued on hitting every note perfectly, I found it frightening that I could play at such a speed but my fingers refused to listen and quickly hit a new scheme of notes. This new scheme made Vinyl tremble to the point she couldn't stand and let herself sit down.

I smiled as I slowly returned to the depressing tone of earlier and slowly came to a stop with a final high note. I sighed deeply as I strummed the high note once more to end it, ending my guitar riff. I closed my eyes before basking in the beautiful silence of my surroundings before getting a quick pat on my shoulder.

"Looks like you don't need any practice," K chuckled as he removed his leg causing all ponies to fall on each other like a row of dominoes. I looked over to Vinyl, she was lost in a daze, staring at me with her eyes refusing to blink. I waved my hand over her face and quickly snapped my fingers making her jump and fall on her back.

"W-what kind of magic is that!?" Vinyl quickly asked springing up to her hooves and aiming a hoof at me like I had done something wrong. I laughed, what else was there to do, she suspected I was using magic to enhance the sound.

"That is the magic of the guitar, never underestimate it!" I exclaimed as I quickly strummed three notes in a beautiful order. Vinyl quickly shivered again as the sound made its way around her pony body, real music does that to anyone/pony. Vinyl gulped as she stepped up.

"Why does it sound so…so-"

"Moving?" K finished for her, she looked at him and nodded. "Yeah."

"When music is played with a purpose…it does that," I wisely stated as I looked down at her. She must have heard Jesus speaking because she was as passionate as I was for music, she was a DJ after all.

"That…MAKE SO MUCH SENSE!" She yelled out with a huge smile as she jumped from the excitement. She was being cute again, then again when isn't she. I laughed a bit as I nodded my head and agreed with her.

"That…was…so…beautiful!" Lyra whimpered sniffing between her words as she returned from her paralysis, she was raining tears and was completely soaked with them. I widened my eyes in shock as it seemed that the rest were the same way, _was it really that strong?_

"Are you all alright?" Vinyl asked them as she stared at them, they all looked at her sternly. "HOW CAN YOU NOT CRY!?"

"I don't kn-WHAT THE!?" Vinyl had tears dripping from her eyes as well, she used her hoof to rub her eyes and then stared at her moist hoof in shock. I was beyond shocked as well, there was nothing to explain what the hell was happening but it appeared that the music I played was way too strong for them and now I had a bunch of crying ponies.

"How did this happen?" K asked as he sat down on the trunk beside me, he wasn't crying like the rest but he was awfully confused. I took a hunch at the question, it seemed to fit in perfectly.

"Looks like they've never heard music like ours,"

"What do you mean? They gotta DJ!" K argued but he was skeptical about what he said, I helped him fill in the gaps.

"Yeah, but they've never heard _our_ type of music,"

"Oh… _our_ type," K agreed as he nodded and turned to the crying ponies. They had calmed down a bit but the tears refused to stop.

"Ya done made me cry now!" Applejack chuckled a bit as she wiped away those tears and smiled widely. I smiled back as I lifted myself off the trunk and stared at the barn that was just down the patch of trees.

"If that makes you cry, I can't tell what will happen if I sing the lyrics," I taunted making them back away a bit. I spun the guitar like my sword and aimed it at them, they stared curiously at it as I grinned.

"Prepare yourselves, I'm gonna give Canterlot a spectacle they won't forget!"

It was strangely and awkwardly quiet in this forest of apple trees, Applejack and Vinyl stood there in front of me being silent and nervous about breaking the silence. K had taken all the other ponies with him, they refused at first but eventually gave in as K winked and signaled them to move along: after that, they disappeared. I looked up at the two ponies in front of me, both very awkwardly quiet and refusing to speak. I wondered why I was left here with these two but I knew that I wouldn't have to wait too long for it as Applejack flashed a slight look of depression that sent a shock through my back.

"Ben…I need to talk to ya,"

Oh no, I knew where this was going, I was either going to be forced to remember something or asked a personal question. Nonetheless, I nodded and allowed her to proceed, keeping the slightly depressed atmosphere.

"How did ya ever adjust so quickly?"

I looked up at her, this was something I could've answered on the spot if it weren't for how she said it. She had this tone that forced me to rethink my life through the perspective of someone else, someone totally more humane. To say the least, I was dumbfounded by the question, and I could feel a strange swirling in my stomach ruining my mood.

"What…do you mean?"

"How many days have ya been here?"

"A few days…only…" I responded as I widely opened my eyes at such a realization, I had barely spent a week here and I was already into this new life. I felt like I was going to lose my mind as I recalled the first day I got here. "Not even a week…"

"How could ya just abandon your old life like that?" She asked a bit passionately as she whimpered a bit at the end. I was touched, there was no way of explaining this strange feeling of mistake, I felt my head shrink and I couldn't think about anything. I tried to speak but nothing came out as I quickly placed my hand around my neck and massaged the lump that formed.

"It's weird…but…I never really made up my mind about life," I coldly stated as I shook my head and looked down at the grass. Both ponies in front of me moved closer and seemed to feel something as they asked what I meant. I felt something strange rush through me like I had made a huge mistake and couldn't ever return to the past to fix it.

"I'll tell you something, I don't know why, but I hope you understand me when I tell you this," I prepared them to listen to something depressing, they looked at each other before gulping down and nodding. I nodded back unwillingly as I cleared my throat.

"Okay…listen closely…ever since I got here, I was nothing but a blank canvas. I never _fully_ believed I had a meaning in life, I murdered and did unexplainable things not ever considering the consequences. My mom and dad passed away…and I didn't feel a thing, no matter how much I tried to cry, I couldn't!" I rose my voice a bit making them feel a strange regret, wishing they never asked. I would've stopped but I had to get this out of me.

"I was broken, I had nothing but the urge to start over! I nearly killed myself one time because I couldn't stand it anymore!"

They gasped as I shivered to say more, I was really on edge, I wasn't the one to reflect this deeply.

"But something stopped me, something crazy happened! I felt a strange joy overwhelm me as I imagined a world where I could fit in, where I could use my body as a sacrifice that would count towards something! That day, that moment, I knew that there was to be a better meaning to life than what I was doing…but,"

"B-but…what?" Vinyl asked shivering a bit as she neared me a bit closer, she was close enough for me to pet her mane. I gulped down heavily as I placed my hand over my chest. You know, now that I've actually began speaking about what happened back in the old world, and ordered the events, I finally remembered how I came to die.

"That day… I walked out my home and found someone there, he had a weapon, a lethal weapon. Just when I was happy to know there was something more to life…

I lifted my fingers and made finger pistol as I imitated those exact word I heard, this was confidential to me but I was going to let it out, I had no regrets.

"He said to me, "Life isn't for you kid" and…

I mimicked a gun being shot with my fingers.

"I felt life happen all over again from when I was a child to then, that was…the last time…I cried,"

They gasped and whimpered as I admitted to it, I had cried before, it wasn't a secret anymore. I wish I could cry again like that, but it was hard. Could I get any more emotional? Yes, I could, but for their sakes, I'll start going uphill.

"I felt it for a few seconds but that was the happiest I had ever been, you wouldn't understand how it felt to remember when I was happy and feel it…I know it's sad but then it gets sadly better, in a flash I opened my eyes and found myself in a forest of nightmares. For the moment, I didn't remember what had happened but I remember it now."

They looked up to me, almost as if they'd been slapped back to that scene of me emerging from the forest; Applejack at least.

"Right there, I meet Dash…the pony that opened this new world to me, I wish I could express how many "thank you(s)" I would love to show her. If it wasn't for her, I would probably not be who you see today, that day, when I first saw that shade of blue and rainbow, I knew something new was going to come up and I couldn't be any happier."

They pondered it, but there was no need. I smiled as I gave my attention to Applejack while she watched me, her eyes glimmering with tears.

"That is why I adjusted so fast…I wish I could say that I left so much behind but I didn't, forgive me for being so deep about it…I'm just glad I have this opportunity to make a better something out of my life," I sighed deeply as I fiddled around with a guitar string, I had never said this to anyone, outside of the princess, but even they didn't really get the full story. And now, it was safe to say. I grasped the guitar strings with one hand as I tightened the lump on my chest; I wanted to say this since I first met them and now I could, to these two at least.

"I love all of you, I wish…I wish could show how much I love all of you, I love you! you! and everypony! This is my new life, and I'd rather be dead than not know any of y'all, so please…I'm here…right now…to live," I ended on a passionate note, those words came out so smoothly I didn't recognize my own voice. All the stress I had felt peeled off and I could safety breath again, knowing I didn't have to say anymore. Both Vinyl and Applejack sobbed heavily as they cried onto each other, they were not used to such words; if I recall correctly these ponies where more peaceful… _some of them at least,_ and probably have a limit I bypass every time I speak emotionally.

"How…did you ever…get over that?!" Vinyl asked me, whimpering as her shades hit the grass, she didn't mind the shades and wiped her tears away. I smiled, I knew exactly how to respond to this. I leaned forward and picked up her shades, she glanced at me as she continued whimpering.

"With friends like you, that question makes no sense," I claimed as I handed her shades back, she put on a smile that said "thank you" and "I love you". I nodded as she lifted the glasses from my hands and placed them behind her horn, she had no intention in covering her eyes.

I chuckled a bit as I turned to Applejack, she had that wavy smile these ponies get as she tried to convince me she was fine; she wasn't. If it weren't for being emotionally broken and still dripping tears like a rainy day, she would be fine. I reached my hand out to her hat, which had fallen off, and handed it to her. This time her wavy smile turned into a "real" smile, she reached out for it and flicked it onto her head.

"Thanks, I don't know how…but ya got a way with mares," She quietly eased out with a distracted smile. I've been told that before, but never has it meant so much till now, real emotion takes pride to show and she has all that. I rose up from the trunk and smiled towards them before looking at the endless array or trees, I still thought about everything I said, I had no regrets, maybe later but my attitude kept shouting "oh, what the hell!"

"Thanks, that means a lot comin' from you," I thanked, she gave a small nervous sway as she adjusted her attitude.

"Yer welcome."

I sighed deeply as I stared at the guitar before using my foot to flick it up and into my hands. Both Vinyl and Applejack stared at me as I bit down on my tongue and strung a string, something strange had happened when the instrument hit my hand…an urge. I coughed a bit to see if I could rid the tickle behind my throat but it didn't work.

"Are you okay?" Vinyl asked a bit concerned, I nodded back to her and chuckled a bit as I finally shook away the strange feeling.

"Yeah, just got the strangest urge to sing…weird,"

They both flashed looks at me before giggling, they knew how to get my attention: I didn't like feeling left out. I looked down at them as they turned to me and gave me these smiles that were so unexpected they kinda terrified me, they were just crying their hearts out: now it looked like they had barely shed a tear.

"What's with that? Did I miss something?" I asked them.

"It's funny to think ya sing,"

They done stabbed me right in the feels, I was excellent in singing and imitating voices, there was no reason to think I couldn't sing. I grinned a bit as I gain a new urge, the urge to show off.

"How so?"

"I don't know, you just don't look like the singing type," Vinyl giggled making me cough out a bit as I prepared to mimic the one they can't mock, next one to speak will get a hint. I chuckled a bit as I turned away from them and coughed a bit more, I needed a well-prepared throat or I'll just be hitting the voice all wrong.

"Exactly! Ya may-"

"You shouldn't mock those you don't know enough about," I interrupted, looking over my shoulder at them. They both had wide eyes with their hooves in the air like they had been caught doing something wrong.

"We're sorry yer majesty!"

"Yeah!" Vinyl quickly added.

Looks like my impersonation worked well, I turned to them laughing my heart out at their expressions. They both lowered their hooves as they turned to me suspiciously, I lowered my laugh to a simple grin as I winked at them playfully.

"Now, now, you shouldn't be too afraid of your princess," I replied using Celestia's voice, they both widened their eyes again as they quickly tackled me to the ground. I didn't realize how quickly they actually did it but I was on the ground and Applejack stared ferociously at me and Vinyl held me down with her magic. I smiled nervously as I stared up to Applejack before she gave me a good one right on the nose.

"YA MEAN TO TELL ME WE WERE SPEAKING TO YOU INSTEAD OF BEN!?"

Okay maybe I put too much Celestia in that impersonation but I really wasn't expecting her to take it this far. I quickly snapped out of the impersonation and returned back to my normal voice as I placed my hand in front of her hoof, stopping another bop to my face.

"CHILL OUT! I was just playing around!" I yelled out it catching her hoof, it stung my palm a bit. Her widened eyes said it all as she stopped putting pressure to her hoof and nervously stared at me.

"Wha? How…did ya? Your voice…"

"Yeah! I can impersonate voices, geez!" I exclaimed as I let her hoof go, she smiled weakly as she rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. I was still pinned to the ground by Vinyl's magic, all I could move was my hands and arms, the rest of my body was locked.

"Oh…why did ya do that!?" She asked stomping a hoof on my chest, I took a sharp breath as I caught my breath from leaving me: It was strange her hoof was so damn soft and now it was hard like a stone. I did my best to lift my head to look up at her but gave up on trying when the magic exhausted my neck.

"Well, you mocked my singing, so I thought I could've shown you two something but…as you can see, that didn't up so well,"

She gave me a chuckle before looking down at me with a smile, it was always strange when I was towered over by these ponies. I smiled back unwillingly and asked what that smile was about, she giggled as she neared my face and I got an extremely close up view of her eyes. She stared into my eyes as I stared into hers, I was lost and nervous and that equaled something not so good.

"Okay…now…how about you let me go from this magic?" I kindly requested, nothing happened but I did look up to see Vinyl staring down at me as well with a friendly smile _that didn't really help the mood_. I was a bit freaked, I couldn't move and I had two unpredictable ponies staring at me.

"When will we get to have some fun with you?"

I glanced at Vinyl quickly. I was blank again, there was no way I could've guess that question at the moment. I smiled at her as I gulped down heavily and chuckled faintly.

"Oh, I don't know, you decide…" I responded trying to not answer the question, but I would regret that immediately. Her eyes widened with joyful-curiosity as she neared me a bit closer, now her eyes were at scaled with Applejack's. Applejack also had the same expression. Maybe that wasn't the best way to approach the question.

"Really?!" She asked excitedly, I didn't know if to say yes or no, both had outcomes that I didn't want… _okay, maybe I did want one_. I exchanged glances between Applejack and Vinyl, both expected something out of me: I couldn't turn them down.

"Umm…sure, I guess…but not today," I returned, they gave each other a devious smile before they giggled a bit, _I didn't like that look_.

"But ya said we decide…didn't ya?"

"Well…yeah but-"

"Then we get to decide, no?"

"Yeah…"

Okay, now I was really unsettled, I was either gonna find a way to get rid of this magic or speak my way out of it… _time for some physical action!_ I quickly moved my eyes up to Vinyl as I saw her horn glowing, the idea hit me immediately: _Maybe if I distract her, I might be able to escape this bind_.

Without a second thought, I reached my free hand up to her horn and gripped it firmly.

"Gotcha!"

She froze immediately as her blush erupted and her face radiated heat, Applejack quickly jumped off my chest and hid by my side. I ignored it as I refused to let her pin me to the ground again, she trembled as she clenched her teeth and stared at me with one eye half open.

"Please…let me go!" She moaned out as I quickly stood up and held her over the ground by her horn. She panted out slow breaths of ecstasy as she brought her hanging hind hooves up and recoiled her body. I wasn't completely lost but even then, I had good enough knowledge to know she wasn't going to free herself.

"Nice blush, but why is it there?" I playfully asked, it was obvious that she was stimulated by me grabbing her horn, _this was something new_. She continued with moaning as she tried to conjure up some magic but it only resulted in small sparks going off at the tip of her horn. I grinned as gripped her horn tighter and pulled her up to my face.

"Does this arouse you?"

She trembled as she let out her answer between moans. "Y-yes…"

"How long can you go on like this?"

She quickly gulped down as she quickly recoiled her body even more and began looking like a ball of fur. I quickly cocked an eyebrow as she let out a small yelp and covered her mouth instantly. I widened my eyes a bit with a toothy smile as I quickly let her fall onto my other arm, finally letting go of her horn. She panted slowly as her breathing stabilized and she slowly opened her eyes again.

"Not long I guess…what the-?"

I wondered what the warm liquid I was feeling on my hand was, no more explanation need. I looked down at her a bit shocked and she looked up at me exhausted from what I would call "foreplay" and shivered out a few words. "Why…can't I get mad at you?"

I chuckled and made a turn for Applejack, she stared at us _like we made her look like a third wheel_. Like that, my attitude changed from being playful to being a bit nervous, her look would make anyone feel guilty.

"Oh…sorry about that, that was uncalled for," I apologized scratching the back of my head with one hand, exposing Vinyl who had her tail between her legs, to her. Applejack looked up at me before looking towards my torso as a thin line of liquid dripped from my hands and to the ground. Okay! Now I really didn't know what to say, this was just too complicated now; how do I explain a wet pony to another pony? My hand was loaded with her juices all I could do was cup it for now until I could get rid of it.

"Umm…as you can see, horns the key to arousing unicorns!"

"I can see that, but…I don't have one…"

"Eh?"

I didn't understand for the first few seconds but her sudden look of disappointment filled it all in. As surprising as it seemed, I guess I could say I expected her to feel like that, when Flutters knew about Luna and Dash about Flutters it was all the same. Even if she was disappointed my specialty was comforting others in hard times and I've never failed at it.

"No worries, you don't need one!" I comforted, she quickly lit up with a smile as she jumped a bit and aim a hoof into the sky.

"Yer right! Dashie and Fluttershy don't have one yet ya somehow did it!"

"Yeah…wait a minute…you know?!" I asked a bit surprised, she blinked a few timed before lowering her hoof and nervously smiling at me. I smiled back but the question lingered.

"Yeah…" She answered rolling her eyes to look at a tree in the distance, I chuckled a bit as I placed a hand to my side and continued holding Vinyl in the other. She added one last comment to her answer. "I never expected my friends to attach so quickly but I guess I did too, wait till Twilight finds out, oh, you're gonna have a serious conversation with her!"

"Hmm…she has a horn…"

"Okay now, hold it there! Twilight might have one but she's a bit-"

"She has a horn…"

"Yeah…I know…but she's a bit…overprotective!"

"But…she has a horn…"

"I'm really not goin' to convince ya, am I?"

"Nope!"

We both broke into laughter before some crackling among some leaves was heard behind us. We slowly slowed our laughter to some slight chuckles as we turned to the source of the sound, our chuckled became silence when two voices emerged from the thick tree line, a mare and stallion's.

"I smell love, that way!"

"SLOW DOWN DEAR!"

I fully turned my body to the source as we all stared curiously at the line of trees, waiting for something to appear. Applejack had a raised eyebrow like I did and Vinyl had dozed off _guess that was bound to happen with how tired she looked_.

After a few seconds of rustling, I took a step back as a bush in front of us rustled violently and something prepared to emerge.

"Oh look, an apple!"

"That's nice, honey."

They were speaking from behind the bush and I was already impatient enough, I cupped my free hand and put it up to my mouth.

"Hello!?"

In a few seconds, two heads appeared from the bush and I quickly jumped a bit at their sudden appearance. A pink mare and a white stallion…that white one bears a strange resemblance to somepony. I tilted my head to get a better view of them but the pink one quickly jumped out the bush, her mane was all rustled and she was covered in leaves, most importantly she was an Alicorn. She smiled widely as she magically appeared in front of me with an excited smile.

"Aww, look at that, her tail is between her-"

"Woah…what is that!?" The white stallion interrupted as he looked up at me, I stared down at him and exchanged looks between him and the pink Alicorn. The pink one was fancily dressed like her presumable fiancé, if he uses words like those then that must mean something.

"Come on Shiny! Look at how cute she looks!"

"Uh…yes dear, maybe you should respect the fact she's-"

"Don't worry, I've got this!"

I quickly retreated a step as her horn glowed, I wasn't taking a chance even though I could easily see she was trustworthy. She gave a slight giggle as she used her smile to convince me to take a step forward.

"Applejack is this your pet?" She asked making me quickly jump back and return back with a defensive argument.

"PET!?"

"EKK! IT CAN SPEAK!?" She screeched as she quickly teleported behind her stallion. The stallion was about as shocked as she was but he knew better than to retreat and looked behind himself at her and back at me and Applejack, smiling a bit embarrassed.

I quickly looked at Applejack who seemed about as confused as I was and then at the couple in front of me. The pink one emerged to the stallion's side and chuckled nervously as the stallion chuckled a bit too. No doubt about it, the stallion reminded me of somepony, and the pink mare reminded me of something else too.

"I'm no pet, but the name's Ben!" I replied back with a smile hoping to find a way into conversation, they looked at each other before nearing me a bit closer and staring at me and back at Applejack. Applejack was stunned into silence as she studied the two new ponies.

"How did you get her like that?" The pink one asked as she used her magic again, I quickly looked at her and at Vinyl, she was still asleep. In almost a few seconds I felt my hand dry up, she cleaned it up. I ignored what she did and decided to keep her at shore with her question.

"Umm…do I have to answer that?"

"You don't have to, it just brings back the fun times! Shiny remember that time in Luna's bedroom!?"

"Yes…dear"

"How about Celestia's!?"

"Please dear…they don't need to know that much!"

She leaned in closer to me and giggled a bit as she whispered something to me, but she clearly had no intentions of telling a secret with how loudly she said it.

"He doesn't want to speak about it because Celestia wasn't happy with her newly painted bedsheets…"

"PLEASE, NOT IN FRONT OF TWILIGHT'S FRIENDS!"

I really didn't know anything about what was going on besides these two were kinky as hell. I looked down at Applejack but she was completely frozen in place, I guess I could see how. I back looked up at the couple and sighed before chuckling to myself.

" _Looks like I need to up my game…_ "


	29. Chapter 29 - Intense Heat

#29

"Geez! Enough bickering you two!"

They stopped and turned to me, both a bit embarrassed I called them out.

"Sorry about that!" The pink one cheerfully apologized as the stallion nodded his head and sighed. "Yeah, sorry about our rude entrance."

They seemed to come from a good side so I let my friendliness show and smirked.

"Nah it's cool, although, I've never met you two before."

They quickly stood straight as the stallion introduced himself with a hoof towards himself before aiming it at his mare.

"And this is Cadence, my wife, and also the Princess of Love, but you might have figured that out by the obvious senario." He chuckled, I, on the other hand, widened my eyes a bit as I made the connection; _Princess equals Royalty_.

"Woah…I've met Luna and Celestia! But I've never met you! It's a pleasure!" I excitedly greeted making her blush from my sudden display of kindness. She smiled joyfully, unlike Shining who asked about my relationship with the princesses. I was no problem giving him a firm answer, but his suspicion was unnerving.

"Oh, we're close friends!" I was scratching the back of my head and chuckling nervously. I really wouldn't want to go into much detail _for certain reasons_. He pressured on the question, seemingly wanting to confirm a suspicion as he asked me about "who I was?" and "how did I know the princesses?"

I explained it to him for the next few minutes, they both listened closely as I explained every little major event _except "those" hidden moments_. As I explained, Cadence giggled something to herself that worried me a bit, I hadn't given her a reason to do so. Then there was Shining, who was the exact opposite as I began explaining how I knew everypony I knew before he stopped me for a quick question.

"You know Twilight?" He asked, softening a great deal as he took kinder to my presence.

"Yeah, friends…now that you mention it, you seem to remind me of her…" I answered as I hinted towards my suspicions, he quickly smiled widely as he introduced himself a bit further and revealed himself to be her brother. I smiled with a small sense of shock as I greeted him as well.

"Awesome, nice to know Twilight has a brother like you!"

"Nice to know she has a friend like you!"

I smirked as I took his words with pride.

"Thanks!"

I continued explaining a bit more about myself, but before I could even explain how I was good friends with Celestia, they quickly stopped me again, both this time.

"You're the new powerful pony!?" They both yelled in unison.

"You're not even a pony!" Shining exclaimed, _obviously though_.

I blinked away my sudden confusion and answered with what I already knew. "Yeah, I guess you could say powerful and no, I'm not a pony."

They quickly exchanged surprised looks between each other before they neared me and put a foot in distance between us. I curiously looked at them as they questioned me even further, _I guess that was it for my story_.

"Did you really defeat Celestia in a duel!?" Shining asked excitedly but Cadence was the exact opposite as she worried, _that was expected_. I bobbed my head before answering bluntly and unwillingly. "Yeah."

"Awesome! I've never met somepony who could best Celestia!"

I gave a weak effort at a smile but it failed as Cadence inquired about "the incident". I didn't know how they knew so much, maybe it was the royal news or something but I knew that I couldn't ruin my image, I was coming off so good.

"Yes, I sorta lost control and crazy stuff happened. Luckily, it was a simulation and I returned to my normal state," I explained to them, Shining seemed to love hearing this news as he smiled excitedly yet Cadence maintained her worry stretched across her face. I continued to explain as I quickly figured Cadence's next question, "And yeah, it can happen out in this world but as long as I don't resort to using my full strength, then I should be fine."

"That's incredible! I'd like to see this power for myself!"

I quickly flashed a worried look at Shining as I shook my head, it didn't go well last two times I showed off my strength so I knew better than to try it again. He nodded back at me contradicting my response, I just continued shaking my head.

"Last two times I tried to show my strength I nearly got thrown into a dungeon and then I did!"

"No matter! I'm ahead of the royal guard!"

"Shiny! NO!"

Candace seemed to know the magnitude of the problem Shining was putting himself into to, but he obviously didn't. He chuckled as he reassured her he would be fine. I shook my8 head and sighed as I looked down at Vinyl on my arm, still out like a baby. I knew I couldn't overcome his pride, so if he really wanted to fight, then I guess he'll get one, with some obvious limitations.

"Please! Don't do it! I'll let you be the top one next time too, just stop!"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on losing!"

"THAT ISN'T THE POINT!"

I listened to them argue, it was becoming clear that Cadence feared for him and I admired her for that, _at least I knew he had a loving wife_. If there was anything I could do now was go easy on him, but then that goes against my code of never underestimating my opponent, oh well, he's asking for it. I lifted my free hand up and made fist towards him.

"Fine, Shining, we'll have a battle!"

"NOOOOOO!"

"YEAH!"

I looked over to Cadence, who seemed to be near to bursting into tears, I could understand her worry but she shouldn't be having any. I squatted down and reassured her with a smile, she stared back confused and worried as she whimpered out what I was smiling about. I chuckled as I looked down at Vinyl and looked at the light blush that she had, Cadence took the hint well and couldn't help but smile at seeing her.

"I fight, but to protect the ones I love, that goes for all my friends," I calmly reassured her as Vinyl seemed to move her lips in her sleep. Cadence quickly caught on and giggled, as she turned to Shining and nodded before turning to me still a bit worried.

"So, you won't hurt him, right?"

"Right! But I don't go easy on any challenger, tell him that."

She nodded thankful and full of relief as I stood back up and looked at Shining who had a grin going on, he hadn't paid attention to our talk but at least his wife could breathe calmly now. He quickly made his way up to me and asked about the time, Cadence smiled joyfully as she didn't have anything to worry about now.

"As long as it's not between today, tomorrow, or past tomorrow, then I'm willing to go!"

"Wha-WHY NOT TODAY!" He argued back, he wasn't going to convince me otherwise but he could at least know why.

"Simple, I got a lot to do before that Canterlot musical thing!" I explained, Cadence's ears twitched and perked straight up as she quickly spawned in front of me with a huge smile.

"You're going to be in it!?" She asked jumping from the excitement, I nodded back and smiled at their expressions; Shining had a (Bro) smile going and Cadence had her huge smile still.

"Yup!"

They both smiled at each other as they wished me the best of luck and began speaking amongst each other about the concert. I turned to Applejack who was now looking at me, I was puzzled as to why she hadn't spoken the entire time, it wasn't like her to be so quiet.

"Is something wrong?"

She sighed deeply as she shook her head, "Nah, just a bit surprised we got some unexpected visitors."

I guess I could relate, I didn't expect such a visit either but now they're here and we gotta make the most of it I suppose. I turned to the couple again and cleared my throat to get their attention.

"Why are you here anyway, just wondering?" I asked them, they both glanced at each other before both aimed a hoof at me with a smile, "You!"

"Me?" I asked with sudden confusion.

"Yeah, we heard that there was a really powerful "pony" in Ponyville, so we came to check it out!" Cadence explained before Shining smirked.

"Yes, but on the way, she smelled "Love" and we redirected but we still found you!"

I wasn't going to ask what he meant by smelling love since I could I get the picture but I did want to know what they were going to do now that they found me. I inquired about it and they responded with a very simple but unexpected answer.

"Spend the day with you!" Cadence cheered, Shining agreed as I flinched a bit; _A day with the princess of love and her husband sounded like fun time…obviously sarcasm_. Applejack quickly wanted to object but she stopped herself letting out only a sigh, she was disappointed, I could clearly see it in her eyes and her droopy ears.

"Just don't go and do what ya did last time you visited!" Applejack rudely responded making me go into silence as I listened in on what she meant. Cadence giggled as she made a mischievous smile and turned to her, Applejack wasn't amused and became cautious as she retreated behind me. I looked down my side and back at Cadence, I was lost and curious about what was going on.

"Don't do it!" Applejack demanded sternly as she aimed a hoof in her direction while remaining half exposed behind my pants. Cadence lifted an eyebrow and turned to me with a curious smile, Shining just stared at me as he smiled nervously. I stared at Cadence as she got closer to me and giggled.

"Are you her _special one_?" She asked in a teasing manner, Applejack quickly jumped from behind me and argued back but didn't get far as Cadences magic surrounded her mouth and shut her up. I quickly tried to speak out but was stopped by her voice.

"Are you?"

I knew my answer and nodded making Applejack's eyes widen with embarrassment. Cadence quickly turned to Applejack and giggled, she enjoyed seeing her like that. I looked down at Applejack as she stared up at me wanting to be angry but she couldn't, I was expressing myself and she knew that. Cadence got my attention and gave one last glance at Applejack before giving a light chuckle.

"Make sure she gets her fair share of love, she needs it!" She claimed, Applejack quickly fought back with the obvious. "What's that supposed to mean!?" Cadence smiled and aimed a hoof at me.

"You love him, it's obvious!"

"I…!" She paused, she was going to deny it but her feelings wouldn't let her, and in the end, she sighed. "do"

I smiled down at her but it quickly was stolen by Cadence using her magic for a split second, I turned to her and Applejack widened her eyes in disbelief. Shining chuckled a bit as he noticed his wife smile her devious smile and chuckle.

"What was that?" I asked but Applejack quickly went ahead of me and yelled at her angered and embarrassed.

"NO! I TOLD YA TO NOT DO IT!"

"But you need it!"

"WHAT!?" I yelled out getting both of their attention, Applejack quickly placed her hooves over her reddened face and whimpered as Cadence bumped my leg with her hoof. I looked down at her as she smiled up at me and began explaining.

"you see-"

"NO! DON'T TELL HIM!" Applejack sobbed, I looked over to her and felt wrong for being more than curious; for Applejack to be this embarrassed she'd cry was something I expected from Flutters, not her.

Cadence quickly did her mouth-shutting magic and closed her up as she continued, all that was heard from Applejack was her loud muffled curses and sobs. I was more than interested and temporarily ignored Applejack to hear out Cadence, Applejack let out a whimper as she covered her ears with her hooves and closed her eyes.

"This is a special time for Applejack and her friends, even that one in your grasp." She playfully expressed. I looked down at Vinyl and back at Cadence as she smiled widely and rubbed Vinyl's belly with her magic resulting in _lewd_ moans; _That was so cute_. I lifted an eyebrow in response as I turned to her demanding answers, even though I already got the point. She nodded and continued.

"You see, this is the time of year in which these fillies want to be with that special somepony!"

I didn't want to be the one to bring up the term, I tried to play dumb. "Time of year?"

She wasn't fooled by my acting and hacked at my side with a magical punch, I pressed my hand on my side as I chuckled out in pain. "OW! That one hurt!" She could really land a punch with that magic.

"You know what I meant by 'time of year',"

"OKAY! I know, I was trying to avoid the term!" I groaned rubbing my side before turning to Applejack, who still had her hooves over her ears and her eyes tightly closed. Cadence smiled and rubbed up against my side, I looked at her and she looked up at me daringly.

"What term?"

I lifted my hand up and charged up some sparks making her back away instantly. "You wanna play dumb with me?"

She nervously smiled up at me and faintly chuckled as she shook her head "No, no, no!"

I nodded with her answer and lowered my hand, _karma is best_. I chuckled as I nodded, "I know what you mean, I just don't want to be so…exploiting of my friends' feelings," I was partly lying since I enjoyed seeing their embarrassment but part of me said that I shouldn't be so cold, _how did I become so soft_?

Cadence smiled and nodded in agreement as she moved over to me, Shining appeared beside her. I observed her as she released Applejack from her magic, she quickly opened her eyes widely and blinked them gradually. She mumbled a few words before removing her hooves from her ears and perking right up from the ground and aiming a hoof at Cadence sternly.

"Why did you do that!?" She sternly whimpered, she was still a bit watery under her eyes but it just coagulated there. Cadence acted dumb again and looked at me and at her. "Do what?"

"Don't play dumb! You told him about…you know!" She argued back, Cadence giggled as she covered her mouth with a hoof and whispered. "Don't you love him?"

"So, what does that have to do with anything!?" She firmly stomped a hoof down on the ground and refused to whimper any longer, Cadence glared at her with a frown making her fall back on her words. She trotted over to her and stood confidently as she confronted her.

"Then it's only right for him to know, how can he be happy if you're not happy?" That was a good move by her, it was true and it really put Applejack in doubt, I still had no idea what the hell Cadence did but it must be something highly embarrassing for her. She shook her head slowly as she looked down to the ground, she had no response. Cadence continued.

"Love is a bond so powerful, that when a pony on one side is hurt the other is too!" She preached, if she continued I might have praised her words of wisdom but she didn't. Applejack sighed as she gave up on arguing against her and turned to me with a disappointed look.

"So ya know?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah."

A smile wanted to appear on her face but her embarrassment didn't allow it. I noticed instantly and turned to Vinyl as I tried to achieve an Applejack smile. "It's something that naturally occurs, I know, but how long have you hid it from me?"

She bit her lower lip as she answered. "Since I first saw ya-"

"Aw, love at first sight!" Cadence interrupted making Applejack a bit more embarrassed but I fully understood the situation, I wasn't going to change the way I felt. She swayed her head in replacement for her words; "basically".

I smiled widely as the opportunity presented itself, I had a song in the corner of my memory and it was just perfect for this moment. I looked down at the tree trunk and picked up the guitar making them all widen their eyes for their own reasons. I placed the guitar to my side and uncomfortably placed my hand over the strings.

"Is that a six-stringed guitar!?" Shining asked as Cadence leaned for a closer look.

"What are you doing?"

I looked at Vinyl as I plucked a guitar string making her shiver a bit, I was trying to awaken her so I could play the little piece of music. She turned to her other side and mumbled out a few words.

"That's…the wrong one…it won't fit…"

They turned to me quickly and I nervously chuckled as I moved my hand to another string.

"Uh…wrong string,"

strum*

"I want…a little filly…please"

She quickly grabbed on to my shirt and tugged in her sleep. They all stared at me with their own expressions; Cadence smiled with excitement and blushing slightly while Applejack and Shining both stared in disbelief and 2nd hand embarrassment.

"Aww, look, she's having a lewd dream! SO CUTE!"

"Sorry but you wake up now!" I said as I violently plucked a guitar string making everypony even me cringe. Vinyl quickly awoke but she wasn't as peaceful as I expected her to be, she quickly jumped and grabbed my collar.

"I TOLD YOU TO PUT IT BACK IN!"

"PUT WHAT IN!?" I asked back quickly as I nearly lost my balance.

"YOUR…huh? It was dream…uh-"

She looked up at me with a huge blush as her mouth went wavy and I was left in silence with a pony not trying to cry from embarrassment. Applejack and Shining looked away awkwardly but Cadence appeared before us smiling widely as she got both our attention.

"Do you need some encouragement!?"

"Um…no thanks!" We both kindly exclaimed in unison, she pouted and gave the "suit yourself" eye roll. I looked down at Vinyl as she looked at Shining, Applejack, and Cadence before looking up at me.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, you fell asleep and you finally awoke," I answered her before she looked around again and shrinked.

"Did I talk in my sleep again? Did I!?" She asked coming from a new place in her head. I was really quick to spit out my defense.

"N-"

"YOU DID! YOU WERE SO CUTE!"

I closed my eyes as I took a deep breath to calm myself. Cadence was a very curious pony, with sense of privacy. Vinyl looked up at me before hyperventilating.

"Oh no! WHAT DID I SAY!?"

"NOTH-"

"Oh! You said you wanted a-MMFGGF!"

I quickly ran my hand over her muzzle and forced her quiet, she looked sternly at me and I did the same to her. Vinyl stared at me as I put up my best smile, she obviously wasn't convinced. Applejack moved behind me and Shining moved over to his princess and shook his head.

"You see this is what happened when you get too involved with others relationships," He lectured, Cadence frowned at him before accepting her mistake, and murmering out her apologies through my hand.

"What, did I say?" Vinyl asked again, although she was softer and calmed about it.

I looked at her and sighed as I let go of Cadences muzzle, Cadence didn't say anything to my surprise but she did smile a gentle smile. I lowered Vinyl down to the ground, I hadn't realized how numb my arm had become, so it wasn't surprising when it lifelessly hanged. I coughed out the dryness in my throat and placed my guitar tighter to my side.

"You pretty much said some lewd things and moaned out through it all," I informed in simplicity. To my surprise, she smirked towards the ground before looking up at me with a huge smile. I was lost, she was trying to hold back tears earlier and now she was gleaming at me with a smile, _what's_ _is up with that_?

"Heh, Lyra told me I've been doing it for the past few days, I guess it still happens…"

She wasn't at all regretting it, how? I don't know but she accepted that she does this often and was glad. I lifted a confused eyebrow and Applejack appeared beside me and imitated. She grinned with her embarrassment and giggled.

" _Will I ever understand mares…probably, but at least I could enjoy time with them,"_ I thought as Applejack shook her head in disbelief and grunted out a bit, out of every friend pony she was the only one who was the most serious behind Twilight and the princesses. I could understand her frustration but jealousy wasn't something to resort to. I looked up at the sky before seeing the sun about at noon, _time goes fast_!

"Hey, how about we go and see the rest, although I'm sure you two know them," I inquired as I placed the guitar up against my side and turning to Ponyville's direction.

"YEAH! NO! WAIT UP!" the couple yelled out halting me from moving a step in the direction of town.

"What is it?"

"There was two of you strong ponies…uh humans!"

"Oh, he's not a human," We all responded making them curiously stare.

"What? Then what is he?"

"DAMN IT TWILIGHT! OPEN UP!"

"NO!"

K rolled his eyes before lifting a fist behind his head but Dash quickly grabbed hold of his hand with her hooves and restrained him. He looked up at her and back at the door.

"COME ON, IF SHE WANTS TO BE ALONE THEN LET HER!"

"NO! SHE'S MAD ABOUT SOMETHING!" He exclaimed as he violently shook his hand making Dash dizzily fall off his hand and to the ground with a thud. K quickly turned to the door and banged a few more times.

"IS THIS ABOUT CHRYSALIS!? I JUST WANTED TO HELP HER OUT! SHE'S CUTE TOO, YA KNOW!"

No answer this time and K lost his patience, he gritted his teeth and placed his fingers to his head and held his hand out to the ponies that remained at his side; Lyra, Bonbon, Flutters, and Dash. K indicated with his hand before they grabbed on to his hand and held each other in a chain before the world when dim.

Everything was dark, no pony could see, and luckily for K, he wasn't a pony…or maybe he was slightly unlucky for that. All he could see in front of him was Twilight, extremely sweaty and aroused as she bit down on her pillow and moaned loudly. He was shocked for a few seconds before a grin appeared on him, she hadn't noticed him along with the ponies.

"Say…doesn't it smell odd in here?" K teased making Twilight shoot her eyes wide open and freeze. Dash and the rest did their best to look around but ended up tripping over each other in grunts.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Lyra claimed as she made her horn light up with magic and illuminate the room. K quickly lost his grin and ran a blanket over Twilight, and chuckled nervously as Lyra and the rest looked around and studied the area. K wasn't expecting them to illuminate the room, he had just intended to give Twilight a fright but it backfired, not completely though.

"Woah, were in Twilight's home!" Lyra joyfully yelled in rhythm as they looked around, Dash flew over to the windows and noticed the magic that surrounded them, Bonbon moved up to her and looked at the window as well.

"Looks like Twilight didn't want anypony looking in, weird," Bonbon clued as she studied the premise, Dash nodded suspiciously towards her before sniffing the lewd smells of the air.

"It does smell strange in here!"

Flutters stared at the lump formed by the blanket and tilted her head curiously as she placed a hoof on it, K glanced away from Dash and back at the blanket before seeing Flutters pull back on the blanket. It was all in slow motion for K as he quickly froze and turned away.

"Twilight? Are you okay?"

K slowly let his eyes glance back and study Flutters as she slowly observed Twilight, she was clueless as to what was happening for a few seconds before her eyes widened and she blushed strongly.

"GAH! Yup, you're fine! YOU'RE FINE!"

Twilight wasn't fine, tears formed around her eyes and she covered her eyes with her hooves, Flutters whimpered as she launched the blanket away and hugged the shit out of her friend.

"DON'T CRY! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!"

K smirked a bit as his worry became overrun with some crazy feeling of cuteness and he bit down his tongue. Dash and Bonbon quickly appeared by Flutters and stared worried sick as they tried to uncover what was happening. Lyra trotted happily minding her own as she studied the books and things around the house.

"WHAT'S WRONG FLUTTERSHY!?" Dash asked as she observed what was happening, obviously seeing the problem.

"TWILIGHT IS CRYING!"

"WHY!?" Bonbon asked ahead of Dash, also intrigued.

"SHE WAS PLAYING WITH HERSELF!"

K facepalmed himself. " _What a way to expose your friend!_ "

Twilight shook her head as she yelled out for everypony and demon to shut up, they did and they orderly lined themselves up in front of her even Lyra appeared out the nowhere. Twilight couldn't deal with whatever was going on and quickly dropped into her tears again, everypony/demon stared at her as they gave each other confused looks. K looked down at her and chuckled, the secret was out so it was fine to speak about her.

"Come on Twilight, there is nothing wrong with pleasing yourself!"

"THAT IS NOT IT!"

K rolled his eyes. "Then what is it!?"

"You wouldn't understand…"

"You don't know that!" K argued back.

Twilight bit her lower lip and slowly looked up at him, K lifted his eyebrows expecting an answer. She looked to her friends before looking down at the floor and whispering a few words.

"I'm in…heat…"

K let out his laughter and Twilight covered her eyes with her hooves, embarrassed and miserable.

"I knew you wouldn't understand! Why even bother!?"

K stopped his laughter and grinned down at her as he accepted the stern looks from the ponies by his side and made an excited fist.

"I understand! I was worried you were mad at me after the Chrysalis incident!"

Twilight widened her eyes as she looked up at him, K grinned back to confirm her question.

"You do?"

"Yup! But you shouldn't handle it by yourself!"

Twilight embarrassingly looked down and lifted herself off her bed, all the ponies stared at K and Twilight, some lost and others blushing. Twilight remained standing on her bed but was cautious of K's words.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, K chuckled as he began fading away and disappeared from Twilights sight. She quickly reached out a hoof towards him but he was gone.

"What the, COME BAC-"

INTENSE PONY ATTACK! *

Twilight shook away her confusion before looking up at Flutters, Twilight had been placed with her back to the bed and Flutters pinned her by the hooves.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked surprised and nervous.

Flutters gave her a toothy grin and lowered her mouth to her chest and gave her a lick that resulted in gasps from everypony. Twilight moaned her name softly and Flutters smiled lewdly and touched her own muzzle on Twilight's.

"I'll show you what I mean…" She whispered out as her eyes glowed a slight tint of red and her canines became sharper, Twilight stared at her speechless before Flutters turned to the rest behind her and smiled. "Don't worry, everypony here will be involved somehow…"

A demon indeed.


	30. Chapter 30 - Complicated Heat

#30

Cadence and Shining had taken turns asking everything about K and all three of us took turns answering back, in the end, Cadence was happily trotting in our direction but Shining remained skeptical, _not a big surprise._ He continued asking how I befriended a demon and why he was so _likable_ to us. The answer was simple, K was just one of those villains anyone/pony would love to have as a friend: he's fun to be around (not lying), he brightens spirits (maybe literally too), and he's a confirmed badass (sorta). Although Shining would have to see him for himself to really understand, one doesn't simply understand a demon from the start. He stopped asking when Applejack spoke up for K again but this time she was annoyed and would go mad if he asked again.

"NO MORE QUESTIONS!"

"Fine, but-"

"He's a demon, we know, but you gotta chill! He isn't as bad as his label says!" I cut him off being friendly about it too. He shook his head and stopped asking as he focused on walking by his mare's side. He sighed getting Cadence's attention. She turned to him and smiled reassuringly, a good thing she did because Shining was able to crack a smile back.

"Come on Shiny, you should be excited to meet him!"

Shining just sighed as he looked ahead.

"You don't understand my worry, a demon is a very dangerous creature, easily capable of overthrowing the mightiest of kingdoms!"

"But I can trust in what our friends say, you should too!"

He sighed again with a nod. "I guess I can,"

"That's the spirit!"

I stared at them from behind as I followed and listen closely to their conversation, Vinyl and Applejack did the same as they followed from both my sides.

"Ben, how did it feel to be in bed with Dash and Fluttershy?"

I skipped a step and bit down of my tongue to refuse answering like my ways would make me answer. I looked down at her and she looked up at me with a smile. Her smile was a sign that she didn't mind how I answer, which was reassuring.

"Uh, it was peaceful and strangely exciting,"

That wasn't the answer she was looking for, she cleared her throat and clarified the question. "Uh, I meant to ask how it felt when you "played around" if you catch my drift."

It was hard not to catch the drift when that was the question I heard in the beginning. I turned towards her and walked backward as I answered her. Applejack was also leaned in to hear out my response, she wasn't hiding her interest.

"I don't know how to explain it in simple terms, it's like doing something you know is wrong but you can't help but love it. The feeling is exciting and so full of pleasure that you can't control yourself," I quickly took a moment to see if I had either terrified my audience or excited them. Vinyl was staring at me with a huge excited look while Applejack did her best to not show interest but she didn't do it well.

"Can I ask you something?" Vinyl asked trotting a bit faster to keep up with my huge steps, I nodded my head before ducking my head to avoid hitting a branch. I some how managed to sense it, it made my head itch but I shrugged it off to respond to Vinyl's question.

"Sure."

She smiled just a bit wider before pulling up her shades. "Do I look pretty to you?"

I couldn't help but shiver, her eyes would make anyone/pony melt away. My mouth responded for me since I was forced into staring at those eyes. "Of course!"

"Then…can we?"

I shook away my daze, as I confronted her with my own question. "Uh…can we what?"

"You know!" She instantly exclaimed pulling Applejack and pressing her against her body with her magic. Applejack blushed strongly as she froze next to Vinyl's side and looked towards the ground embarrassed. Applejack wasn't denying, she instead guiltily accepted that she wanted what Vinyl wanted. As for me, I remained chill about it, in all honesty, somewhere in me, I was waiting for this and now I was prepared with an answer.

"If it's alright with you then sure!"

"We're fine, right AJ!?" Vinyl turned to Applejack and gave her a wink, Applejack was the exact opposite of what Vinyl was feeling right now; she was more embarrassed about it than excited. She looked away to the ground and up at me.

"Uh…s-sure," She responded returning her sight to the ground, I gave her a worried look, it was obvious she was not okay with it. I skipped gave another huge step backward before stopping on the spot. "You sure?"

She looked up at me again and bit her lower lip before shaking her head in denial, contradicting what she said eariler. "I don't know…I've never done this before!" That was what I was waiting to hear. Between her and Vinyl I could tell who had better reasoning and who would react more realistically to a situation.

Vinyl glanced a lifted eyebrow at her before she smiled reassuringly. "I haven't either!" Applejack returned with a frown, she wasn't playing around with her feelings but Vinyl was.

"Then why are you looking forward to it!?" She asked sternly. Vinyl mimicked her frown and gave her slight bump on the muzzle with her magic. Applejack quickly reached up a hoof to rub out the slight pain before she looked at Vinyl with the "what the fuck dude!?" look.

"Because it's Ben! I thought you trusted him!?"

"I-I do!"

"Then what's your problem!?"

"I've gone my entire life doing what I always do!-she gave a slight whimper as she glared something feirce at her-I never expected it to change so quickly to the point I'd fall in love with somepony! IT HURTS TO CHANGE LIFE IN SUCH A DIRECTION!"

There was a broken silence, it felt like the air was thick and we all connected with our feelings of hurt confusion. Applejack huffed out sternly before slowly dropping her anger as Vinyl stared at her like she'd been hurt *emotionally.

"I know…" She whispered out, putting Applejack in trembling silence. Vinyl's face had gone just like Applejack's; embarrassed and regretful.

This escalated so fast I was stunned into a terrifying silence, nothing was heard after those last words from Vinyl. Applejack and Vinyl stared at each other worried and panting heavily to recover their breaths. Now again, I'll admit, I fucked up. To see Applejack in tears again was the last thing I expected out of this day but here I was again and now Vinyl joined her as well, I have a strange habit of making others cry… _why?_

"I know-Vinyl whimpered and wiped a tear with her hoof-I know."

I could relate to them, I changed my life as well but I managed to put up with it, they can't. I looked up to the sky that could be seen through the trees and thought about my other friends; _do they feel the same way?_ I sighed and returned to the Vinyl and her watery eyes, she had hidden her true feelings with her act of not being embarrassed and she began the act when I had her in my arms. Now I had to suffer looking at those eyes of hers yell out for help while I stand there idol, feeling guilty. Fortunately, I'm about an optimistic guy; I'd bring joy when I can.

"Life should be enjoyed with friends, family, and lived to the fullest," I lectured looking down at them. They looked at me worried and quickly tried to stop me from speaking but I refused to let them stop me.

"I'll say this once, remember it for as long as you can-they gave me their attention-nothing changes until you make it happen," I turned behind me and looked at the two royals as they stared at me with worried looks. I nodded and sighed before looking at Applejack and Vinyl both dumbfounded and deeply scarred with my message. _They will remember, I promise you that._

They both couldn't respond, they had no words to describe what they felt or what they heard. After a few seconds of thinking about it Applejack seemed to finally get it as she wiped away a tear and nodded slightly, after that, Vinyl joined in, she smiled and placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder.

"That's what friends are for!"

"I know…" Applejack smiled back before she turned to me and nodded correcting the position of her hat and chuckling. "And you're right, let's see what this madness comes to!"

"Right!" Vinyl answered happily. I smiled and mentally agreed with what they said before turning back to the royal couple.

"Are you guys coming!?"

I chuckled as I fully turned my body towards them, and Vinyl and Applejack smirked as they nodded.

"Yeah!"

Twilight remained looking into those red demonic eyes that replaced her friend's. Dash and the rest stared in shock and disbelief as they surrounded both of them. K had possessed Flutter's body and even passed his own demonic soul into hers resulting in a strange miniature transformation from normal-cute Pegasus to demonic Alicorn.

"So how do you want it?" Flutters asked as she gave her a grin. Twilight shivered a bit as she looked away and refused to give eye contact.

"I don't!" She exclaimed trying to use her magic to push her off but Flutter's new magic easily overpowered hers and put her down. Flutters frowned as she forced her down with her magic. "I thought you said you were in heat!?"

Twilight looked up at her and trembled; she was dead terrified of this new Fluttershy. "I am! But I can't do this!"

Flutters gave a disappointed sigh as she lifted herself off of Twilight and retracted herself to the edge of the bed. Twilight remained in shock as she hugged tightly onto the pillow next to her; she was pondering everything that was going on. Flutters grinned as she studied Twilight rock back and forth with the pillow between her legs and pant heavily.

K had the right and wrong idea about what to do but he didn't care as long as both ended up with the same outcome.

" _Maybe some motivation! Now, who to help me?"_ K thought as he looked around the bed to see all the possibilities, such a variety was exciting for him. He studied the room until he finally aimed Flutter's hoof out at who he wanted.

"Hey, Dash!"

She yelped out terrified. "Eh, me?"

"Yeah, come here!" Flutters excitedly called over but Dash was obviously skeptical about Flutters, she lifted her hooves into the air and backed away. Flutter's horn glowed slightly as Dash tried to come up with excuses.

"But, but, but-"

poof*

Dash appeared right beside Flutters, she looked around herself rapidly before looking at Flutters grinning towards her. Flutters threw a friendly wave into the air and Dash returned it nervously.

"Hey there Dashie!"

"Uh…hi…Fluttershy-"

Flutters giggled as she leaned in closer to Dash's ear and whispered, "You'll enjoy this, I promise." She bit down on her ear, resulting shivers going down her spine and a slight yelp. Flutters let her ear go and placed her two hooves on Dash's shoulders and smiled.

"Let's help Twilight get over her heat…"

"What are-!"

Before Dash could ask why Flutters was getting so close to her face, her mouth was filled with Flutter's tongue. Her eyes shot wide open as her body became useless and she let herself be overpowered by the sudden act. Dash couldn't tell what was happening but it was obvious she was enjoying it. After a few seconds, Dash's eyes slowly began to close as she joined in on what Flutters was doing, there's something about tongue that hypnotized ponies. Twilight looked at them as she clenched her teeth tightly and her hind hooves twitched and gave slight kicks.

"Why? Why are you doing this!?" Twilight asked desperately as she let herself go on all fours and take a slight movement towards them. Flutters quickly sensed her movements and slightly parted from Dash's mouth exposing both their tongues circulating around each other; steam and saliva all over. Twilight continued trembling as she slowly and slowly neared them, she panted heavily as she begged for them to stop.

A smile slowly and creepily emerged on Lyra's face as she placed her hooves on the edge of the bed before climbing on. Without a second thought, she quickly used her magic on Bonbon and levitated her onto the bed. Bonbon looked around herself before looking at Lyra, questions boiling inside her.

"Lyra! What are you-!"

Lyra quickly placed her muzzle on Bonbon's and giggled. Bonbon smiled nervously back as Lyra hushed her.

"Shh…lets join in."

"Wha-!"

She was silenced by the Lyra placing lips on her, Bonbon reacted the same way Dash did; completely motionless. Twilight quickly looked between both groups before clutching her pillow tighter and whining a bit as she began feeling pity for herself. Slowly and slowly, Twilight began slowly losing herself as she shook and whimpered out at them. Flutters opened her eyes and looked towards Twilight before parting from Dash's tongue leaving Dash asking what was wrong. Flutters giggled as she used her hoof to indicate Twilight whimpering softly.

"Let's not forget who we're doing this for,"

"Oh, right…"

Twilight felt movement around her and quickly shot her eyes open to spot Flutters and Dash on either side of her; Flutters smiling widely while Dash blushing strongly from the other.

"Hey there, looks like you need a hoof!" Flutters giggled showing her hoof off. Twilight quickly looked around herself quickly, darting her eyes between Dash and Flutters.

"I…I…HEY!"

Flutters quickly rushed a hoof between her legs and flipped her over with her back to the bed, Twilight quickly looked up towards Dash and Flutters towering over. Flutters made her way to the end of Twilight's legs and Dash made her way to her upper body. Dash was slightly into what she was doing and had enough lust to enjoy the moment.

" _Now, how to begin…any ideas Flutters?"_ K mentally asked Flutters but quickly regretted it by the instant reaction.

" _GIVE ME MY BODY BACK!_ "

" _WHY!?_ "

" _LOOK AT ME! I LOOK LIKE A-A…A!_ "

" _Nah, you look like a hot little beast! Who doesn't love a lewd demon pony!?_ "

" _Don't say things like that!_ "

" _Geez, you'll get your body back! But, for now…*sinister chuckles*_ "

" _K? NO! BAD K! STOP THAT!_ "

Flutters began slowly licking her hoof and moistening it, preparing it for some action. Twilight stared at Dash's love tunnel as Dash slowly lowered herself onto her mouth. Twilight remained still for the first second but after that she became desperate and let out a whimper as she quickly lifted her head and sank her lips onto Dash's nether lips, resulting in a quick cry from Dash.

" _You see, Dash and Twilight are in the right direction,_ " K chuckled forcing Flutters to look despite her not wanting to.

" _I…I can see that…_ "

" _And look at Lyra and Bonbon going sixty-nine over there!_ "

" _I know…I know…_ "Flutters voice was more depressed than usual quickly making K's mind become focused on her feelings, being inside her body allowed him to share her feelings and thoughts, which were usually full of animals and flowers. Now her mind only showed a lewd fantasy. K wasn't stupid when it came to comprehending others, although he might act like it.

" _Oh…I see what's going on! You feel left out!_ " He mentally stated making Flutters hic as she tried to answer back with denial. " _That's-_ "

" _Why didn't you say something!? I guess you figure it out, here you go!_ " K quickly interrupted as he slowly gave Flutters control of her body, but only to have the control thrown back at him.

" _WAIT! What about you?_ "Flutters asked worried about messing up K's chances, but K really never had any intentions of using his own physical body for now, he had somepony in mind for that." _I'm saving myself for somepony or change-thing!_ "He proudly claimed giving her back her body, this time not having it shot right back at him, and now Flutters had reverted back into her pegasi self.

" _For a demon, it's strange that you honor your principles,_ " Flutters returned tersely, K wanted to shake his head but it wasn't possible in the state he's in. " _Don't get the wrong idea, I'm just trying to make her a little for cheerful after what happened last night, I thought maybe this might make up for it."_

Flutters giggled a bit before sighing disappointingly.

" _But how can you just sit back and watch?_ "

" _Simple, I won't!_ "

Flutters quickly reacted in a casually confused way. _"What?"_

" _You'll see…_ " K ending in faint chuckles as his voice fell back and disappeared into a distance, leaving Flutters to quickly zone into her body and appear before Twilight and Dash. Her mind slowly came to the realization that Twilight was waiting for her to make a move. As expected from somepony as nervous as her, she wasn't as lustful as the rest. She remained staring into Twilight's secret, stunned and unmotivated to do anything.

" _Here comes the K magic,_ " K chuckled.

Flutters was interrupted from asking what K meant by her hoof shoving itself between her legs and her mouth being forced onto Twilight's temple. Flutters wasn't in control of her body but she could clearly feel her mouth warming and drooling a mess with Twilight as her own hoof toyed with her down below. K has assumed direct control of her body while she experienced all the pleasure herself. Twilight moaned out in pleasure as Flutter's tongue began having its own fun and Flutters drove her hoof in deeper into herself.

"Flutter…shy, your tongue…is so warm," Twilight murmured through Dash's crotch, Dash quickly yelped and fanned her wings out in pleasure as she forced Twilight's tongue in deeper with her hip movements.

"Yours too Twilight!"

Over by Lyra's side of the bed, Bonbon covered her mouth from squealing out in ecstasy while Lyra drove her horn into Bonbon's tunnel. Lyra moaned out in pleasure with every thrust she gave as Bonbon soaked everything around her with her drool and love juices. What was a 69 had become Lyra with her chest to the bed while Bonbon mounted and rode her horn and head like crazed cowpony.

"I won't…forgive you…Lyra…ha! What will they think of us!?"

Lyra clenched her teeth as she quickly pulled out of Bonbon, and panted heavily as she placed her hooves on the bed and looked at Bonbon who stared back the same way. Bonbon quickly looked down at her snatch before seeing the oozing fluids and giggling to herself.

"What "will" they think-"

Without warning, Lyra tackled Bonbon down with her lips on hers and with her hoof teasing Bonbon's lower lips. By instinct, Bonbon returned the favor and did the same with her hoof. Once they both couldn't breathe through their moans, they parted their mouths and panted heavily.

"Wanna see a magic trick…?" Lyra giggled forcing Bonbon into a worried laugh.

"You're not the pony to make magic tricks…"

"He-he, you'll love this one!"

Lyra really wasn't one to give magic tricks but when she said she would, she was going to show you something. Lyra slowly made herself below Bonbon's crotch and bent her hoof back in a striking pose (Literally), resulting in a quick resistance from Bonbon as she tried to move away terrified out of her mind but Lyra's magic held her in place.

"LYRA NO-!"

Bonbon lifted her back off the bed with a hoof out towards Lyra to stop her but it was too late to stop her, she forced her whole hoof into her and she yelped terrified. She cringed as she tried to resist the immediate climax but failed obviously to Lyra's powerful move. She moaned and cried out in pain and pleasure as she trembled and fell nearly lifeless onto the bed.

"Ta…da," Lyra giggled as she slowly slid her hoof out and left Bonbon tearing up and moaning as the aftermath continued. Lyra smiled widely while Bonbon was unresponsive but she was clearly in a lustful pain. After a few seconds of Bonbon being paralyzed, she regained her ability to move and looked over at Lyra with a frown.

"THAT WAS…THE WRONG HOLE!"

"He-he, I wouldn't want to ruin your chances with a stallion, now would I?"

"I guess so…BUT IT HURT! I'VE BEEN SODOMIZED!"

"Like I said, you wouldn't want to ruin your chances with a stallion,"

"Who said it was a stallion?!"

Lyra gave her a "You don't say" grin and Bonbon went silent as she let herself fall onto the bed; she was out cold. Lyra giggled as she placed herself next to her to fallen friend and snuggled in with her, whispering out a few things before resting. "I wonder how we ever changed so quickly, darn it, Ben…and your dang demon friend."

K wasn't in control anymore but it still seemed like he was; Flutters had found her rhythm and continued without K. In fact, K sat on a chair in the corner of the room admiring the sounds of a pony threesome, a smile across his face and a cupcake in his hand and his eyes gently closed. No telling how the hell he got that pastry but he was as happy as the three a few feet away from him were. He sat and thought, enjoying every bite with every moan they let out.

" _What does Chrysalis taste like? -_ He crossed a leg and ignored the moans and thought deeper- _Maybe like an egg? Nah, more like a cupcake, VANILLA FROSTING INCLUDED!_ " K was something else, truly. He pondered it more before hearing the final shrieks of Twilight, Dash, and Flutters, he didn't open his eyes but they twitched as he tried to maintain his thoughts. Within seconds, Twilight, Dash, and Flutters all were on their backs, panting heavily, wings spread across the bed, and each showing their own feelings.

Heavy panting*

"WHAT WILL CELESTIA THINK OF ME!?" Twilight cried out covering her face with her hooves and shaking in denial.

"I don't know, but that was breathtaking!" Dash giggled with a satisfied smile forcing K to crack open an eye and eavesdrop.

"Yeah…" Flutters shyly responded avoiding eye contact, K suddenly cracked his other eye open with a frown as he lost concentration on what flavor Chrysalis would taste like. He lifted himself off the chair and moved over the five in front of him, they quickly moved their heads to him except the snoozing ones. K slowly morphed his frown into a smile, making the awoken three to stare back embarrassed and curious.

"Had fun?"

They quickly shut their legs tightly and looked away a bit ashamed, there's something between male presence and mare presence that just makes someone/pony react like that. K expected this response and chuckled, they didn't react with his enjoyment but they did bury their heads into the spongy mattress.

"Aw come on! I know you had to have felt something!"

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Twilight frowned towards him except Flutters and Dash who instead remained embarrassed. Now, this he didn't expect.

"What!?"

"You made Fluttershy seduce us, how could you!?" Twilight argued, K was flabbergasted, never did he expect an argument; a thank you was all he wanted right now.

"The hell? I thought you wanted to relieve yourself!?"

"But you didn't have to do it like that!" She continued, K frowned as he argued back.

"Yes, I did! The naughtier the better! Damn it, at least a "thank you" would have been acceptable!"

They argued a good thirty seconds before Dash looked over to Flutters and tilted her head curiously.

"Speaking of Fluttershy, look!" Dash interrupted.

"What?" K and Twilight gave Flutters their full attention. Flutters was still looking like she did when K possessed her but he wasn't possessing her now forcing K and Twilight at her in shock. Flutters tilted her head curiously and inquired about what was going on but she only expressed her sharpened canines to Twilight and her red demonic glowing eyes. Twilight glanced at K and noticed the similarities connect, same teeth and eyes, Flutters was now a demon Alicorn.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER!?" Twilight yelled out as she threw K towards her with her magic, K staring at her with about as much confusion as she had.

"LIKE I KNOW! I JUST TRIED TO HELP!"

"THE ELEMENT OF KINDNESS IS NOW A DEMON!"

"I KNOW!" K yelled back.

"STOP FIGHTING YOU TWO!" Dash screamed at the top of her lungs startling Bonbon and Lyra.

"WHAT'S THE SCREAMING ABOUT!?" Lyra joined in.

"YEAH!" Bonbon agreed.

Flutters was stunned into silence, she couldn't understand what the problem was, she felt fine but she was clueless about what was going on. Twilight managed to pull K down to her face and sternly ask for him to turn her back, K nodded and gave a soldier salute as he threw himself over to Flutters side of the bed and turned Flutters to face him. In seconds Bonbon and Lyra gasped as they noticed what the whole argument was about. Flutters worryingly stared into K's nervous eyes as he tried to find out what to do, he was as lost as Flutters.

"Uh…is something wrong?" Flutters asked giving a slight hiss at the end of her question; she didn't realize she hissed but everypony and K did.

"Uh, yeah, sorta, do you feel strange?" K asked making Flutters tilt her head again.

"No…what's going on?"

"Stick your tongue out," K demanded forcing Flutters to cover her mouth with her hooves before lowering them and asking embarrassingly.

"What?"

"Do it!" K demanded again a bit more regretfully.

"Okay…" she quickly looked at her muzzle, in a few seconds, a long snake-like tongue stretched out forcing her to cover mouth and stare at K shocked out of her mind. K nodded his head with a worried smile that didn't help out Flutter's stress.

"My tongue is…- she licked one of her canines- My teeth are…"

"I know!" K said with a hand on her as he tried to think of what to do. He coughed out his worry before scratching his head.

"At least you're an Alicorn again *nervous chuckles*"

Flutter placed her hooves on K's shirt and pulled him in closer to her, K just too scared to move; out of everypony in Ponyville only she would be able to frighten him.

"Woah, easy there!"

"K, please! What will everypony think!?" Flutters pleaded. K put his hands up in mercy as he tried to calm her. She wasn't mad but still, it was that relationship that someone/pony might end up hurt; it was K on the line here though.

"Okay calm down! I need to think!"

He shut his eyes tightly and sat down next to Flutters to think but it would only last a few seconds before a weird warm breeze blew in the home forcing K to widen his eyes and cut his breath short.

"K?" Flutters asked worried about K's expression.

K trembled as he turned his head to the right and noticed a floating orb…two of them. K shook his head as he let out one whimper. "no…"

In seconds two bright flashes of lights filled the room and two voices arguing emerged.

"YOU SEE I TOLD YOU THERE WAS ANOTHER ALICORN! LIKE YESTERDAY!"

"Okay, calm down, Let's just-

"So, the princesses are fine with his presence?" Shining asked again, making Applejack finally blow her boiling anger. I covered my ears in caution and Vinyl whipped out these sick headphones that made me lift an eyebrow and gawk at them, _THE HELL DID THOSE COME FROM!?_

"FOR THE TWENTIETH TIME! THEY-"

"HOLY SHIT! SOMEONE SAVE ME!" K's voice emerged from the distance but his voice was so loud it penetrated my hands and entered my ears; he screamed the most terrified plea for help I'd ever heard from him. Vinyl launched her headphones off and I lowered my hands quickly, Applejack and the rest quickly looked over to the direction of Ponyville.

"What the!? Was that K!?" Vinyl exclaimed as I quickly made a few sprints before turning to them. If I knew this was the most terrified yell I'd ever heard then I had something to run towards and I wasn't going to waste time.

"It was! LET'S GO!"


	31. Chapter 31 - The Queen Is Returning

#31

We made it to Twilight's house in the blink of an eye using Cadence's teleportation magic. There we stood at the doorstep with half of Ponyville behind us concerned and curious. I had to stop myself from barging in since the door was locked and my leg was already ready to kick in the door.

"That's not a good idea," Vinyl quickly stated. I lowered my leg and nodded.

"I know-"

"ACCURSED PRINCESS OF THE DAMN SUN, GET OFF ME!"

"The hell?" I whispered turning to the door. Shining stared curiously at the door before tugging on my shirt with his magic.

"Is that your demon?" He asked a bit surprised and amused by K's cries for help.

"Yeah, sounds like he got on Celestia's bad side again-I ran my two fingers up to my forehead, knelt down and reached out a hand to the ones by my side-Come on! Grab on!"

"Oh yeah!" Vinyl excitedly yelled as she placed her hoof on my arm and I grabbed it firmly.

"Right behind ya partner!" Applejack quickly placed her hoof on Vinyl's hoof and reached out a hoof to the Royals. They stared at her hoof before Cadence happily took it and reached out her hoof to Shining.

"Come on Shiny!"

Shining had no choice but to grab hooves with his mare. He nodded towards me indicating me to do whatever he expected me to do. I nodded back as I quickly focused on K's energy; it was simple to find him considering he was inside the home next to me.

"Let's go!"

We appeared inside of Twilights home, but we had no time to gawk at Twilight's furniture since K was thrown against the bed with Celestia on top of him as all the ponies tried to pull her off of him. I quickly took a step in their direction only to be stopped by what looked like Flutters but everything was off about her; her red eyes, sharp teeth, pointy bat-like ears, and bat-like wings.

" _What the fuck is this?"_ I thought as I studied Flutters, I was a bit more curious than I was supposed to be and completely ignored K for the moment but not for long. I was lost and needed answers so I quickly reached my arm out to the ponies and stallion by my side and hushed them to avoid detection and led them behind a pile of books that was thankfully large enough to be a shield for all of us. We all made it behind there undetected but they were all stern with me as they silently argued with me about what I was doing. I hushed them again.

"Listen, I need answers. Did you see Flutters?" I whispered making them all peer over the books and quickly return back down with widened eyes. They quickly looked over to me and I nodded back to their looks. Flutters wasn't looking like her average self.

"What was that!? Fluttershy looks like a…" Vinyl excitedly whispered out with an amazed smile making Applejack sternly agree with her in a whisper. "Ya darn right! She's looks somethin' for sure!"

Shining quickly stomped a hoof getting their attention as well as mine and Cadence's.

"She's a demon now! Can't you sense it!?" He quickly revealed making Vinyl, me, and Applejack exchange looks between each other before we all facepalmed/facehoofed each other.

"K!" All three of us whispered in unison as we shook our heads in the realization that we should have guessed it. Shining made his "A-HA!" look as if he'd known he was right about K; he obviously was wrong though.

"I told you he was trouble!"

"Shut it! Ya still haven't met him!" Applejack shushed him for me, I would've been a bit more cynical about it. Shining frowned before sighing and shaking away the negative vibes he was getting. K's cries for help could still be heard in the background but we remained focused on our little group.

"Okay, we're gonna save K and find out what the hell is going on, got it?"

"Right!"

I quickly stood up from my crouched position behind the books and stared at Luna who quickly caught on to me and remained still in shock. I turned to K who was about as stiff as the guitar I had on my back as he refused to move but Celestia made it hard for him with all her cursing. I breathed in deeply and frowned towards Celestia.

"HEY! GET OFF HIM!" I shouted loudly making everypony and K turn to me all stunned and shocked. Celestia's fire-like aura disappeared instantly when her eyes caught up with me, and K waved his hand towards me as he wiped away a bead of sweat from his cheek.

"Wha-BEN!?" Celestia called me out, I nodded as I grinned and raised my arm excitedly.

"YA! I'm back again! Nice to see you two again too!" I enthusiastically greeted them. I must have had some effect because Celestia immediately lost her offense and looked down at K before hopping right off him but not before giving him the badass "I'll be back" look. K gave her his own look of worry; the "I'm sorry" look.

I opened my mouth to begin asking "what the hell was going on?" but I was cut short by a quick embrace by those dark hooves. I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I looked to my side see Luna giving me those pony hugs where they stand on their hind legs and make you want to hide away the embarrassment.

"Woah, hey there!" I greeted with a smile. She looked up at me and smiled back, her eyes seem to reflect even in this dark lit room. I couldn't hide my joy, her smile and eyes made me want to cry with joy (geez I sure wish I could).

"I missed you!" She happily exclaimed embracing me tighter. I chuckled as I placed my hand down to her mane and stroked it, _here we go again with this strange but addictive action_.

"But it's only been a day and a half!" I claimed making her shake her head in denial and confront me with her huge eyes; now that I look into them better, they're the biggest I've ever seen from her.

"It doesn't matter!"

"I guess it doesn't, I missed you too," I chuckled, this was probably the most realistic use of my famous chuckle; I was actually feeling a joy burning inside me, damn does it feel good too! She smiled back as she tightened her embrace before letting herself go onto the floor; I wish she'd hug me for a bit longer but I can't be too greedy. I quickly turned to Celestia, then K, then the ponies, and then Flutters. I aimed a finger as I connected the events.

"So, what's going on here? I see a demon Fluttershy, Celestia was attacking K, and everypony here is about as sweaty as the ones outside…and why does it smell so…moist?" I asked Luna, she quickly gave me a shrug and clued me in that both of them had barely gotten here and that they just found everything like this. I cocked an eyebrow as I inquired about Flutters. K quickly sat up on the bed and rose a hand up in the air like I use to in school.

"I can answer what happened before I got assaulted!"

I nodded and agreed with K before turning behind me and noticing the absence of most of my company; I turned to the pile of books before calling them out one by one with my arms crossed across my chest. As I called out each name (starting with Vinyl and Applejack then the royals) all the rest behind me repeated every name I said.

"SHINING AND CADENCE!?" Everypony cried out as both Shining and Cadence emerged followed by Applejack and Vinyl; each one of them waving happily and nervously.

"SHINY AND CADENCE!?" Twilight cried out as she quickly hid under a blanket and shivered. I smiled a bit as her antic considering this was her brother, maybe she just wanted to be funny or something.

"Um, hi y'all!" Applejack cheerfully greeted along with Vinyl.

"Hello there!" Cadence and Shining professionally greeted making me lift an eyebrow at how professional Cadence was compared to before.

Celestia and Luna quickly greeted back respectfully and along with the rest of the ponies on the bed. They all gave their greetings but when Shining allowed himself to be seen in full K's cheerful greeting fell and he slowly grew excited as Shining made his way to him.

"So, you're the demon?"

"Yeah! The name's K!" K introduced himself with a smug look. Shining dodged an eyebrow.

"You have a name?"

K nodded as if treating Shining as a mentally _slow_ pony.

"Well, I did just say my name's K,"

"Okay…you're an odd one…is this really a demon?"

"Ya, ask your sister if you don't believe me, I promise she'd answer _truthfully_ won't ya…"

"WHAT!?" We all responded in unison, that being me, Celestia, Luna, Applejack, Vinyl and most importantly Shining, who was of course highly intrigued and terrified about what he meant. I pondered how the hell he found out about Shining and Twilight, he wasn't there, but then Shining bared an unexplainable similarity to Twilight. Shining took another step towards K and K gleamed down on him with his toothy grin.

"What does that mean!?" Shining asked hoping to not have heard right but K remained silent as everypony began getting riled up.

"Yes, elaborate on what you mean K!" Celestia exclaimed sternly. K shrugged as he made them guess but Shining wasn't having that game being played with him, he stomped a hoof on the floor and asked once more but this time with some deep anger. K chuckled, he wasn't at all moved, he placed his hand to his side over the blanket where Twilight had hidden and lifted off of Twilight revealing her with her eyes wide-open in terror.

Shining almost immediately lost his anger as he went soft and stared at Twilight's shivering body. "Twily?"

"S-Shining!?" Twilight yelled back as she hid behind K and peered through the side, a new blush was there and the shivering didn't cease.

As for why she was shaking, I had no clue but K's wide grin filled in some gaps and connected the puzzle; the smell, the sweaty ponies and lastly, K's over teasing act. I wanted to chuckle a bit but my feelings restrained me from doing so, this was the story of the over-protective brother, his innocent sister, and the one guy the brother doesn't like; _I never did see how this story ended though._ I would've just ended the yearn to smile but K just wasn't going easy on Shining; he reached behind himself and grabbed Twilight, setting her on his lap as if he was about to tell a story to a child.

"What are you doing!?" Shining asked worried and in an offensive stance; he still hasn't gotten used to the fact that K was a demon and that he was just getting messed with by K. Twilight looked up to K and Shining before she threw a hoof to Shining and stopped him from being violent, she must have noticed K's widening grin.

"Listen to her, she knows the fraction of what I can do," K teased and annoyed Shining. I would try to stop K from getting out of hand but that never worked, all I could do was warn Shining but then he was too ignorant to even try to convince. I kept my mouth shut hoping for something to happen and it did. Twilight quickly responded again to Shining's eye twitches.

"Please! He isn't a bad demon, he's just a bit crazy at times!"

K rolled his eyes as he whispered something into Twilight's ear forcing her to elbow him in the stomach.

"Aye! You're the one who needed it though!"

"Stop it, please K! This is my brother!"

"And? He probably does it to that cute pink one!"

"No…well…that isn't the point!"

I neared them closer like everypony did and listened in, of course, I already knew but Shining was clueless towards this. To add on to the parade of ponies who knew, Celestia and Luna looking away from Shining revealed their thoughts, Vinyl and Applejack's blushes also gave them away, and Cadence didn't even need an explanation.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO TALKING ABOUT!?" Shining lashed out making Twilight nervously turn to him and shake her head and constantly saying "no" over and over. K looked down at Twilight on his lap and smiled widely as he rustled her mane playfully and Twilight came back with another elbow. Shining noticed their play and turned to Cadence quickly and then the Princesses and then me in utter shock. Cadence quickly leaned her head down low to him and whispered something to him that quickly made his shock go into anger.

"Are you telling me…he-"

"Hey, I said he's a demon, not an angel!" I responded on K's behalf. Shining looked down at the floor for a few seconds before coming right up and confronting K with a stern look. K quickly grabbed Twilight's head and made it turn towards her brother; she nervously giggled and K grinned again.

"So, you managed to put my sister in bed with you?"

"Shit, I wish! I actually put her in bed with her and her!" K signaled both Flutters and Dash, they immediately got everyponies' and my attention. They smiled nervously as they used their wings to cover themselves up. I wouldn't feel pissed or angered if he'd enjoyed himself, that is something that is hard to feel when around K, I would be mad originally but hell, this is probably the most relatable guy I got, I can endure some friendly fire.

"Wait so you didn't?"

"I guess it's story time again!"

"NO! YOU AREN'T SAYING A THING!" Twilight, Dash, and Bonbon quickly denied K access to speak out; Flutters and Lyra remained silent behind K and just listened in, Lyra with a huge smile while Flutters was drowning in embarrassment.

"Oh yes, I am! And everypony, stallion, and Ben know it's that time of the year!"

Twi, Bonbon, and Dash turned to me even Flutters and Lyra. I gave them a smile and a shrug, I knew about it and I was glad I did since it gave me a good reason to hear out the story K wanted to let out. All three around K allowed him to continue while Flutters studied the snake-like tongue that she allowed to enter and exit her mouth between her lips _Damn, she's cute no matter what she looks like._

K gently moved Twilight off his lap and placed her down on the bed and waved goodbye to everypony and me before disappearing into nothing. Shining was the first to actually react to this then followed by Cadence then by me.

"He got away!"

"More like he disappeared!"

"You'll see…" I advised as I awaited K's return. Both of them turned to me before looking at the bed again but this time Flutters moved to the edge of the bed and introduced herself or should I say, K introduced himself.

"Maybe now you get a better idea, don't you?" Flutters asked as she grinned widely. Not only was Shining and Cadence surprised but Celestia and Luna were also shocked by K's new reveal. I smiled at such an entrance from K, he knew how to make the most of it.

"You-you took over her body!?" Shining asked with Cadence nodding her head, Flutters giggled as she moved Twilight to her with her magic, which again made Shining, Cadence, Celestia, and Luna gasp with shock. Twilight exchanged worried looks between Flutters and everypony and me.

"AND SHE'S AN ALICORN!?" Celestia, Cadence, Shining, and Luna yelled out.

"Ya! A demon Alicorn!" Flutters excitedly explained.

"A demon Alicorn?! That's-THAT'S INSANE!" Celestia exclaimed, nearly with no sanity.

"Well, when Ben was controlling Flutters, she became an Alicorn too, right Ben!?" Flutters called me out from the crowd.

They all turned to me, I smiled and chuckled a bit as I nodded my head in agreement. Now that K mentioned it, I finally managed to piece it together; if I controlled Flutters, she becomes an Alicorn but if K controls her she becomes a demon Alicorn, _somewhat made sense_. I guess that was another question answered, all that remained was why K was inside Flutter's body but that question was just dumb to ask as of right now; I knew what happened and K is a bit creative at times, so it answered itself.

"Yeah, it's true, but she wasn't a demon Alicorn though, she was like Twilight." I stated aiming a finger at Twilight.

"WAIT A MINUTE! ARE YOU SAYING YOU CAN TURN PONIES INTO ALICORNS BY JUST GETTING INSIDE THEM!?" Celestia asked in disbelief. Luna nodded in agreement with Celestia's question and Shining and Cadence did the same.

"Well, it's more like I combine my soul with the pony, then I can easily switch bodies or take over…if I were to move into a body that doesn't contain part of my demon soul, I might either get trapped inside or risk having the pony turning into a "demonic" demon. This goes for Ben too," K explained. I stared at him with one question in mind, I understood the rest but this really lingered in my mind; " _How does Flutters have a piece of his demon soul in her?_ "

Celestia and Luna glanced at each other, their mouths dropped wide open like Shining and Cadence's. Celestia quickly shook away her shock and asked the question that ripped the word right out of my mouth.

"But if your soul is needed for this process, how did she get it inside her?!"

Flutters became a bit serious about this question and looked away to a curtain that glowed with the outside sun. I lifted my head high to hear out her response, everypony was fully giving her their attention.

"I gave her part of it…"

"WHAT!?" Celestia exclaimed once more before Luna looked up at Flutters and gave her own argument. "But Fluttershy is pure of heart and kind, she can't have part demon soul inside her…wait– _she paused as her eyes widened a bit more and she aimed her beady eyes at Flutters_ -if she has your soul inside her, does that mean you're…"

"Yeah, I'm her demon as well, not bad huh?"

We all gasped even I joined in, I didn't draw out this conclusion nor did anypony. I still had one more question in regards to what K did.

"So, if I have some of your soul in me, Flutters too, and you…does that mean we're some how connected?"

Flutters jerked her head a bit before turning to me with a huge smile; for a second I believed I was seeing Flutters again but it was still K. She giggled a bit before answering.

"Yeah, but I won't explain the benefits of what we can do…I got my reasons,"

I stared at my hand and wiggled my fingers, I was astonished by the fact that we three have some connection. Celestia quickly ripped out another set of words from my mouth before I could ask.

"Then where is Fluttershy right now?"

"You wanna see?" Flutters grinned making Celestia frown a bit as she answered demandingly.

"Of course!"

Flutters quickly rose her head and the horn at the peak of her head glowed a dark color before a small smoke cloud appeared; blinding us for a few seconds. Everypony exclaimed their annoyance with the dark cloud. I wafted my hand, removing the smoke that blinded me before catching a glimpse of what appeared to be K but there was something strange about him… _HIS EYES WERE GREEN_! I quickly resorted to using some energy and swung my hand through the smoke; it disappeared into nothing. By the time the smoke cleared K's body was on the floor and he sat down using his hands to balance himself out.

"There's Flutters." Flutters said aiming a hoof at K. I stared at K as I tried to comprehend it all; Fluttershy was now inside K and K inside Flutters; it wasn't that confusing just a bit hard to accept seeing Flutters in K's body.

For your sake, I'll be using their real names now*

"FLUTTERSHY?!" Everypony/stallion exclaimed getting Flutter's (Flutters inside K's body) attention. She looked up at us and pondered our looks of astonishment as she tilted her head like she usually would in her body.

"Am I back to my normal-" She couldn't finish her sentence, she quickly put her new hands over her mouth before looking at her hands and stuttering over her words. "W-what is this!?" Her voice was now K's voice too. I was as shocked as everypony was but I was still able to move unlike them. I moved over to her and offered my hand out to pick her up onto her new feet; this was intense, to say the least. K (inside Flutter's body) stared at me with an evil smile going about with his new pony look.

"Come on, let's see if you can stand," I offered. She looked up at my hand and looked at her own for a few seconds before reaching out and placing her hand on mine. She slowly closed each finger curiously around my hand. I gripped her hand making her grip tighter in response, _it felt kinda satisfying for her to respond like that_.

"T-thanks…"

I pulled her up, being careful about it since this is still Flutters. She managed to balance out on both feet. She wobbled for the first few seconds before she stomped a foot firmly and managed to get a full feel for both her feet; a tiny smile of amazement appeared.

"Woah, I gotta say, I'm quite the handsome one with green eyes!" K (Inside of Flutter's body) complimented looking at his body making Flutters nervously chuckle as she unwillingly thanked him. K smiled widely back as he picked himself off the bed and hopped down, he made his way to us and smirked.

"Flutters can do more than just use my body, she can also conjure magic too, cool right!?"

"I-I can?" Flutters asked clutching her hands to her chest insecurely. K nodded proudly as he aimed a hoof towards her and explained how to do so.

"Yeah, just reach out your hand and concentrate on making magic! SIMPLE!"

Flutters looked at her hands and aimed one out in front of her, she trembled a bit as she held her hand out, palm facing the ceiling.

"Okay…" She closed one eye as she did what K told her to do; she concentrated on her hand and in seconds, a few swirls of magical plasma appeared. A smile twitched its way onto my face as Flutters opened her other eye and gave a faint chuckle of amazement as a bright pink sphere formed over her hand. K himself couldn't help but giggle in satisfaction.

"It's…pretty," She whispered out mesmerized by the bright color. K agreed proudly before asking Flutters to close her hand; she did, but not before chuckling in her accomplishment. She studied her fingers, wiggling each one in amazement before K got by her side and nudged her. I looked up to everypony, each one was just speechless besides Celestia who mumbled out "how?" multiple times.

"Hey…Flutters, do you think you can fight?" K asked Flutters with a concerned expression but Flutters ignored his expression and answered as kindly as she could, more or less.

"What!? No-no-no! I care for others and I can't fight…" Flutters slowly shook her head neglecting the question; she was soft on the inside, she would never fight. I studied K carefully, he has come about with a different tone and his saddened expression emphasised, this was all new. I was getting suspicious, there was no way K would speak like this unless it's important.

"It might come in handy-" K whispered out gloomy but was quickly interrupted Flutters denying. Now I was highly intrigued, a new tone appeared; it sounded like K was trying to warn her.

"No, please I don't want to…" Flutters replied tightening her hand into a fist and making K sigh and frown slightly as he accepted Flutter's response.

"Fine, but if something happens where you must fight, fight until you can't continue…" K whispered again only so Flutters could hear but I was close enough to eavesdrop, he was slowly trying to hint towards something but I refused to draw conclusions too early.

"But-" Flutters quickly countered back firmly but K lifted a hoof to stop her from speaking and he continued.

"It's just something to remember, it might never happen or who knows maybe I'll fight you or you'll fight someone important to you at some point."

K gave that last advice a bit too seriously and seemed to stare through the floor as he frowned towards it. Flutters wasn't amused but she didn't take it seriously either. I, on the contrary, was not going to go lightly on this; there's a line that he crossed when he mentioned fighting her or some "one". For the moment, I felt all I could do is listen and see how this ends up.

"What? Don't do that!" Flutters exclaimed grabbing the attention of all the ponies, they'd been distracted with their questions; thank goodness for that. K shuddered a bit as he whispered out one more thing.

"Maybe I'll be forced to do so…"

"K? Are you alright?" Flutters asked from a diffrent tone, taking what he was saying seriously and leaning down next to him. K nearly flipped his emotions a whole 180, he quickly grew a smile and shook away all his thoughts before nodding towards Flutters.

"Yes! Yeah…sorry, let's switch back."

They switched back and now the demonic power of K followed its owner and Flutters returned to her normal pony state and K got his eyes back and his power was his own again. He regrouped everyponies' attention and began explaining the bit before I got here and before the princesses arrived. It was a strange tale without a doubt, one full of sexual pleasures but I didn't mind that as much as what he whispered to Flutters.

I eyed K with my hands across my chest, as he continued explaining, I wasn't going to attack him but I guess my look said differently; it got Luna's attention. She neared my side again and gave me a slight touch with her hoof, I was so concentrated I jumped from the sudden interruption. Luna flinched back a bit with a cute worried expression and I responded with a smile; _how could I not smile_?

"You okay?"

I paused for a moment before answering with the overused "Yeah, I'm fine". It took a lot more than just a simple warning to break me and I always give everyone second chances to do right unless I know they're a danger from the start; _that says a lot too_. For Luna's sake and the fact, she could read minds, I forced myself to forget about my worry for the moment and focus on what was most important now; All my friends and this upcoming musical, _plus I might meet some cuties like Octavia…who knows_.

"You sure, you became a bit jumpy after…you know, K's story…which was totally unexpected, my sister is still shouting at him and so is Shining,"

"Yeah, just a bit worried about this thing I entered myself into…"

"Really?"

"Yeah, some Canterlot musical-"

"FESTIVAL!?"

I paused for a second before smiling at her sudden reaction.

"Yup!"

She lost her sudden cheerfulness for a more gloomy look.

"But…I was going to invite you…"

I wasn't going to let that stop her from overjoyed. I smiled as I rubbed her cheek.

"Thanks! I appreciate it."

"But if you're participating then, I can't wait!"

"Thanks! I'll make it as special as I can for you and everypony there!" I assuree her before she looked down curiously and rose back with some concern.

"But…can you sing? And you don't even have band or orchestra…"

I reached my hand to my back and grabbed the neck of the guitar before bringing it up in front of me. Luna's eyes became the biggest I've ever seen them as she got the guitar into her view and practically lost her mind.

"Is-is-is that a guitar? With six strings?" She enthusiastically whispered out covering her mouth with her hooves. I nodded and smiled as I held back the urge to pluck a string.

"Yes, and you better believe it's going to destroy the competition!"

"Yer darn right, it will!"

Both me and Luna turned to face Applejack and Vinyl with the rest of the crew behind them, all of them giving us warm smiles even K had an addition to his smile; two painfully well-given slaps on either side of his cheeks _One from Celestia and One from Shining…must have been given with their magic too…they don't have hands_. Twilight remained tightly to K's side, I might even say…awfully close. I was probably going to spend the rest of the day studying how some of my friends became more attached with each other; Lyra was extremely close to Bonbon, and Dash to Flutters too.

I quickly smiled as I accepted the fact that my friends have become more "connected" with each other.

"K told us about your participation in the upcoming Musical Festival," Celestia began and the rest in unison finished for her excitedly, "AND WE'LL BE THERE TO WATCH!"

"But not me!" K yelled out from the crowd making them all turn and yell at him.

"WHAT!?"

K walked over to a shelf with a smirk and placed his hand over a wooden neck before swinging out a guitar from the shadows of the shelf, fully fitted with all strings and even had a strap like mine for going around the shoulder. Everypony gasped as he moved over to my side and placed the guitar strap over his shoulder and strung a few strings that came out perfectly mellow and even made Luna shiver as she widened her eyes.

"I'll be by my dude's side playing along!"

"What was that!?" Luna, Celestia, Twilight, Cadence, and Shining exclaimed; they've never heard the guitar be strung in melody. K chuckled as he began playing a slight small tune that mimicked that of a slow-paced love song, more specifically Alan Jackson's "Remember When". _It was an odd pick for him but if he likes love music, I couldn't argue, I did too_. He practically recited the first minute without the vocals, he was the push that forced me to join in with my guitar. Together we did the next thirty seconds but forced it to a close by Luna's and everypony else's trembling.

"That-that isn't normal!" Luna claimed.

"Really, I had to resist the urge to sing the vocals!" K chuckled as he wiggled his fingers and turned to me, I looked up at him with a smirk; _I couldn't stay mad at him when he literally brings joy to every damn thing with his way of being_.

"Yeah, but that's enough! Let's save the voices for the musical!"

"Right!" K assured with an excited smile. I honestly wish I hadn't listened in on what he said to Flutters but at least I could appreciate that he was going to be right there next to me on the stage.

"That's amazing! How did you learn to play such a thing?" Celestia asked making me smile as I answered as simply as I could.

"My dad!"

"Yeah, he sorta mine too since were sorta the same guy!"

"Sure, my dad, your dad, demon!" I chuckled making him wrap his arm around my neck and rustle my hair playfully as he laughed out loud. The more he played around the more I felt I was misjudging him, I couldn't hate this guy and if I even tried he'd make up for it with his antics.

"Your father must have been a noble human to play such beauty," Luna claimed with some melancholy in her tone; she knew he was deceased but I know he would be just like me if he were here. I smiled as I nodded in agreement with K's arm still locked around my neck.

"Yeah, don't feel bad about it! As long as I remember him for life, he lives within me just like mom," I smiled placing my hand over my chest around the area where my heart was. Luna noticed my gesture and she did something similar with her hoof.

"Me too…"

I patted my chest with my hand as a gesture of my understanding of her compassion. "Thanks, Luna, that means a lot."

She gleamed up at me with a "you're welcome" smile and sighed deeply as she looked behind her at the rest of the ponies who all showed their signs of joy. Luna smiled for a few seconds before her smile fell into curiosity as she turned back to me.

"Would you like to rest at our home? Until the Festival at least?"

I was undecided about the offer, I didn't like being too far from my friends here especially since I gave my word to those two next to me. I looked around at all the ponies and their expression before turning to Luna; all I saw was "oh well" as I scanned the room. Luna giggled as she looked around as well and gave me a gentle smile.

"Of course, we can't leave the audience too, we have enough space for everypony here!"

I can't explain how quickly almost everypony cheered and smiled joyfully and I pumped a fist along with K by my side with his guitar behind him on his back like mine. He looked at me and nodded with a friendly smirk on his face which I returned to him before I kicked the air full of joy.

"Alright then! I guess all those smiles mean YEAH! LET'S GO!"

It was dark and dingy, the walls full pores and hidden paths that could lead anywhere. She stood there on her throne as she reminisced about that moment that scarred her, how could she forget when it forced her to ignore everything. She laid there on the throne with her head hanging from the edge loosely and her eyes nearly shutting from the thought of falling asleep from waiting for hours.

Sigh*

It was really getting to her, she was either going to settle her mind or die in the guilt of ignoring it. Her eyes quickly darted upwards to look at one of her Drones came in with a weary-looking paper in his mouth. She quickly lifted herself and stood straight up on the throne; back straight and head up high with hope. The Drone gave a tilt of curiosity to his head before nearing and letting the paper un-scroll itself off his mouth.

"Have you found out anything?" Chrysalis asked taking the paper from his mouth with her magic and studying its contents. The paper was a poster for an event that will be happening in Canterlot, a musical in which anyone was allowed to join. Chrysalis pouted as she looked down to her Drone with an unimpressed look.

"What's this? You can't seriously expect me to enter this."

The Drone bowed down and shook his head, "No empress, there is a good chance "He" might be there!"

Chrysalis widened her eyes as she quickly neared the poster to her face and read it again; a small smile twitched onto her face before quickly disappearing. She looked down at the bowing Drone with a smile again before quickly slapping it away with her magic and regaining her original "queen" composure.

"Yes, he might be there…For once I'll actually congratulate your work, your free from duties for today…just today."

"REALLY!? I-uh…I mean, I'll accept without argument!" The Drone responded bowing down again from his lost stance.

"Good…now take off before I regret it." Chrysalis sternly stated making the Drone quickly become scarce leaving only one word behind.

"Yes!"

When he finally was out of sight, Chrysalis looked down at the paper before giving it a joyful kiss and laughing a bit manically. The Drone that supposedly left, peered over an edge of a wall and stared at his queen lose her mind to a piece of paper. He chuckled along quietly before smiling a bit.

" _If this whoever makes her this joyful, I guess I can consider him a member of our empire! He-he I wonder who it could be?!"_ The Drone thought as he wrapped his belly with his hooves and chuckled from the warm feeling inside him.

" _What is this…feeling?"_ He chuckled out a bit louder as he let himself fall on the floor and clutch his abdomen as he tried to resist the want to laugh from joy, he ultimately failed as he rolled around on the ground insanely for a few minutes before stopping and huffing out the feeling before smiling a toothy smile. " _YAY!"_

Chrysalis studied the paper before grinning a bit and quickly using her magic to move over a few things from the side of the throne. It was a suitcase of a dark reddish color, nearly violet. She popped it open and studied a few things inside like a blanket, pillow, toothbrush, brush, and a small sample of a strange glowing liquid. She smirked as she quickly spawned the steel sword that intrigued K so much and she perfectly fit it inside the case before closing it firmly. She smiled a bit before sighing deeply.

"Canterlot…" She hissed out as she squinted her eyes seriously and smirked once more before licking her lips lusciously. A slight blush appeared on her as she giggled out more and hopped down from her throne.

"Here I come again!"

After a sudden moment, the reality kicked in, and Chrysalis found herself under a tree, clutching in her Changeling hooves a poster, and by her side a small case of belongings.

It was imagination. A dream that he wished was real; the vision of having her old place back. She sighed before seeing a bit of sunlight pierce the forest she hid in. She looked up at it and back down at the poster, forgetting her past for the sake of her objective.

"Here I come…Canterlot."


	32. Chapter 32 - Doomed Nightmares

#32

Night hit us fast here, the day was all cheers and milkshakes, while the afternoon was all me alone. I looked off into the distance off a balcony on the castle, I never really felt as confused about life as I did there on the balcony. The setting sun rushed a few memories back into my head and most were of the pleasant part of life which mostly were the ones with Mom and Dad. Life did me unfairly at times but my parents were the sources of joy for me until their demise.

"Life…what is this new life?" I whispered to myself, reaching my hand out to the sun and making it seem as if I grabbed it with my hand. I let go of it and retracted my hand to the edge of the balcony and sighed from the coagulating memories that only made me depressed.

As the sun slowly disappeared into the mountains in the distance, I stared as if my hopes and dreams were slipping along with it. Once the last glimpse of sun disappeared the world became dark and I could feel the instant chill of the nightly breeze; it was unpleasant and heavy. I felt like this ever since I got here, it must have been the extremely quiet atmosphere or something because the first thing that was felt was the depression sink in.

I waved at the sun as the final glow behind the mountains diminished into darkness.

"See ya tomorrow-" I whispered as I turned around and was confronted by the sunlight of this world herself. Celestia stood there with her comforting motherly smile while I stared wide-eyed and embarrassed back. She trotted to my side and looked off the balcony towards the direction I looked off to earlier. As for me, I was hoping this didn't get too emotional or deep from me or her.

"It'll come tomorrow, I'll make sure of it," She reassured me. I didn't feel well, I felt like this depression was getting to me; that word "tomorrow" just made it worse. I tightened a fist in frustration as I tried to rid my head of these thoughts but they only piled up even taller and got heavier. I must have caused some disturbance since I had Celestia on my case immediately, her worried calling of my name was numb to me and I ignored the first three times she said it before she called out my name near desperately and my eye twitched a bit.

I was fucked up, this damn-out-of-the-blue depression was really messing with me. So many questions that I might never get answered unless I do something about it, but right now I felt as weak as my efforts to understand life again. I heard my name yelled out once more before I felt a sudden searing pain come from the right of my face. I blinked my eyes multiple times before I looked up to Celestia who was holding back tears as she gritted her teeth and stared at my hand rub out the pain. She just slapped reality back into me.

"I-I'm sorry…I'll numb the pain!"

"No!" I denied, she retracted a step and stopped her horn from glowing before I sighed deeply and let myself fall to the ground and sit with my back to the balcony railing.

"I don't feel well,"

"What do you mean!?" She asked me sounding worried but mostly frightened. I didn't mean to cause this effect towards her but I couldn't argue that I was feeling hurt internally.

"Celestia…I don't think-I took a breath before using my hand to signal the stars that began emerging -I've fully adapted to this new life…"

"It takes time, you shouldn't rush it- She placed a hoof on my lap as she sat by my side -it'll only hurt you later on if you do so," She whimpered out a bit. I looked down at her hoof and felt as if I had been touched by a miracle. How could it be that I never realize that I still have friends until the final minute?

Despite that, I wish I had been told that sooner but I wasn't, and now I could feel the effects of trying to get involved with something I should've been more serious about. I wasn't going to be negative in front of her, for her sake and mine; I was always looking for the sliver of light in a dark tunnel, and this wasn't too different. Celestia scooted closer to my side and laid her head on my shoulder as we both looked up to the stars.

"I remember when I first met you, I kinda wanted to end you for the sake of protecting my little ponies," she whispered making me looked down at her on my shoulder with a slight smile. She smiled as well as she continued.

"And ever since then, I kinda felt like my life was going to change…it did,"

I smiled a bit wider as she giggled. I couldn't explain the fuzzy warm feeling inside my chest but I guess, for now, I can call it love and friendship.

"I continue wondering how life would be if you had not happened, pretty dull. Do you know what a struggle it was to hold composure while saying "Tis" And "Thou"? We still have to, but only in royal presence excluding Cadence and Shining." Celestia giggled. I let my chuckle slip out, I wasn't feeling as hurt as before but the feeling still lingered.

"We called that Old English," I chuckled making Celestia look up at me with a soft smile. "Well, back in that world."

"Really? Can you recite something?" She asked closing her eyes and letting her head loosely rest on my shoulder.

"Sure, maybe," I casually stated before clearing my throat.

"Tis the love of my life by thy side, who thou lifted thy from the grasp of darkness with thou's heavenly touch.

And hath is thy to call thyself a true love when thy leaves thou beauty to suffer in the absence of thy love?

Tis a sin, to leave thy for another, but when the other is another thy, then thou must understand a single human's struggle. What dost my love to say?" I ended looking down to the princess, a gentle smile on her was all I wanted to see, she was still on my shoulder and her eyes remained closed. I might or may have butchered that, but hell, it sounded right to me.

"May thou sleep with his princess tonight?" She asked holding a warm comforting smile. I smiled the same smile and sighed in peace.

"Thy wish is granted."

K reached out quickly a fist and retracted it for a high kick into the air before switching it to a slash from his wooden blade. He remained frozen in that last position for a few seconds, panting slightly quick and a bead of sweat making its way down his cheek. He huffed once more before sitting on the edge of his bed and resting the sword by his guitar on the counter by the bed. "Why does it feel so cold in here?" He asked himself rubbing his hands up and down his arms.

" _Oh well, it's too early to sleep anyway,"_

With that, he headed towards the door of his dorm and stepped out to confront himself with Derpy, who backed away in an instant, a bit embarrassed, while K smiled at such a pleasing sight. "Look, it's the Muffin Mare." He teased making her giggle and greet him back nicely with a slight blush. "Hi".

"What are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be asleep with the others?" K asked. She quickly nodded and leaned in closer to K's ear. "I heard Celestia was having cake at the dinner table but she only ate half!" She whispered excitedly but K didn't get it, he stared at her completely lost and derailed from sense.

"Listen, what is cake and why is it so important to you?" K whispered back. Derpy quickly whacked him a good one on his forehead and K growled as he rubbed the impact area. "What was that for!?" He sternly asked keeping a low volume. Derpy giggled as she patted K's forehead as if to heal it with her kindness. K was even more lost, but her way of being silly softened K up by a mile.

"I'm sorry, I forgot you don't know your foods," Derpy stated making K looked down as he nodded in agreement. "Poor me."

K sighed as he lifted his head back up but didn't catch Derpy in sight; she disappeared. "Uh…Derpy?" He asked looking around himself but she was nowhere to be seen. " _Slippery girl."_

Without warning, Derpy flew down on K's neck and slid her legs down and around his neck. K quickly froze up as he felt the back of his head warm up with the soft feeling of her belly and his eyesight went black as she blinded him with her wings.

"Woah, Derpy! I can't see!" He exclaimed as he refused to send his hands behind his head to not touch her. Derpy didn't lift her wings from his face and now another thing was felt; a warm feeling on the back of his neck, " _COULD THIS BE_!?" he thought as he gritted his teeth. K couldn't move due to his stiffened back, all he could do was hope; it wasn't an easy thing for him to do.

"Uh…Derpy, you're warming my neck up a bit too much now," He hinted. Derpy rested her head on the top of his head with a smile. "You're warming me up too," she giggled holding onto this tone of speech that matched her playful self but didn't fit what she was doing. K was being teased around by who he never expected to do such a thing.

"What are you-" K asked before Derpy shifted herself and pressed tighter onto his neck with her crotch. K's mouth trembled as Derpy snuggled in a bit more rubbing against his neck more and finally allowed her wings to retracted just a little bit. K finally saw around himself again, and rapidly looked to see if there was anypony nearby; fortunately, there was none. He sighed deeply before feeling a warm sticky liquid run down his back. His eyes widened and he panicked. He placed his hands on her wings and gripped them firmly. Derpy yelped instantly and closed her legs tighter around his neck. As soon as she tightened around his neck, K gave a gentle tug to her wings by instinct and was quickly met with another cry.

"AH! NO! LET THEM GO PLEASE!"

K paused for a moment to draw his conclusion before. "What…the…hell," he whispered as he felt the wings stiffen and his neck seared in the heat of Derpy's…Marehood. He felt his neck moisten with warm fluids, he felt it drip and travel down his back and leave a strange tingling sensation making him giggle a bit.

"It's wasn't funny!" Derpy cried with tears dropping onto K's hair. "I know!" K quickly responded changing his mood to a serious one but that wasn't easy with Derpy sobbing over his head.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" Luna quickly asked swinging open both huge doors at the end of the corridor and approaching both K and Derpy. Both of them looked towards Luna, Luna quickly asked what was happening, she was about as surprised about Derpy crying as K was about the huge bulge in his pants.

"HE GRABBED MY WINGS and-AND SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENED TO ME!" Derpy whimpered out, making Luna recoil her thoughts into a simple blush. "Oh, uh…that sorta happens Derpy to Alicorns and Pegasi," Luna admitted, making Derpy sniffle away a few tears.

"Really?"

"Yes, it's a common tradition to do so during intercourse," Luna added making Derpy nodded in acceptance and turn to K who was giving Luna an exaggerated smile as he tried to come up with some excuse. Nothing popped up and Luna quickly gave him a magical punch to the stomach.

"OW! THAT ONE HURT!"

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO HER!?"

K squatted and wrapped his arms around his belly to rid the pain. He huffed out as he shook his head. He would say what happened but for the sake of Derpy's reputation as an innocent creature; he forced out a lie.

He chuckled as he quickly lifted himself up and reached behind his head; he brought Derpy up to his chest and cradled her like a baby, a pretty playful baby. Luna stared at him as walked his two fingers down Derpy's chest area to her lower regions. Resulting in Derpy huffing out a shaky breath.

"I like Derpy, I just wanted to play around, like Ben does with you!" K smiled down at Luna. Luna looked away with a barely noticible smile and came back with a frown, "Don't compare yourself to Ben!" She seriously stated. K retracted his fingers and became serious about her sudden outburst.

"What does that mean!?" K sternly asked balling a fist; he'd never been told such a thing and he took it offensively, very, very offensively. Luna clearly didn't want to offend him, she only wanted to help him out but that didn't work out. She sighed as she lifted a hoof to reassure him she meant no harm by what she said. K released his fist and inhaled deeply.

"It means…you obviously have your own feelings and personality, I've never met a demon with feelings like yours, you're something new and I'll admit, I'm still unsettled by your presence," Luna stated nearly regretting adding that last comment as she stared at the floor. K looked down at her with a new smile; one he'd never used for the sake of not looking to kind.

"Luna…I've met other demons in my life, and I'll say this right now,"

Luna looked up at K's smile and quickly widened her eyes by such a sight, she had never seen him smile like that before. "Y-yes?" She responded allowing him to continue. K looked at Derpy as he noticed her half-shut eyes. "Sleep…for now." He whispered placing a finger between Derpy's eyes and she blacked out. He chuckled a bit as he leaned down on a knee and placed his hand on Luna's cheek. Luna cut her breath short as K made his eyes glow a slight red.

Almost by instant Luna switched forms; a flash of light surrounded her before it dimmed out and all that was left was who K summoned from inside Luna. It was still Luna but in her Nightmare form. Luna looked around herself and studied her form before giving K a look of horror. K had activated her Nightmare state, but didn't let the demon, which is Nightmare moon, control her. K smiled as he quickly placed his hand on her chest and pulled out what looked like a transparent blue aura and absorbed it through his hand.

"I never thought I'd meet another demon as kind as you…"

Luna quickly placed both her front hooves on K's shoulders shaking her head in fear. "Don't tell no pony! Please!"

K smiled as he adjusted her mane which got a bit rustled by her sudden movement, he wasn't buying what she said or how she felt. "Your Nightmare Moon, be proud of it!"

"I can't be proud of it, you don't understand what I did!"

"Plunged all of Equestria into darkness and tried to overthrow your sister?" K chuckled; maybe reading all those books at Twilight's did pay off after all. Luna whimpered as she gave him credit for knowing that bit but she still refused to be proud of herself for what she was. She let go of his shoulders and shook her head in hopelessness, K wasn't as understanding as she expected. K stared in disapproval as she cried out one last self-destructive comment.

"I'm a monster, I can never forgive myself for what I did!"

Luna looked down at the floor and whimpered out a few tears as K balled his fist again in disappointment, it was those words again. He placed his free hand on her head and lifted it up to face him, Luna stared at him with her teary eyes and K stared back with a frown.

"You…you call yourself a monster? Yet, you know you did wrong and regret it!?"

Luna shook a bit by his sudden change of voice and tone, but most importantly she trembled because he pointed out something that quickly made her feel blank inside. She stared back speechless as K shook his head, "Forgive me for this but that's just plain stupid!" He claimed.

Luna clenched her teeth and quickly ducked her head aiming her horn at him; she couldn't find the truth in his words. She became frustrated with herself and quickly shoved K away with her magic flinging him a few feet away before he used his levitation to stop. "I'm sorry K! I can't accept your words! I hate myself and you know that as well as I do!"

K laid Derpy on the floor and appeared before Luna; he picked her up from both her armpits and violently placed her against a wall. She stared back at him freighted as he yelled at her his feelings, K wasn't getting anywhere with Luna and his frustration reached a limit he never expected to reach so early, "YOU IDIOT! All you hate about yourself are your mistakes, not what you are! Why…WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT!?"

Luna quickly yelled back with a full stream of tears streaming down her face. "HOW DO YOU KNOW!?"

"ASK BEN! When you see Ben, you don't think about what he's done, just the fact that he's there! THAT IS HOW I, BEN, YOUR SISTER, AND EVERYPONY SEES YOU! THE FUCK DON'T YOU GET FROM THAT!?" K yelled; his aura exploded with his anger. Luna stared back with nothing but whimpering and sobs as she cried into her hooves leaving K with his own wound…an internal wound. He huffed out a few breaths before gritted his teeth and bringing Luna into a tight embrace, holding her over the ground. Luna cried onto his shoulder as he patted her back and comforted her like the softy he came off as.

"I'm sorry, but if I don't tell you, who will?" K apologized, slowly letting his tight embrace loosen so to look at Luna face to face, they both smiled at each other, Luna's being teary and wavy while K's was soft and unlike him. "Don't cry anymore, or I might end up crying too you fool!" K chuckled before laughing out loud. Luna couldn't with him, she embraced him back and laughed along with him. She embraced him for a minute before letting go and falling to the ground on all fours with a smile still going and the evidence that she'd been crying still printed across her face. Luna reverted back to her original form and K dropped his aura as both of them exchanged "goodbyes".

But before they left each other, Luna giggled as she flew up K's face making K lift an eyebrow as Luna thanked him, "Oh, and thank you, for being a…a friend, I'm glad you're a rogue demon…if not, I wouldn't be able to do this…"

K turned away to look at Derpy, who twitched a bit as she slowly awoke. "Do wha-?" He chuckled before Luna quickly grabbed his head and turned him to face her. K became paralyzed in place as he got a taste of Luna's lips before he could ask anything. A good ten seconds past before she parted from him and giggled as she patted his head. She returned to the ground and began trotting away humming a joyous tune. K didn't know what to think, he raised his hand and waved goodbye as Luna peaked from the door that led out the corridor before leaving with a huge smile.

"She…just…" K whispered out with an anxiety spreading through him as he slowly ran his fingers over his lips in disbelief. "Looks like she like you!" Derpy quickly yelled out from behind K forcing him to turn to her with a trembling hand and shaky eyes. It took a few seconds but in a span of a few seconds K locked his eyes on Derpy and give her a daring grin if there was anything K could do now it was get back at who caused all this. Derpy gave a nervous chuckle as she slowly retreated a step. K chuckled before quickly appearing behind her and lifting her up like he did earlier. Derpy smiled unwillingly before K quickly place his fingers on her belly and slowly moved lower.

"Epp! What are you doing!?" Derpy squealed covering herself with her hooves.

K swung open the door to his room before looking to Derpy and chuckling out one more thing before shutting the door close behind them.

"Remember to swallow…"

"Swallow?"

SLAMS DOOR SHUT!*

The shower I took was probably the most comfortable one I've ever taken considering it was more of a jacuzzi than a shower but it got the job done. Now, I lay here in bed with Celestia, what about her made me feel all warm and fuzzy? Probably the simple fact she snuggled in so close that she was practically on me or that she comforted me earlier; I don't know, to be honest, all I can think of right now is that I had her by my side and I should enjoy it. I rested my head back and let my conscious drift into that dreamland, it wasn't long before the voices from the dream emerged although the voices were faint and barely understandable.

"Save…us…"

" _Ah shit, not this again!"_

I didn't know if my body twitched in its sleep but it must have, the voices gave me chills and all I could do was listen to them as they plead for something.

"…please…" the voices whimpered in a horrifying way. It was nearly undetectable but the voices were slowly becoming distorted and faint screaming could be heard in the background. I wanted to wake up but this was like any other nightmare, you must wait till something wakes in the real world or if you die/experience something in the dream. I felt like I was covering my ears but that wouldn't cease the voices, it just irritated them.

"…they will kill us all…" The voices began sounding "demonic" and the screaming in the background amplified to screams from Hell itself. The dream was a black canvas with nothing to be seen, it was those dreams where you can't see but you can hear it play out. As the screaming and cries for help continued, I quickly listened in as one final scream was heard and the sound of something being broken, by what sounded like flesh being mutilated and ravaged, silenced everything. A small ringing could still be heard. Soft whimpers and sobs followed as the ringing stopped and the black canvas was changing; red dots dripped from everywhere onto it, a very deep color of red…blood red. I felt my heart stop and my eyes quickly shoot awake, I was paralyzed to the bed in fear and sweat for a few seconds before looking to both my sides.

It was a miracle that I awoke and that daylight arrived in time, I thought I was never going to awaken from that damn thing. I lifted my head and took a moment to look around myself; it was morning and the sun happily shined through the curtains that covered Celestia's window. Celestia was still sleeping with a smile printed on her face and the sounds birds happily chirping outside of Celestia's window that brought a strange feeling into the room; a feeling of insecurity after having that dream. I let my head fall back onto the pillow gently and sighed deeply, thanking all living things that it was just a dream.

It was that dream again, the one from when Dash showed me her moves, the same one that came with that massive storm that introduced me to Strike. I wasn't in the mood to draw conclusions from the dream but I will at least expect something to occur, hopefully, that was enough to not bother me for the rest of the day ahead. A deep breath was all I needed to get me calm and cracking a few jokes in my mind to brighten my spirits and get me out of bed. As I was putting on my ocean blue button up, I turned to Celestia; she quickly noticed my absence and was awake but still a bit dazed from sleep.

"Ben?" She called out stretching away her sleep in a very human-like way, I wasn't going to press on that but it gave me something to stare at for a few seconds while it lasted. "Good morning, good dreams?" I asked buttoning the 2nd last button from my collar, hoping to hear something better than my own dream, she giggled a bit as she nodded. I smirked as I placed my hand on the two stones I left on the counter next to the bed; it was just yesterday that I discovered who that last stone belonged too and boy was I surprised to hear it was Cadence's; what wasn't a surprise was why it was always glowing pink.

"What about you?" Celestia asked rolling off the bed like a rascal would, the more I studied them, the princesses, the more it seemed they acted unlike their roles say. I pocketed the stones and chuckled as I replied with "Nope, I had bad one…again"

Celestia turned to me seriously. "A nightmare and twice?" She asked hoping she didn't hear right but I wasn't kidding about it. "Yeah, I had the first one a few days ago and again last night," I replied wrapping my sword around my waist; like I said I was going to expect something to happen. Celestia stared at me a bit worried as I tied the sword to my side and gave it a pat.

"What was it about?" She asked curiously. I scratched the back of my head as I turned to her, I could hear the voices again in my conscious as I explained it slowly to her. At times, she nearly lost her composure and drifted off to alert mode so I had to be a little bit less explicit but she wasn't spared from the disturbing imagery I put in her mind.

"That's…That's terrible!" She exclaimed with a frown.

"Tell me about it, I'm thankful I woke up before it got a bit too…out of…hoof," I replied with a smile that I hoped would calm her down, it didn't and she quickly inquired about Luna and where she was. I shrugged. "I just woke up a few minutes before you woke up."

She growled as she whispered out her sister's name. I wanted to ask what was going on but I gave my tongue a good bite when I saw that fire in her eyes, _literally_. "Ben, I'm sorry about your rude rest, I'll make sure you don't experience that again," She reassured me. I wanted to ask how she would do that but the fact she was looking undoubtedly pissed gave me good enough reason to just nod and thank her.

"You can go and enjoy your day, I'm sure everypony and K should be awake," Celestia finished allowing me to leave the room; she tossed me the bag of bits which I still haven't wasted much but I might consider doing so today, and with that, I quickly found myself outside the room. I didn't know what Celestia was going to do but I hope it didn't get out of hand/hoof between them, for their sake.

I made it to the corridor I was shown yesterday and found no pony or K in it; this was strange, Celestia assured me that they might be awake by now. I approached the first door, K's door, and gave it a good three knocks. I quickly got a response by K swinging open the door with an alarmed look, which was strange but it was just him being himself. "What the-BEN! Wassup!" He joyously greeted changing his tone on the dime with a huge smile followed by a gentle punch to the chest.

"You seem a bit cheerful this morning, What's-" Before I could ask him what was up with him, Derpy quickly appeared over his head and waved, startling me with her sudden appearance.

"HELLO!" She happily greeted making me smile widely but unwillingly.

"Uh…hey! How's it going?" I greeted her with my huge smile, hoping to not show how awkward this just became. Derpy quickly embraced K's head in a hug and smiled with a blush which honestly made me want to laugh out loud; K's expression was priceless.

"I swallowed!" Derpy quickly joyously exclaimed with a giggle making K bite his lower lip and swing his arms back and forth as he had nothing to say, not even a lie. I might have been stunned for the first few seconds but the rest of it was pure laughter, which caught K off guard. "You sure did! I'm proud of ya!" I chuckled with my thumbs up towards them, leaving K with so many questions that he mumbled them out in shock. I wasn't mad, on the contrary, I found this a bit heartwarming…maybe even a miracle.

"Y-you're not pissed!? Why!?" K asked making me grin and aim a finger towards Derpy; she was still blushing and giggling out loud as she let go of his head and grabbed tightly onto his arm.

"You see…I got an army of ponies, and with that being said, I can't be with all of them at the same time…we're friends! I don't need to say much now do I?" I chuckled. K nearly lost all sense he had in him as he embraced me in a hug that squeezed the life out of me, Derpy luckily escaped her fate. "THANK YOU! I PROMISE TO NOT ABUSE OF IT!" K thanked overwhelmed with joy, I quickly shoved him off and did my best to regain my breath.

"Geez, don't suffocate me about it though! A "Thanks" was good enough!" I expressed slowly adjusting my breathing. K quickly apologized and grinned widely as he sent a fist out to meet me. I looked at his fist before hitting it with my own, both of us chuckled as we parted. "Well now, why don't we check on the others," K offered with a smirk. "Sure, then let's go find something to do! Maybe we spar or something today!" I grinned.

"Spar!? HELL YEAH!" K yelled as he quickly went towards the door, which kept the rest inside, and launched it open. "Awaken your pony flanks now!" he yelled before quickly dropping his excitement and become confused. "What the!? WHERE ARE THEY!?"

"Seems they went to do their own thing, but why all of them though?" I asked entering the room along with K, K looked around the room studying the series of beds that were neatly parallel with each other. "Maybe they went to eat something!" K inquired but I turned him down on that theory. "I just came by the dining room, no pony…"

"Weird…they disappeared!" K quickly stated, I agreed with him on that, they were obviously gone but it was strange, I would at least have expected one of them to still be asleep. I scouted the area a bit before coming to a bed with a huge bump on it, I chuckled as I realized I was right about there being somepony still here, without a second thought I quickly grabbed the cover and pulled off of whatever was under it.

"Oh, my Celestia! It's a rare entity!" K joked around looking over my shoulder at the heavy sleeper known as Rarity. "Nah, it's just Rarity," I chuckled letting the cover go over her body before K quickly pulled it off again and threw it off to another bed.

"Hey RARITY!" K shouted. I turned to him and facepalmed myself as Rarity sprung up from the bed and looked off in all directions, quickly shuddering threats left and right. K didn't really plan out the part of him getting a magical punch to his stomach, I quickly retreated myself as far I could to not get the same K got.

"Wha-Ben?" Rarity quickly asked rubbing out the blur in her eyes.

"Good morning," I greeted with a smile.

"Demon known as K!?" She pointed out aiming a hoof as K.

"Salutations…" K chuckled rubbing his belly gently.

"And cross-eyed friend aka Derpy!" She exclaimed looking at Derpy by my side.

"Hi!" Derpy cheerfully waved with a huge smile.

"What going on? Aren't the gentlecolts supposed to have their own room?" She asked quickly standing from her bed. "Yeah but we're looking for the rest of the group! Have you seen them?" K asked indicating all the empty beds in the room. Rarity looked at the bed before scratching her mane and shrugging.

"I'm sorry darling I haven't the slightest idea where they could be," She said hopping down from her bed and meeting K right next to me. "Did you require them for a reason?" She asked. K shook his head. "We just wanted to spend some time here in Canterlot!" he claimed making Rarity brighten up with a smile.

"Then why don't we go and wander about Canterlot until we find them, we might even get something to satisfy our hunger," Rarity offered convincing K on the spot; must have been that food part of her offer. All three (Derpy, me, and K) of us nodded with a smile making Rarity clap her hooves together before trotting over by my side. "Well then, let's go find them! But first give me a minute to fix myself."

Celestia approached and looked up at a transparent-blue floating platform with Luna clearly asleep on it. She inhaled deeply before stomping a hoof and yelling at the top of her pony lungs, sending fire specks in nearly every direction. "LUNA! GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANCE!" Luna jolted awake and sent out a cry as she looked in all directions frantically before looking down to her sister through the transparent platform, she sighed calmly as she rolled over to the edge of the platform and waved greeted to her clearly pissed sister. "Good morning Sis! What's happening?" She casually asked in a joyful tone. Celestia quickly became irritated by her being so naive about what was going on.

Celestia stomped her hoof again. "GET DOWN HERE!" She growled startling Luna. Luna quickly lost all her morning joy and lowered the platform floor level; if she knew better it was to not argue with her sister when her body was covered in flames. She stepped off her disk and trotted to her sister but kept a safe distance away. "Sis? Is something wrong?" Luna asked being gentle and compassionate about it to lower her sister's temper, it had a slight effect; it stopped her yelling. Celestia took in a deep breath before closing in on Luna and staring down at her.

"It's Ben, Luna…" Celestia stated being abrupt about it. Luna tilted her head in confusion before quickly picking her head up, she was lost and uneducated about what was going on but her worry was sparked; she has a deep feeling towards him and it was only natural for her to fear for him. "What about him!? Did he get hurt!?" Luna suddenly asked forcing Celestia into a slight pause, Celestia was expecting an explanation not a sudden cry for information. Celestia was dumbfounded and above all curious now about what was going on.

"No, he's not hurt, but are you telling me you don't know!?" Celestia asked. Luna shook her head. "Should I know?" She asked forcing Celestia to spill it out right then and there.

"Ben had a nightmare last night!" Celestia exclaimed. Luna's eyes went unrealistically wide as she froze in position mumbling out the same words over and over again: "How?". Celestia quickly nodded and added the other piece of the dilemma. "-And it wasn't the first time! He had the same one a few days ago too!"

Luna shook her head and refused to believe what she was hearing, there hasn't been any signs of nightmares for months. "But Sister, there hasn't been a nightmare in months, IT HAS TO BE A MISTAKE!"

Celestia instantly objected to her sister's sudden denial and came back defending Ben's side. "BUT IT MUST BE TRUE! HE WOULDN'T LIE!" Celestia argued, growling a bit as she did. "THEN MAYBE IS WASN'T A DREAM!" Luna growled back.

They growled at each other for a few seconds before it suddenly struck them like lightning; it wasn't a dream. They stared at each other in shock before Luna slowly nodded and agreed with the random explanation she said that in the end made sense. "Yes…it wasn't a dream! It must have been something else!" Luna said nearing a conclusion. Celestia was lost now, the tables have turned and now Luna picked up on the problem as she pondered what it could have been.

"If it was something else, then what?" Celestia suspiciously asked watching Luna go about pacing around the room. Luna mumbled out random things as she pondered it deeply and connected theories.

She waited about two minutes before Luna quickly blinked her eyes wide-open and aimed a hoof towards her sister. "IT WAS A VISION OF THE FUTURE!" Luna exclaimed with a huge joy. Celestia quickly froze, what dread she felt as those words entered her ears; if this was a vision of the future, then what kind of future involved death, pain, and suffering? Luna rejoiced as she provided her evidence. "If it was a dream, I would have been able to see it, and if it happened twice it then it must be a warning that it's going to happen soon, very, very soon!"

Celestia shivered with fear and Luna being so cheerful about it was not helping. Luna ranted about how she got the conclusion before being quickly shut down by Celestia's look of horror. Luna morphed her bragging to worried questions as she tried to understand her sister's fear, but Celestia was a bit too stunned to even speak straight.

"Sister! Please answer me! What's wrong!?" Luna pleaded for the fifth time, Celestia broke her gaze with the floor turned to Luna. Luna must have felt the same dread her sister felt as Celestia slowly explained the alleged "Vision" to her. Luna became weary and she was stunned into a silence that allowed their shaky breaths to be heard.

"That's…that's…horrible!" Luna exclaimed taking short breaths between her words. Celestia agreed as Luna continued expressing what she thought. "Does that mean, somepony is going to die!?" Luna asked shivering and pacing around the room as if she was losing her mind. Celestia locked up and remembered something else that might just be the breaking point in their sanity.

Celestia stared at the ground as she let out the sliver of information, "Ben said…"

Luna turned to her, she knew it was bad news by the regretful tone Celestia spoke with. "What?" Luna asked holding back her tears that would fall at any moment from fear. Celestia choked up a bit as she regretted saying it.

"He said…there were multiple screams…" Celestia pressured out, Luna shook her head and let a few tears go down. "This isn't…this can't be!" Luna cried out making Celestia nod and hold back her own tears, it's been far too long since the last death in Equestria, and that was a blessing.

"Sister! We must find Ben!" Luna cried.

"I know…" Celestia agreed thinking of it deeply.

Luna quickly shook her head and turned Celestia to face her. Celestia stared at Luna's terrified eyes as Luna warned her about time. "No sister, When I said soon, I meant it!" She warned. Celestia cut her breath short and trembled as she asked. "How soon!?"

"If the vision was last night and he's experienced it before…" Luna began, "Then…then…"

Celestia threw her hooves on Luna's shoulders and forced her to look at her.

"THEN WHAT LUNA!?"

"Then…whatever it was…begins today," Luna emotionlessly whispered out, placing Celestia in a trance before she clenched her teeth.

"Let's go…" Celestia whispered as she stood back up and stared at the door out the room. Luna followed and stood up. "What? Where?" Luna asked making Celestia turn to her with a stern/determined look.

"I'm not going to take any chances, for the sake of my little ones!" Celestia exclaimed moving to the door leaving Luna behind pondering what her sister was going to do.

"What?" Luna asked slowly moving to her sister's side by the door. They both began moving out the room and trotting down a corridor.

"If this is Ben's vision, then he must have something to do with it!" Celestia growled forcing Luna to brake her sister with her magic.

"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO!?" Luna yelled out tears raging from her eyes, Celestia refused to answer and continued moving nullifying her sisters magic with her own. Luna quickly froze in place as she whimpered out a few sobs before trying to stop her again.

"STOP IT LUNA!"

"NO!"

"Hey, Ben, what's that red flashing in your pants?" K asked me pointing out the very bright flashing light that came from my pants. I turned to my side and pulled out the stone with both Luna and Celestia's marks on either side. K was right, Celestia's side flashed a bright red while Luna's flashed a deep blue. I held it in my hand for a few seconds before I felt like a hole was being burned into my hand and I tossed the stone into the air and K quickly caught it with his hand.

"OH FUCK! THAT THING BURNS!" I yelled out blowing onto my hand to cool it down. K cocked an eyebrow as he held it in his hand and squeezed it. "No, it doesn't!" K chuckled making me frown.

"Wha-let me see it!"

"Sure thing, here," He said tossing it to me. I cupped my hands to catch it but I quickly let it fall to the ground since the burning quickly left a scorch mark on my hand. K stared a bit surprised as he picked it up and squeezed it. "Well, at least it doesn't burn me!"

"Why is it doing that!?" I asked patting and wafting my hand. K turned to me and stared at Celestia's side and noticed the red. "Red is anger…and blue is fear…" K eased out turning the stone side to side. I looked up at him confused before quickly remembering Celestia being pissed about that nightmare and going to visit Luna.

"Oh no, fuck me," I cursed myself as I quickly aimed my eyes back at the castle. K turned along with me before asking. "What's wrong?"

I stared at the castle as I tried to overcome my worry but that wasn't easy. "I have a feeling we should go check on the princesses…" I expressed. K turned to me and gave me a punch with the hand that had the stone, in other words, he burned a Bit sized hole through my sleeve.

"My bad," K apologized.

"And why does that thing keep burning me!" I asked irritated by the number of burns I'd taken. K stared at it before looking at the castle and at Derpy and Rarity buying Jewelry from a fancy store. "I think…and it's just a guess…maybe the princesses are trying to hurt you," K seriously stated. I quickly wanted to deny that but his serious tone and look force me to consider it.

"K! You stay here with Rarity and Derpy," I ordered him, he rebelled against it.

"What!? No! I'm going!"

"K! Listen, I have a bad feeling about this!"

"No shit, that's why I'm going!"

"LISTEN! You stay here with them! Look for Twilight and the others! They're still gone remember!" I exclaimed. He listened this time and pouted as I thanked him. He sent me off with a "good luck" and with that, I was prepared to leave. I raised my fingers to my head and sighed, hoping everything was alright.

"I'll keep this until you find out what's happening!" K chuckled waving the stone in his hands. I nodded and closed my eyes as I focused on the one of the princess's energy but it seemed that wasn't necessary; their energy was already so swollen with power that it practically came to me first. I waved and closed my eyes again as I felt my surroundings quickly change.

I reached my destination with yells being thrown left and right. I didn't open my eyes for the sake of not seeing what I was hearing.

" _They're really going at it…maybe I should have brought K."_


	33. Chapter 33 - Nightmare Realities

#33

What I heard depicted what I was seeing, Luna overthrown by tears while Celestia backed her to a wall with her magic. Celestia was surrounded by flames while Luna was being a victim to her sister. I had no time to waste, they hadn't noticed me but they were about to. "HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON!?" I yelled quickly making both of them pause what they were doing before both slowly turned to me. Celestia's mean glare greeted my own frown while Luna sobbed and shook her head slowly. "Ben, I need to speak with you!" Celestia demanded but I quickly turned that offer down, I was going to find out what the hell was going on, and I didn't appreciate her making Luna cry like that.

"No," I replied bluntly.

"What?!" Celestia asked back, obviously outraged by my response. I stared her down as I tightened my hands to fists, which quickly got an immediate response from Luna; she whimpered out a worried "Stop!" to prevent us from doing anything harmful to each other. I looked over to her and nodded, I wasn't going to do anything reckless but I wasn't liking the direction this was going. "I want to know what is going on!" I demanded. Celestia didn't drop her glare but she did answer me, Luna whimpered as I tightened my frown.

"I spoke with Luna about your situation," She answered being serious about it, so I did the same. "Situation?" I asked, hoping she's elaborate on that because I haven't had a problem besides that strange depression from yesterday which is by now far gone. "Yes, your alleged "Nightmare"," She revealed making me drop a bit of my guard, what kind of situation was that?! It was just a nightmare as far as I knew. For the sake of time, I wasn't going to argue with her about it, I wanted to get to the point to get Luna off those binds that held her to the wall by all her hooves. "Alright then, explain…" I ordered still holding onto my own serious glare.

"It wasn't a nightmare after all…but a vision," Celestia claimed being as serious as ever, forcing me to let go of my fists and anger, and become intrigued. This was either becoming insane or silly, I've had plenty of visions before but only when I was at the brink of death, and as far as I knew, I wasn't dying or was I? I remained silent as I listened to Celestia explain the strange occurrence which I was skeptic about. As I listened in, my eyes drifted off to Luna on the wall, looking like I did when I was put in the dungeon, I had to get her down from there next, it was heart-wrenching to watch.

"And this vision-" I stopped Celestia there, I couldn't bear it anymore, if she wanted me to listen, I wanted Luna off the wall and on her hooves. "-Please, release Luna from your binds," I demanded. Luna looked up at me with a smile slowly trying to emerge but her fear got in the way; Celestia looked up at me and behind at Luna before sighing. Luna landed on the ground with a thump, her hooves were too numb at the moment, all she could do was lay there, despite her efforts to get up. "Now explain, why was she on the wall?" I asked.

"We'll get there, as I was saying, your vision was a representation of something that's going to happen," Celestia responded. I turned to her quickly, if I heard that right, then what the hell is going to happen? "What does that mean!?" I asked ignoring Luna who was slowly making her way to me via crawling. Celestia grabbed my head with her magic and forced me to stare at her eye to eye. "That's what we'd like to know!"

I quickly shook away her magic. "AND YOU WERE FIGHTING OVER THAT!?" I yelled at her. Celestia retreated a step before looking to her side and nodding at the floor. I was going to express how I felt about that but I was stopped by the sudden tug on my pants. I looked down to see Luna using me as support to pick herself up. "You okay Luna?" I asked, catching her from tipping over her side with my hand. She nodded and gave an exhausted pant as she giggled out a few words with watery eyes. "I thought she was going to hurt you, I was scared," she whimpered a bit as she finished that sentence.

I smiled, for once I actually felt the impact of having someone worry about you to the point they cry; it's quite powerful indeed. "Don't worry, you should know I'm not an easy guy to hurt!" I chuckled placing my hand on her mane and giving it a slight playful rustle. She giggled and that was all I need to hear to know I was good with her, now all that remained was Celestia; she stared at me with a regretful smile as I let go of Luna's mane and looked up at her. "Celestia, I know this vision thing sounds bad, but it shouldn't cause problems between you and your sister," I lectured making her slightly sniffle away a tear before nodding and using a hoof to wipe another tear away. "I know, I'm sorry," she apologized making Luna nod and rush over for a sisterly hug. I've never seen sisters hug out their apologies/problems but seemed highly effective and beautiful to watch.

As I watched them part, I couldn't help to think about what Celestia explained, if there was something going to happen that was based off that "vision", then I needed to make sure I knew the most I could. I drew my own conclusions from what I already knew and all of it was negative; death, blood, suffering, screaming, darkness and those words. I wish I could say I was confused, but I was driven by the fear of losing my new friends, the death of them is the death of me as well. I didn't want to be negative when they barely made amends, but I need to know.

"Celestia, Luna, I'm worried about what you told me earlier, how does this work?" I asked making Luna look up at me and place a hoof firmly on the floor. "The first time you got this vision was just a sign but if it occurs twice, it's a warning that it's near," Luna stated making me quickly ask. "How near!?"

She looked over at her sister before looking towards me, anyone could see the fear in her eyes.

"Today near," She responded forcing me to quickly retract a step, if this is true then what the hell is happening; Twilight and a great portion of her friends are missing and I left K alone with the only two left. I quickly gritted my teeth as I connected this all somehow. "Ben, are you alright?" Celestia asked. I shook my head before she even finished her question. "No, I have a bad feeling about everything now!" I responded making them both ask.

"What!?"

"It might be a hunch, but…we couldn't find Twilight and nearly the lot of them this morning besides Derpy and Rarity-" I began before Celestia quickly intervened with, "WHAT!?" I continued despite her sudden interruption. "I said it might be a hunch, Rarity was there and Derpy, none have any idea where Twilight and the rest went…I'm just saying there might be a connection." I said hoping to keep Celestia calm but like she told me last night, she worried an awful lot about her little ponies, I guess I should too.

"We must find them!" Celestia exclaimed. Me and Luna had no argument over that but we did have the common sense to ask. "HOW!?" Celestia quickly entered a thinking state before she quickly lifted a hoof up and aimed it in direction of the dorms. "We should check the dwellings!" She said taking a slight step in the direction she mentioned.

"Fine, I'll follow you, sis," Luna quickly neared her sister's side. I ran my fingers to my head and focused on K's energy. "And I'll get K and the rest and meet you there!" They both looked at me and nodded. "Agreed!"

The princess teleported away and I was left alone with my fingers to my head, did I look stupid doing this? I closed my eyes and focused once more. "What the-" I whispered as I sensed K's energy but, just like the princesses earlier, his energy was swollen up as well. His energy stunned me for a bit before I shook it off and quickly got back to what I was doing.

gone*

I brought K and the two ponies to meet Celestia in the dorm where Twilight spent last night; apparently, he had to scare away a bully of some kind thus explaining his sudden power surge. I filled K in along the way, he was more than interested about it but he only asked blunt questions like "How?" and "Why?" I answered him to the best of my knowledge let me before the two mares by his side joined in, clearly worried and demanding of answers, well probably just Rarity, Derpy was just listening in. "But, we will find them, right!?" Rarity asked. I wished I could answer that but I really didn't know how to. K got ahead of me and answered like he would. "I'm sure we will, I got a trick up my sleeve that is sure to find one of them!"

"What?" All three of us asked making sure we heard him right. He repeated what he said and made it clear he had something to find "one" of them. I had no idea what he meant by "one" but if it would help find one of them then I'm all ears. "So how?" I asked walking into the corridor that had all dorms. He smirked as he aimed finger to his head. "I'm saving it for last resort, but it's sure to work! Don't worry about it till then," he reassured.

"Fine…" Rarity sighed as she followed to the room where Celestia was presumably at, Derpy remained silent as she followed. I sighed as well but I was at least glad that K had a confirmed technique for finding "one" of them; whoever it may be.

"Okay, we're here," I said opening the door and confronting the two princesses inside, the room looked like it was flipped upside down and the right back up.

"Hey, any luck?" I asked entering with the group following behind. "No, there doesn't seem to be anything!" Celestia exclaimed sounding distraught, I raised my hand to calm her. "Calm down, what about you Luna?" Luna turned to me shaking her head in disappointment as well. Well, I guess it's time for K to show that last resort of his, I turned to him and silently indicated him to do something with that last resort. He didn't comply, he smirked and shook his head as he made his way to the princesses.

"What's the matter?" He asked as if I hadn't informed him. The princesses glared at him sternly, they knew he heard what they were talking about. He asked again but with a bit more "ANSWER ME!" in the way he said it. The princesses complied and answered him. "We've lost nearly everypony!" Celestia responded before Luna picked up. "And we can't find them, we fear the worst!"

K waved his hands in front of him to make them quiet down. "Listen! You're Alicorns, right?" He asked them as if he was about to blow their minds; he probably was. They stared at him before nodding silently making K nod back waiting for them to catch on to what he was saying. "What are you trying to say?" Celestia asked. K facepalmed himself before he lashed out at them. "CAN'T YOU SENSE OTHER ALICORNS?!"

He blew their minds, the two princesses quickly agreed rapidly before using their magic and concentrating very strictly. I facepalmed myself as well as I realized that too, and I facepalmed myself a second time before placing my fingers to my head. How didn't I realize I could do this? If I could detect energy signals and teleport to them then I could just find one of the absent ponies. K also facepalmed making the same realization I did and ran his fingers to his forehead. I looked down to Rarity and Derpy looking completely lost, of course, they'd be lost looking at a bunch that are trying to magically find something.

"Uh…yeah, we're working on finding our friends!" I chuckled making them slightly giggle.

It didn't take long for something to happen, Celestia quickly widened her eyes in excitement. "I FOUND SOMETHING!" She quickly exclaimed disappearing into nothing. It was almost in correlation that Celestia somehow appeared over K and dropped with him to the floor; now both stared at each other surprised, K seriously stared up at Celestia, she was on him again. I looked over wondering how that happened.

"What are you doing?" K asked not even twitching as he remained still. Celestia blushed as she stared at K, she tried to comprehend what she did. "I…uh…tried to teleport," She responded nervously and shocked about it. I exchanged looks with Luna before we surrounded K and Celestia; K had a raised brow while Celestia stared back the same way.

"Did you say, you tried to _teleport_?" K asked emphasizing the word "teleport", making sure he heard it right. Celestia reassured him, before hopping off him blushing slightly and K catapulted himself onto his feet. "Yes, I found Twilight's essences!" Celestia said aiming her hoof at K. "Near you!"

K fixed his collar and dusted himself off with his hands. "Inside me eh…" K whispered to himself. "Yes!" Celestia answered him.

K looked one hand and the other before dropping them down his sides. "How did they get inside me?" he asked. Celestia was a bit too quick when it came to saving her ponies and quickly demanded K to release them, in which he insisted her to calm down. "JUST RELEASE THEM!" Celestia demanded again for the second time and K responded like he did the first time. "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO!"

Celestia wasn't having it with him today and quickly came back at him. "BUT YOU CAN DO IT WITH FLUTTERSHY! WHY CAN'T YOU DO IT WITH MY STUDENT!?" Celestia argued and K finally had it with her continuous arguing. "FINE! WAIT RIGHT THERE! FUCK ME!" He growled as he quickly disappeared into a floating sphere…a soul sphere. We all stared at the dark-colored sphere as it slowly glowed with K's aura.

"Wow…you actually convinced him to do something!" I chuckled making Luna nod with a slight giggle. "But, he's pretty good at convincing others too!" she added. I gave her that one, K was supportive of others, I knew that well. "Yeah!" Derpy added joyfully from Luna's side and Rarity shrugged with a smile; she obviously wouldn't know. I agreed with them and chuckled a bit before Celestia flinched a bit at the sudden change of color from the soul orb; it went from black to bright purple. We all turned to the orb with high expectations and hoped for the best.

In seconds of the color change, the orb slowly began floating down until it reached about three feet from the ground. "What is it doing?" Rarity asked followed by nods from everypony, I, on the other hand, knew very well what was going. If the orb just changed color and fell from K's eye level to pony eye level then it was a matter of drawing out the conclusion. Before I could comment on it, the orb suddenly quickly blinded with a purple light and we all covered our sight. "What is it doing!?" Luna asked as she used her wings to cover herself. She must have spoken too late because the shine instantly dimmed down and before us was a pony laid on the ground. "What? TWILIGHT!?" Celestia asked quickly getting low and using her magic to turn Twlight around. "TWILIGHT, ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?".

I stared suspiciously at the body, it seemed normal enough but the way K hasn't appeared lead me to believe that he's done what he's always done. Twilight slowly opened one of her eyes before getting Celestia in her sights and grinning. "Nope, I feel like shit," She chuckled making Celestia quickly widen her eyes in shock. "What? K?!" Celestia asked as she studied Twilight's new red glowing eyes, Twilight nodded and tried to get on her hooves but her hooves gave out and she fell. "This is why…you don't mix a pure soul with a stained one," Twilight warned trying to get up again but failed like the first time.

I didn't know what to say and Celestia didn't either but anypony here could see Celestia's remorse for demanding K to do such a thing, now K was inside Twilight's body and he was weak. "But hey…good news is that they are inside me…" Twilight weakly stated laying her head down on the floor and giving stuttered breaths, almost as if she was dying which was red sirens all over for me and everypony here.

"K, get out of her body, you might not make it," I calmly warned making him chuckle through Twilight's mouth. "Fine…"

He quickly made Twilight disappear into the purple orb and his own black one appeared before he emerged from it. He appeared facing the ceiling on his back again and all he could do is catch his breath as sweat drenched his face. He panted heavily as I quickly reached a hand down to help him up.

"You okay?" I asked as he grabbed my hand and pulled himself off the ground and sat there. "Yeah, but- he inhaled deeply and wiped the sweat from his face -I don't think they can get out of me!" He claimed before adding on. "I spoke with them!". Everypony expressed their thoughts with the word "What!?" as I listened in on what he was saying. He wiped away some more sweat before coughing a bit, despite him looking so hurt Celestia wanted answers.

"K, I'm sorry if I'm pressuring you too much, but please tell me they're okay!?" Celestia pleaded. K nodded weakly as inhaled deeply, "They are…for now," he responded making Celestia, along with all of us, inquire about what he meant. He took in another breath before answering us, he was really hurt, but he insisted on answering our questions.

"Don't interrupt me because I will only say it once," he made clear, we all agreed with what he said before he sighed and began speaking. "Twilight told me about a strange creature that tried to hurt them last night," I had to use my hand to stop Celestia from bursting out another question, she wasn't happy about it but I was going to let K finish before she asked anything. Everypony expressed their curiosity with their shocked faces.

"She said this creature was made up of magic itself, almost as if it feeds off the living itself. I asked her about it and how none of them were hurt? She told me she knew "Soul spells" or something like that and managed to move everypony into me since I was the nearest thing around that was safe…" K shifted his focus to Rarity. "You were asleep unlike the rest, so your soul had difficulties and remained behind," He explained making her nod and accept that.

He continued explaining the confusing story, "The creature did target Rarity but it was forced to evacuate since I apparently did something that involved emitting a great deal of energy." K looked over to Luna and nodded and Luna nodded back. "Me and Luna had a slight dispute that ended up in that energy…" K chuckled showing he still had some energy in him. "To summarize, there was this creature that was draining magical energy from them and they were forced to evacuate into me, for now, they are safe! And that's all I got…oh yeah, and Pinkie says "Hi!"," He finished. I had to take that in like every other pony here, it wasn't easy but it suits what was happening.

"So, they're safe in you?" Celestia asked suspiciously.

K blinked a couple of times before he facepalmed himself. "Oh shit…you're right! NO! THEY ARE NOT!" He exclaimed getting some random strength from somewhere. "How so!?" Celestia asked making K clap his hands once before aiming a finger at himself.

"I am a demon! They are pure! IF THEY STAY ANY LONGER THAN A FEW DAYS INSIDE ME, THEY TOO WILL BECOME DEMONS!" K exclaimed making Celestia nearly lose it. I felt everypony cut their breath short as K yelled those words out, I reached my hand to K to pick him up off the floor. I got him to his feet before he was bombarded by Celestia's questions.

"WHAT DO WE DO!?"

"Um…I'll ask!" He said disappearing into his orb, we all stared at each other as we waited for him to come back, hopefully with an answer. "This just went crazy!" Luna commented and she spoke for everypony here, me included. "Okay then, I guess I'll explain how this goes!" I said driving their attention to my small plan for the moment. They turned to me and I instantly started planning it out.

"First, we get Twilight and her friends out of K's body before bad stuff happens, then we take care of this mystery creature, then problem solved!" I planned not even being specific about it, they all nodded in agreement but I got the questions that were expected. "How will we defeat this creature? And how will we get Twilight and her friends out of his body?" Luna asked. I grinned as I responded the only way I knew. "We take it in steps, I promise this creature won't cause harm to anything before me." I've placed my life on the line plenty of times so I wasn't as worried as the ponies around me.

"You should value your life, it isn't given to you so you can waste it!" Luna preached to me, I knew what she meant but I had a code and one I pledged to follow it a long time ago. "Protecting my friends from harm isn't a waste…" I smoothly responded with a smile. I guess they figured what I meant and remained silent but with warm smiles. I liked it when they smiled, it was relieving.

We waited a few more seconds before the orb in front of us began glowing and K quickly landed on his feet. "THEY ANSWERED!" he yelled startling us all. We regained our composure and looked at him expecting an answer. "And…" Luna said allowing him to finish.

"THEY SCREAMED AND PANICKED! Except for Pinkie, she just said "YAY DEMON SQUAD!"." He yelled out. I scratched my head as I sighed. "So much for asking."

"What now!?" Rarity asked making K sway his head to her and smile a smile that called for help. We all gave K a worried look as he chuckled and laughed a bit insanely as he lifted his hand to his chest.

"Now…I do the painful extraction!" K chuckled pulling out a knife out of his back pocket and giving it a few careless twirls before placing it up to his hand; it was my bowie knife, the one I had stashed on my vest. I looked at him as he placed it against the skin of his hand and quickly got everyponies' denial, I was a bit worried too but he seemed to know what he was doing; he was grinning.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Luna and Celestia yelled out while Rarity looked away. "NO, THAT'S DANGEROUS!" Derpy cried making K's grin more solid. I stared at him as he pressed the knife against his skin and pierced it. "EEK!" Derpy yelped covering her eyes and hiding with Rarity.

"You'll see…" K teased as he slashed the knife across the backside of his hand and blood poured. I can tell these princesses were 100% anti-blood, they froze and whimpered as K placed the knife on his hand again. K didn't seem to mind the blood dripping since quickly deeply cut a circle onto the back side of his hand. "Ah…how I missed doing this to souls that belonged in hell…" He chuckled beginning to make more figures on his hand. He bit his tongue as the knife made lefts, rights, and diagonals. Celestia and Luna where by my side as they looked at K play around with his hand, they would at times gag and shiver as they used me as a shield for their eyes.

"And…done!" K said as he removed the knife from his hand and showed us the backside of his blood covered hand; there was blood all over and this symbol that was a circle with a star in it, this was that symbol I heard so much about in the movies, _my boy K is a Picasso_. "WHAT IS THAT!?" Luna and Celestia sternly yelled as they squinted their eyes in disgust. K grinned as the pentagram began to glow like fire and his eyes glowed his bright red; I was at a loss for words and the princesses were as well.

"Usually, this sends souls to Hell or Tartarus, but in this case, I'll use it to extract their souls…this is what I call _fucking yourself_!" He chuckled as he placed his hand to his chest and made the symbol face us. In a few seconds, the symbol on his hand projected a bigger version and a breeze appeared. K clenched his teeth as he swiped the knife once more across his hand to complete his ritual.

"Soul…Extraction!" He yelled out before a white light blinded everything in sight. I ran my hands to my eyes to avoid going blind and I hoped everypony did too. I waited a few seconds before the light finally died out and I was able to reopen my eyes; I didn't notice right away but I could hear multiple groans and grunts. "Wha-?" I managed to grunt out as I finally was able to make out a roomful of ponies everywhere. I blinked away the blur before looking at Celestia rejoice in the reappearance of her ponies, but Luna, Derpy, and Rarity surrounded something else. I ignored the ponies for now as I quickly made my way to where Luna was and looked down to see K, laying down coughing out the last bit of breath he had.

"Oh…fuck that hurts!" He forced out with a grin. I kneeled down next to him and looked at his nearly lifeless looking body. "K, that's enough hurting yourself for today!" I yelled at him sternly. He laughed weakly as he raised a weak hand and gave me the weakest punch to the chest. "The pain from today, will end the pain tomorrow," he chuckled. I gritted my teeth and gave him a soft punch to his arm, "You wiseass!"

"Are you okay?" Derpy asked him nearly losing the fight with her tears, he nodded and placed a hand on her mane. "I'm an idiot with a purpose, I don't die so easily!" He smiled making Derpy smile back with those tears going down slowly. If I knew something, it was that these two would have something special between them…they did have something special.

"How do you just hurt yourself!?" Luna yelled at him, he looked up at her and wiped away those tears of hers with a smile. "Because who better to hurt," He whispered with a smile as he disappeared into his orb and let my body absorb him. Luna was dumbfounded by what he said and just snarled at his response. "He's…He's…"

"A good friend…" I finished for her, she looked at me and weakened her frown. "Yeah, he is," she whimpered. I sympathized for her, for knowing K as who he was but she didn't understand the one thing he is; a messed-up idiot with a heart; like me. I reassured her he was fine for the moment as long as he stayed inside me for the while, this way he slowly recovered. She brightened up, it seemed knowing he was safe was good enough for her. "K is that type of guy, to be a fool when it comes to serious matters and be serious when it comes to…others feelings," I chuckled making Luna, Derpy, and Rarity laugh out a bit. "I wish he was that simple!" Luna giggled making me laugh a bit and agree.

Now that I had calmed the company here, I had to get over to the ones behind me. I turned to meet all the ponies there conversating about what was going and what happened. They seemed above all, fine and unharmed. I sighed as I sat on the floor with my legs stretched out, and I stared at the pony mayhem in front of me.

"What now?" Luna asked me resting my side.

"Yeah," Derpy and Rarity added coming from my other side.

"Now…step two…find and get rid of this creature," I responded making the ponies by my side lean in closer. "Okay…we'll help too," Luna reassured me while Derpy agreed, Rarity was a bit shaken up but she gave her word too. I didn't know how to defeat a creature that swallowed energy but hell, it wouldn't be the first time I fought something I didn't understand.

"I'm ready for anything!"


	34. Chapter 34 - PTSD

#34

Still, in the same room and with the same company except now I managed to get a word with each of them, it was strange speaking to them considering they were hiding from a weird creature not so long ago. I was on my feet and by a window, as I looked at the outskirts of the castle with my arms crossed, pondering what to do. I had Luna by one side with Dash on the other, Derpy and Rarity had gone to check on the rest. "So, you plan on defeating it?" Dash asked me from my right, there wasn't an option about it, I was.

"Yeah," I responded briefly staring out the window. I had a lot on my mind; from thinking of a way to defeat magic itself, to what I was going to eat. Dash neared me a bit closer and gave me a slight tap. "Are you okay?"

I turned to her with a smile, I was fine, I was just a bit worried about them, that was it. "Yeah, just worried me when you all disappeared," I chuckled, I felt weird telling her that I worried about her, especially when she was safely right in front of me. Even if I thought it was weird, she didn't; she was gently smiling as she blushed a bit and expressed her thanks.

"You shouldn't worry about me, I'm cool, always!" She reassured me with a huge smile, how could I argue with her when she gleamed at me with that cute face. "I'm not going to argue!" I said turning to Luna on my left, she stared out the window with discomfort and melancholy. I reached down a hand and got her attention.

"Yes?" She asked turning to me quickly, she was spooked and would react to anything in an instant. "Do you need something?" I asked her but she quickly turned me down on that. "Okay, I'll let you think," I finished as I began moving away from the window with Dash following closely; I did this on purpose since I knew she wanted something, and this was how I would find out. I got a reaction instantly, I felt something tug my shirt and I turned to see Luna looking at the floor, her head hanging low in a depressed manner. "I want to end this creature…" She whispered, loud enough for me and Dash to hear it. I agreed with that, but it was strange for her to say such a thing, I've never heard this way of speaking after their encounter with me; above all her tone was serious and I had problems taking in her words.

"We will Luna-" She cut me off before I could finish. "No, I want to end this now!" Luna came back with a more demanding tone. This tone was becoming stronger, and I found it harder to accept this new vengeful Luna. I've never expected her to act this way. I had no choice but to follow her orders, if she wants me to kill it, then I'll kill it.

"Fine, I'll make sure of it," I gave her my word and I never back from my word. I made sure Luna could see how seriously I took her request, she looked up at me and immediately froze for a bit; she knew. "T-thank you," She unwillingly squeezed out of her throat, all I could see in her was a lingering fear, from this creature or me, maybe both.

K cut in from inside. " _So, we're going to end this today?"_ he asked as seriously as I was.

" _Yeah, Luna has spoken and I gave my word,_ "I responded confirming his question; and today was the day to end this. He was silent for a while before cutting back in. _"I agree, we must if we want to make it to that concert tomorrow."_

I had no argument there, I looked forward to seeing Octavia again and to show off some musical skill but now I had to worry about this creature _. "Damn it, I'm with you but this creature is a threat to everypony at that concert too!"_ I made clear and he remained silent for a while again, this time longer than before.

" _K? you there?_ "

" _Ben, look at Celestia…_ "K warned, his voice finally emerging again but in a cautious tone. I slowly turned my head to look at Celestia and indeed K was right; there was something there, transparent and nearly invisible but I could see its energy; dark and distorted. _"What the hell is that?"_ I asked slowly reaching my hand down to my sword and pulling out a few inches. As I pulled it out I noticed Dash and Luna's voices whisper out to me.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked from my left sounding worried.

"What do you see?" Dash asked from the right sounding curious.

I ignored them as I pulled my sword out slowly, I was concentrated on what I was seeing. My pose must have shown my plans because I was aiming my eyes right at Celestia and with my hand on my sword. Luna quickly tried to stop me again with a whisper, "Ben!? What are you doing!?" I wasn't paying attention to anything but the weird thing over Celestia, while Celestia giggled with Twilight about something.

K quickly reappeared in my head, "Kill it…"

I quickly swung my sword out of the holster and let it go in mid-swing making it spiral to my target cutting the air as it rapidly moved. "BEN! NO!" Luna yelled out from my right. I quickly blinked my eyes wide-open as the sword I presumably launched was now inches from impacting my face. I dodged the sword and caught it with my hand, I was breathing slightly heavily as I aimed my sword at the creature again.

"BEN! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Luna asked trying to push me down with her magic but I refused to let her over power me. "LUNA IT'S BACK!" I yelled out hoping she'd stop and she did. She looked up at me and quickly at the frightened ponies in the room, she rapidly looked around before stopping and turning to me again. "WHERE!?" She asked. I held my sword to the creature that was easily visible to me, she looked at me and at what I was seeing multiple times but she couldn't see it.

"I CAN'T SEE IT!" She exclaimed making me walk up to the creature, Celestia was now out of the way and all that was left was the creature by the door of the room. I stopped at about a foot away from the creature, from the outline I could see it was just a bit taller than me, maybe six feet. Everypony remained silent as I stared up at the creature.

"Show yourself…" I demanded with a new approach; a grin stretched across my face and I had my sword holstered away. I could tell this creature understood by the way it seemed to flinch a bit. I waited a few seconds before a strange pressure tried to push me away but I wasn't moving from my position. In nearly a split second it appeared, and gasps were heard from all over as the creature made its presence known. It was a weird creature, all covered in black, worn out rags, almost like the depiction of Death but this creature had a monstrous face that just read death all over. Its sharp teeth and tiny, insane looking eyes gave it the look of a merciless killer with no control, it's face was composed of cuts and scars and its skin was a dark green and to add on to it…it was humanoid.

"That's-that's…." Twilight stuttered in nearly a panicked sound before Celestia and Luna appeared by my sides. "It's…it's…." Luna stuttered as well not finding the confidence to say what she wanted to say but Celestia did. "…A reaper…" Celestia finished making me grin just a bit wider, Celestia explained this creature to me as I didn't break eye contact with it.

"What do we do now!? These creatures prey on magic dwellers until they're defense and kill them!" Celestia explained making me scoff, I chuckled as I looked up at the creature.

"Ben? A reaper it incredibly powerful…they come from Tartarus and are unable to be killed! And who would summon such a thing!?" Luna added from my other side. I couldn't stop my grin, and my growing excitement; I've never felt so excited to fight, I had to remind myself what I was doing this for in the first place. "Ben!? STOP THAT! WE'LL RETURN IT BACK TO TARTARUS!" Celestia yelled but I was not listening. I looked up at the creature's grin and meet it with my own, it wasn't until a few seconds of staring that he tried something childish and gave me that classical taunt of "BOO!"

His voice was demonic, as in actually demonic. I wasn't fazed by his sudden scare, I remained still on the floor and with no changes in my expression. He cocked an eyebrow before laughing out like a mad creature. "YOU'RE NOT SCARED, YOU SHOULD BE!" He laughed out forcing all the ponies behind me into a freeze and making them tremble. I didn't move, I had my hand to my sides, defenseless and open for any attack; my excitement got in the way of my normal reaction.

"Scared of what? Putting a fool in his place?" I taunted back getting a sudden reaction by everypony, I could tell they couldn't believe what I was doing. The reaper laughed like he was losing his mind and grabbed his stomach as he laughed like I told him a joke for the ages; I didn't. He eventually stopped and looked down at me with a toothy grin. "Ben…stop it…" Luna whimpered behind me as she retreated away from me and this reaper, Celestia also retreated but she only shook her head hoping she wasn't seeing right.

"You think you can defeat me!? I'm going to torture you and your friends in Tartarus, once I kill you!" The Reaper taunted again but like before, I wasn't budging or changing my attitude. He might have a mouth but I got a strong will and a mission. I was going to kill it, nothing is un-killable, I'll make that clear to everypony and this Reaper. I chuckled a bit as I shook my head and looked up at him again.

"Defeat you? No, I'm going to kill you," I grinned making him pause for a few seconds, and everypony behind me froze in place. It must have been my smug voice or attitude because they were stunned into silence. "You think-!"

I didn't give it much time to talk, I drove my fist into its stomach so hard I felt like I pierced it. I could tell this thing could feel pain, so I quickly switched my fist for a leap into the air and kicking him down to the ground with his back to me. I placed my foot on its back and pressed on its back as I forced it to kneel down. I gave the reaper a chuckle before quickly looking up at the ponies. Their looks were as shocked, impressed, and terrified as they could get. Luna whispered under her breath, "Ben?" while Dash whispered, "so cool!"

" _I've heard of these things before, damn things can endure a fight since they feed off their surroundings,"_ K explained in my head making me grin wider.

" _So, I just have to bombard it with as much power as I can to end it?"_ I mentally asked back. I could tell K was grinning as he answered. " _Yeah, but it will survive in Tartarus, so I'll seal its fate,_ "K was seemingly more excited than before and seemed highly active.

" _You sure you can deal with it after that last thing you did?"_

" _Hell yeah, doing this to these things is harmless to me…mentally! We just have to weaken it to the point it can't fight back!"_

" _Cool, I got you!"_

I looked down at the Reaper under my boot and quickly kicked its head to turn it around. I stared at the grin of a psychopath. "What's with that look?" I asked. He responded immediately by grabbing my ankle and gripping it to the point I felt like he'd probably broken it. I cringed a bit as he began massaging my ankle in the most excruciating way. He glared up at me as I did my best to not move my leg. "NOW YOU DIE!" He exclaimed quickly standing up, lifting me from my ankle and hovering me over the ground upside down.

"Ah! Fuck you!" I cursed from the pain his actions caused my ankle. He quickly swung me behind him and I ran my fingers to my head as he ferociously swung me forward to the ground.

"BEN!" They all yelled before I quickly closed my eyes.

"INSTANT TRANSMISSION!"

He let go of me, sending me rocketing towards the Canterlot streets. The best place to take this fight was out of the castle and into the skies of Canterlot. It took a great deal of strength to stop myself before hitting the pavement below me, by luck I managed to stop inches from hitting the ground, now I stared at two freighted and curious ponies as they stared back. I had my back to the ground as I stared at them upside down and laid down in mid-air.

"Uh…hi," I awkwardly greeted with a smile, hoping to not scare them away. They looked at each other before greeting back.

"Hello, aren't you that new creature with unimaginable strength?" One of them asked, I nodded before I quickly looked up at the damn thing rushing towards me. I quickly reached for my sword and threw it in his direction before grabbing both ponies and retreating a few feet away from the action.

"WOAH! WHAT IS THAT THING!?" They both asked as I placed them down and looked up at the Reaper with my sword stabbed right through its chest. "That's a very dangerous creature, you two stay a safe distance away," I warned as I quickly took off to the sky and met my enemy about ten feet away. "Thank you!" They yelled hoping I'd hear them; I did. I looked down and gave a thumb up with a grin making them fluster and look away with blushes.

I turned back to my opponent before feeling my ankle, the pain has severed to a mere itch but I wasn't going to allow him to give me another "massage". I stared at him painfully dislodge the sword from his chest, groaning and aching. He nearly pulled out the whole piece if titanium before I quickly appeared before him and kicked it right back into him; he cursed and spat out a bit of blood as he pulled out the sword without hesitation.

"I won't give you any time to recover, so prepare yourself! I'M ENDING THIS NOW!" I yelled quickly stealing the sword from his hands and spinning a 360 to slash at his arm before quickly kicking him away. He clutched his arm as he did his best to use his magic to reattach it. I knew well that if he's healing, he's taking the living essence of anything to heal; I won't let him do that. I appeared once more in front of him and slashed at his other arm before going for a leg but he quickly dodged it and backed away.

"YOU FOOLISH MORTAL!" He exclaimed as he instantly caused his stubs to regrow the limbs. I stared disgusted by what I saw but I wasn't going to let him just go and use anything surrounding us to heal himself. I quickly got flicked my sword and made a charge for him again but this time I rocketed towards him using my backhand tactic. He smirked as he aimed his hand towards me and charged it up and my eyes widened at the fact I couldn't stop.

"DIE!"

" _I'M TAKING OVER!"_ K quickly emerged inside my head, I quickly felt my body become unresponsive and my mind drift aside.

K quickly used instant transmission to appear behind his target and gave him a kick sending him down to the grounds of Canterlot. As the reaper was on the verge of hitting the ground, K reappeared under him and gave a spine-murdering knee to his back sending him back to the sky before he came towards him again with a series of kicks and punches. K pounded him towards the ground and pinned him to the ground by the face. He pressed his head to the pavement with his hand, cracking the pavement beneath it.

"I despise you Reapers, why can't you just stay in Tartarus where you belong?!" K asked, being strict about his question and removing his hand from his face. The reaper looked up at him and gave his psychopathic look as he laughed out loud; K wasn't going to be moved by his gestures. "What are you laughing about?!" K asked giving a punch to his chest. He didn't stop laughing and it seemed that the more it went on the more K was on the verge to break.

"YOU CAN'T KILL ME YOU FOOL! I ALWAYS COMEBACK!"

K paused before, slowly, he grew a smile as he lifted himself off the ground and gave out the most psychopathic laughter; he didn't need to try, to laugh like that. The reaper looked at him; his grin and laughter were gone along with all the taunts he had.

"OH REALLY!?" K's laughed manically as his aura had erupted with his madness. The reaper gave a few mumbles before aiming a finger towards K. "I-I KNEW THERE WAS DEMON HERE! I KNEW IT!" The reaper exclaimed. K swapped his laughter for a grin before balling a fist and waving it in the air.

"IT'S TIME!" K exclaimed quickly separating his body from Ben's. "LETS GO BEN!"

"Right!" I exclaimed quickly powering up, and positioning myself in a fighting stance in unison with K. The reaper jumped onto its claws(feet) and gave us a growl as it as well powered up. Now we were all ready for a fight.

"I'll break its demon seal, and you get ready to end it," K explained locking eyes with the reaper. I nodded and chuckled as I looked around us. Ponies were everywhere; frightened, excited, curious, confused; Looks like I should make my debut in Canterlot. "Looks like we've got an audience," I chuckled making K look off with the corner of his eye to the over-crowded streets before focusing back at the reaper with a grin. "Let's not disappoint!" K exclaimed making his aura explode into its demonic dark shade of purple; Looks like K's stronger than he seems. "Right!" I replied making my own field of energy explode into a transparent white.

The reaper stared at us before he quickly powered up once more, it felt like multiple energies were being combined into his body as he quickly charged up more upon more. The multiple energies must have been that of the ponies he's already drained energy from; this guy was annoying. "NOW!" K yelled out making me charge out towards him with a fist out as K quickly pulled out the bowie knife from before and began placing the knife onto the backside of his other hand.

My fist met his fist and we practically created a huge wave of wind, he quickly powered up a sphere of sparking energy in his free hand trying to ram it against my chest but the end of my sword was always ready to meet anything. I swiped my sword at the energy making it explode in his hand before quickly returning the favor with my own energy blast; I flipped myself upside down in front of him and aimed a hand to his chest before unleashing the devastating blow that would conclude the "turning of tables".

He groaned and yelled as the attack that launched him, curved and sent him straight up into the sky and before an explosion occurred at the end. I quickly took off to meet him in the sky; it was obvious he wouldn't die until K broke the "demon seal" thing, so I had to make sure to weaken him.

"K DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" Celestia demanded quickly appearing beside K, startling him and making him drop his aura. K regained his focus and placed the knife against himself again. "Hey, just in time for the finally!" K smiled as he looked up at Ben trade blows with the reaper. Celestia looked up at Ben before Luna startled K from the other side. "YOU WILL NOT DO THAT AGAIN!" She exclaimed taking the knife from his hand. K reached out for the Bowie but it quickly disappeared into nothing, making K frown aim a finger at Ben.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO KILL IT WITHOUT-!" K was stopped by Luna's quickly shoving a book into his face. "What the…" K whispered taking the book from his face and looking at Luna. She hinted the book with her eyes looking back and forth between the book and K; K got the point and looked at the book reading it rigorously. After some quick overlooks, he quickly perked up with an excited smile as he forced the book shut and looked at Luna with an "Okay, I got it" smile.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier…whatever, now you made this a whole new level of fun!" K exclaimed as he flexed his knuckles and neck. He looked behind him to study the over-crowed pony population and at Twilight and the rest within it. "HEY! ME AND BEN ARE GOING TO END THIS RIGHT NOW!" K yelled towards them; they nodded back unwillingly except Dash, Vinyl, Derpy, and Pinkie who were all for it.

"Are you sure you have that much strength?" Celestia asked. K smirked and caused his aura to explode like earlier but this time the aura ravished and caused both Luna and Celestia to quickly retreat away from him. "I think he might suffice!" Luna reassured while Celestia nodded in agreement.

I quickly dodged his barrage of attacks and retreated away to a safe distance before K caught my attention. The reaper looked down at K as well as K placed his hands in that unique position and the words spilled out of his mouth. K's hands instantly lit up with the darkness of his attack.

"FINAL!"

I looked at the reaper and chuckled as I quickly teleported beside K leaving the reaper in the sky looking down at us. "So that's the plan!?" I asked with a grin before K nodded and aimed his hands towards the reaper. "Fine! I'M IN!"

I quickly did my body in that exciting pose with my hands over one another before I erupted my aura.

"LET'S GO! KA-ME-HA-ME-!" I loved the feeling of making my own Kamehameha wave, it felt like I could destroy anything. The reaper looked down at us and quickly reached its hand out sending out a beam of ravishing dark energy going towards us. I chuckled and I'm sure K did as well as I launched my arms out towards the light.

"HAAAAAA!"

"FLASH!"

The powerful beam manifested but not before I noticed something peculiar, the reapers attack was stopped by a bright green beam of magic and the reaper was paralyzed by the same magic; holding him in place. I heard the final yells of the reaper as our attacks finally made an impact. The yells were replaced soon by a huge exploding of white and black…and green and blue (not Luna's blue neither) light in the sky. I huffed out my breath from the attack and so did K but we both had our eyes wide open as we studied the fading colors in the sky. We kept our hands held out as we sighed out final breath; we stood straight up and stared as the last bit of color faded from the sky and the smoke from the explosion cleared. I dismissed the color when the sounds of multiple cheering erupted in the background, I turned to them quickly and smiled as I shrugged. _That was simpler than I anticipated._

"I guess that's that right K…K?" I asked turning to K who was still staring at the sky. I placed my hand on his shoulder and shook him a bit, he turned to me right away and nodded. "Was it the other beams?" I asked. He nodded and sighed as he turned to the crowd.

"Yeah, Thanks to whoever helped out-" K chuckled before getting tackled by Derpy. He bounced a bit to regain his balance before he levitated into the air. As Derpy embraced him, K quickly looked around himself as if he was hoping he wasn't being watched, although everypony was here looking at us. "WOW! YOU'RE POWERFUL!" Derpy complimented making K look back, he was distracted from what he was looking out for and smiled down towards Derpy. "Thanks, he won't be coming back, I know that!" K chuckled.

I wanted to interrupt K to ask about the other present attackers but I couldn't when he seemed to be enjoying his time. I pushed my curiosity aside and joined them in their celebrating; how could I not when we were already surrounded by our friends and ponies asking for autographs. _Geez, I like popularity but this was insane!_

I sighed in relief as Luna and Celestia met me where I was.

"Ben…that was…you're amazing…" Luna complimented making me smile widely, but frankly exhausted. Celestia watched me carefully before turning to Luna.

"Will that be the end of the visions?" Celestia asked before I picked my head up excitedly. Luna gave off a smile as she nodded. "Should be!"

Celestia thought about it before suspiciously looking away. "Hmm…you'd think that vision would represent something more grave…"

I really wasn't going to optimistic about her words, but I had to agree.

"Well, that vision was representing today…so…" Luna hinted before Celestia turned to me with a smile.

"I'll treat you to a dinner this afternoon, but I can't really express my thanks."

I smiled. "Thanks, just seeing everyone okay, is enough of a _thank you._ "

The day was just extreme apart from what took place. The evening was barely darkening, Luna and Celestia paid for the biggest feast I've ever seen and I still haven't begun to eat, the beauty of food before me was too beautiful to even touch. I would reach my hand out to get something but I'd stop myself before I could even do anything. We all sat at this long table that extended about thirty feet, it was a table fit for 18, and thank goodness it was because I never lost those two ponies I met in the beginning of my fight. I still don't know their names, just that they're two mares with a bit of anxiety going on and that they sit opposite of me.

I looked over to K, he sat beside me with the widest eyes. Something was going on with him as he couldn't stop staring at the caramelized apple in front of him; he'd near a finger to it only to retract it as if the apple would bite back. I looked around the table at everypony eating their own meal and conversating about all types of stuff; weather, the concert, some embarrassing things, etc.

I guess I could say I was just distracting myself from eating what was in front of me, I wanted to but I restrained myself. I was in combat with myself as my hand involuntarily moved onto the fork and grabbed it firmly. " _OH NO!"_ I tried to stop myself without looking stupid but that was easier said than done; in the end, I had the taste of, As Celestia mentioned, _Triple-Chocolate-Palooza-Vanilla-Coating- Extravaganza_!

Now I regretted it all, this cake was about as broken as the low price it was sold at, Seriously, why does this delicacy only cost two-hundred bits? (Too low). I wasn't going to express my emotions over it but I was sure K would; I cut out a slice for K and gave it to him. He looked at it suspiciously before using his fork to gently detach a piece of the sweet. I'm not gonna go into detail but Derpy was doing her best to stop K from giving a sonnet about it.

"Woah, you two look so alike," One of the pony visitors admired. I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, strange thing we act so differently."

They were a bit more comfortable after I answered them, they seemed kind and respectful. I took another piece of the cake; every bite was a shiver down my spine and an explosion of flavor in my mouth. As I was about to place another bite into my mouth I was stopped by the sudden stares I was getting by the two ponies in front of me. "Yes?" I asked them, they flustered a bit and smiled nervously.

"Oh…uh…we were just wondering something," one of them answered, I lifted an eyebrow. "Really, what was it?" I asked. They didn't anticipate me responding like that, their try-hard smiles gave it away. They unwillingly chuckled as they waved a hoof.

"No, it's fine-"

"Come on, tell me!" I teased; they sighed as they controlled their anxiety.

"Uh, well, we were just wondering…what are you?" They asked with a wide smile, trying to not be rude. It was going to be hard to answer that, I'm not sure anypony here really understands what I am, not counting K that is. I scratched my head and pondered it a bit; I didn't really have a clear way of answering but I guess I could give it a shot.

I cleared my throat.

"Okay, if I told you that I'm a being from another world, would you understand?" I asked using my hand to keep them calm but I think all I did was trigger their curiously. "From another world?" They asked, I sighed as I nodded.

"Now listen, here we go…I'm Ben, I come from a land called Earth, this earth is full of creatures called "Humans", I'm a human. Now, I'm not going to go into details but humans were to earth what you ponies are to Equestria." I finished before one of them quickly cut in.

"You were peaceful and happy humans?"

I paused for a second, that was something I never considered in including in what I was saying. I didn't really want to answer that but I knew not answering would make them suspicious. I shook my head, hoping they got the memo, they did, but their curiosity followed.

"What does that mean?" They asked. I knew this was coming, hopefully, they understand.

"Okay, this may sound crazy but it's true; We humans had problems…some…very…serious…problems!" I made clear hoping they understood this before I got into detail. They nodded and gulped down as I used my hands to model how this was going to go.

"When I say serious, I meant it. Listen, we had bad and good humans, good humans were working for profit, playing sports, having fun with families, making friends, going to school, etc." I gestured with one hand before firmly placing the other hand on the table, startling them a bit.

"Now, the bad…these humans…uh…well first let me explain the people; we had terrorists, psychopaths, sociopaths, child molesters, murders, thieves, animal abusers, racists, corrupt authorities, corrupt leaders, cartels, drug addicts, the list would take months to finish." I finally managed to catch my breath before getting my arm grabbed by Vinyl. I looked at her worried look before looking around me and noticing all the attention I was getting. _Oh fuck, now I've done it._ I wanted to bury myself into my seat but I was frozen in place by all the stares I was getting.

"Was your world really so divided?" Celestia asked me coming from a few seats away from mine on the opposite row of mine. I looked at her and nodded still feeling a bit wrong for saying all that, K nodded too. "Yeah, Ben and I would be labeled on that bad side of the-!"

I gave K a good elbow to his side, forcing him to lose his air and clutch his side firmly. They looked at me and I was not liking it, this went downhill fast and now I didn't feel like eating.

"What does that mean?" One of the ponies in front of me asked.

I placed my hands on my face and rubbed out any stupid things to say but it seemed, all I could think of was stupid and incriminating.

"Uh…well…a few of you know what I use to do and what I did-"

"But I don't…" Vinyl added from my right. I looked down at her shaking my head hoping she would not ask any more about it but she was already full ears. I wasn't going to say what I did, especially since it was crazy and such a soul-crushing thing to say.

"Vinyl, please don't make me, you don't want to hear it…" I warned her but she quickly objected to it and demanded I tell her. I grabbed her hooves and looked her in the eyes. "Believe me! You might not see me as who I am!" I warned her again but she shook her head and demanded once more.

"Please tell me!"

"Vinyl…I'm warning you this one last time, I wasn't the person you see today…" I said trying to back her off but she was already at the point of no return. She frowned as she quickly banged her hoof on the table. "TELL ME!"

I paused, for her to hit the table and yell out was enough for me to understand she wasn't backing up. I glared at her before Dash grabbed my shoulder and pulled a bit. I looked at her, she was shaking her head; warning me, she knew well about what I would say. "Dash, don't interfere!" Vinyl lashed, before Dash countered furiously, "NO! JUST LET HIM BE!"

"Dash, it's fine, I'll tell her…" I said raising my hand up to her face.

"But Ben…" She whispered out before I interrupted her.

"I don't like to see my friends fight, let me tell."

She backed off and returned to her seat and passed by Vinyl's, but along the way she whispered out a something to Vinyl that set the tone.

"Don't look at him differently after this…"

Vinyl didn't take that from her, she shrugged it off arrogantly. I looked back to the princesses, both sipping with worried expressions from their cider. I wish I had some cider right now. I was about to begin before K placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Make sure she doesn't ever ask again, and if you don't, then I will…"

K was good with threats, but I already was to the point I had no regrets on filling in some details I never said before. I nodded looking towards Vinyl as I placed my hand on the table and turned my chair to face her. K released me and I sighed with my eyes closed.

"I was a curse back on earth, I lived well for a few years before getting drafted into a world of mindless torture, murder, and twisted things-"

I could see she was already a loose enough, she wasn't going to like the rest; then again, the others only knew part of what I did; this was going to be something to explain.

"When I was sixteen, I finally killed someone who wasn't innocent, I remember it so clearly; he held his throat as blood flew everywhere and I was showered in it; I never understood what I was doing but he was the fulcrum of the chain of deaths I carry with me; he was a young, so young…but I didn't care, my enemy was my enemy!" I wasn't enjoying this; Vinyl's face was about as broken as my background. I stared at her eyes as they widened and refused to believe, now she has to suffer this. Her eyes grew watery and she covered her mouth with her hooves, trembling as she shook her head.

"You'd think before that I was different, but it was only more horrifying, I participated in the massacre of an orphanage-"

"STOP! NO MORE!" Vinyl cried out covering her ears and crying insanely; that didn't take long. I sighed as I placed both elbows on the table nodded; I stopped. Vinyl wasn't the only one who couldn't hold back tears, almost everypony was crying, all except Dash, Luna, Derpy and K.

"I was stupid, an idiot…a monster…" I chuckled holding back the regret. K looked up at me and so did Luna, both seemed rather intrigued by that word "Monster" as I mumbled it a few times. I gulped heavily as I smacked my head on the table and rested on it.

"I guess…I can see why I have K by my side,"

"That's one of the reasons," K sighed drinking a bit of the cider he had that I wish I had. Life was still a bit broken and making amends was something hard to do since there is no cure for death. "One?" Luna asked. I nodded and sighed again.

"I said that telling my background wasn't easy, I hope you understand when I say, I was never who you see today, I was a-"

"You're alright, you may have been "that" then, but you realized the difference between "that" and "this" …come on, pick yourself up, you may have had a bad start but in the end, you choose where you want to go!" K cut in, handing me a glass of cider. K was always helpful, but he was a level of friendship I couldn't follow. He patted my back before rustling my hair with a huge smile; I couldn't help but smile in return.

"That's the spirit!" K exclaimed grabbing another slice of cake. "You're right, thanks," I thanked taking a deep breath before looking up at my audience still a bit shaken up and probably viewing me with questions. The two pony guests were crying as I expected them. Trying to calm them was first order.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that,"

"No-no, it's our fault for asking, you don't have to be sorry!" They tried covering up for me but I wasn't going to let them take any blame; it wasn't right when we invited them.

"Don't hurt yourself over it, Ben can't go life holding back his background, it just takes a matter of trust," Luna added hoping to ease the guests, her voice was the shift in their emotions; if Luna said it, it has to be true. I found her words soothing as well, she backed me up almost in every occasion that was negative against me.

"I find that hard to believe," Lyra said staring at her cider with a smile. I looked at her confused by her words and her look, how can she sound so depressed but be happy. "How did you ever manage?" Bonbon asked me forcing me to chuckle, I was optimistic even at times of despair, that is, until a certain point in life. Applejack picked her head up and smiled as she answered for me.

"Because he found out life had more to offer than just hurtin' others!" She answered as if I hadn't hurt her enough. I found it surprising when most of them cheered a "Yeah!" across this table along with K and the princesses; Lyra, Bonbon, and the Visitors became a bit fonder of me but still cynic. "Thanks, AJ, I'm glad you understood it when I told you," She blushed as she returned with, "You're welcome."

I scanned as everypony was cheerful again, all except one, Vinyl; she wasn't here, not in her chair or in the restaurant. I turned my head everywhere searching but found nothing, I must have gotten a lot of attention doing so and the questions piled in.

"What is it?" One of the visitors asked before everypony asked. I looked around once more, hoping to get a glimpse of her; nothing.

"Did any of you by any chance see where Vinyl went?" I asked quickly forcing Dash to sternly stare at the empty chair before smashing her hoof on the table.

"Oh, come on! I'm going to find her!" Dash groaned, obviously annoyed by Vinyl's disappearance. I got up along with her and meet her at the entrance of the restaurant, "I'll go with you."

"Fine, I even told her but she didn't listen," She groaned, mumbling out her frustration and began trotting out of the place with me following behind her. "Uh…I'll be back as soon as I can!" I waved as I left through the gigantic glass doors.

All the ponies stared at Ben as he left the area before looked down at their food a bit confused. They remained silent as they exchanged looks between each other, pondering what had just happened before K lifted a brow. He studied their looks before chuckling, lifting his cider glass to the sky, and grabbing Derpy with his elbow.

"Any pony up for a challenge?! I've got a high tolerance for alcoholic cider!"

Luna quickly looked up with a grin and lifted the bottle of cider with her magic. "BRING IT!"

K chuckled as he picked up the other bottle of cider and filled his glass to the brim. "Alright, Luna but what about-"

"US TOO!" Everypony in the room yelled out, holding their own glass of cider via magic and hoof.

K remained stunned for the moment as he looked at Flutters, Celestia, and the guests holding their glass up with daring looks. " _Oh…whatever!_ "

K let go of Derpy and slouched on the chair with a toothy grin. "Alright then, don't get too crazy and do something regretful…BEGIN!"

"Calm down Dash, you gotta understand it's not easy for her to listen to such things!" I explained jumping and grabbing her from becoming airborne. She turned to me and sighed. "…I'm sorry, I guess I was a bit shocked too when you became more detailed." I nodded and let her roam freely on the ground.

"Who wouldn't, let's just hope she isn't as traumatized as she was in there," I hoped, looking straight ahead. Even if it was dark out, I could see far with the help of some light posts. I took a minute to ponder those light posts, as far as I knew, this place was also highly innovated for ponies.

"Others were traumatized too but they calmed down and smiled…why?" Dash asked flying up and looking at me as she flew backwards. This brought back that memory of her first flying backwards in my presence, that ended up badly, so my head was on slightly alert for anything potentially dangerous. I chuckled a bit as I crossed my arms.

"Because they weren't the ones who I was telling it to, they just listened in, Vinyl must have felt it deeply and it hurt her,"

Dash looked towards the ground and nodded, "Oh yeah, darn, do you think she's alright?"

"I hope so Dash," I said before cupping my hands for the fourth time and yelling her name out for the tenth time, "VINYL! PLEASE COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE! I'M-I'M SORRY!"

I stood still for a few minutes, nothing arose. I sighed as I placed my fingers on my head _last resort_. Dash flew up to me and gently placed her hoof on my shoulder. "Did you find her?"

I closed my eyes and it was almost instantly her energy appeared, it was swollen with emotion. "Yeah, let's go."

I didn't recognize the dark place I was in until I squinted my eyes a bit more. This was the dorm room where they stayed, and there was the lump under a blanket. I didn't know how she got here but it seemed that it must have been teleportation or something because she moved quickly. I approached it before laying down on a bed parallel to hers; it was small and my feet stuck out the far end. The sound of the bed's springs made her twitch and lift herself from the bed, surprised and teary. I stared at the ceiling as Vinyl stared at me trying to make out what she was looking at.

"Who are you?" She asked throwing an object which I had no trouble catching. "Geez, I thought you'd recognize me," I chuckled quickly sending her into silence. I knew at some point she'd have to open her mouth again, so I continued staring at the ceiling.

"Why did you follow me?!" She asked defensively. I made myself comfortable on the bed before answering her. "I was worried, I had to find you," I said looking at the object she threw at me, it was a plastic bottle with some thick liquid. I could still feel that dread that roamed the area, but I could fix that with a smart mouth and some strange strategy. She stared at me through the darkness that surrounded, and I could feel it, her eyes wanted to burn me.

"Worried about what!? Like you would know what it's like to feel!" She sternly returned, I just stared at her off the corner of an eye before returning my sight to the ceiling. I wasn't hurt by her words, she was partially right, I didn't know how to worry in past, unlike these days. I was going to respond to her counter but I wasn't given the chance when Dash quickly spoke up from the bed on the other side of Vinyl's bed.

"Worried about you! And he does know how to feel, you know that!" She yelled out causing Vinyl to swap looks between me and Dash, "Wha-you too!?"

"Yeah me too, you had us waking up all of Canterlot-!" Dash exclaimed before getting a pillow thrown her way. Dash quickly threw the pillow back.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ANYTHING WE SAY!?"

"YES, I AM!"

"Then stop fighting, I came here to fix something not make it worse," I calmly interrupted making them quiet down and drop the pillow. "Okay…" Dash accepted letting herself fall onto the bed and rest; listening in on what I was going to say.

I was still staring at the ceiling as I waited for Vinyl to cooperate, she sighed as she also laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "What do you want to say?" She asked annoyed. "What do _you_ want to say?" I asked her back making her look at me outraged.

"I have nothing to say!" She argued making me raise an eyebrow.

"I told you something about me, you should have some questions," I responded keeping my serious attitude. She must have gotten the point since she remained silent for a while. "Yeah, I guess," She finally responded looking back to the ceiling.

"Then ask…and I'll answer, who knows, maybe you'll understand me better than anypony will," I persuaded resting my hands between the pillow and back of my head. Dash must have figured where I was going with this because she surprisingly stayed quiet.

"Anything?" She asked.

"Anything…" I responded back closing my eyes and awaiting any question from her mouth.

She sighed and made herself comfortable on the bed. "Well…why did you do those horrible things?" She asked, not sounding as annoyed or frustrating as before. I opened my eyes. That was the question I wanted to hear, it was the one that branched out to the other questions and answered all questions in one.

I cleared my throat and sighed. "I did those things because I was made to-" I didn't get to finish my explanation, she quickly interrupted with her own question. "By who?"

"I'll get there, as I was saying, I was made to do this because it was our "duty", to kill the enemy to make world peace."

"How does that make peace!?"

"Listen, our enemies were terrorist, do you know what they were?" I asked her. She didn't hesitate in answering with a gentle, "No."

"Terrorists were humans like me, but they killed innocents and injured many for the sake of proving a point! I hated these people, they were scum, and they didn't care if they died, all they wanted was to prove a point! A stupid point too!"

"But you did what they did, and without a point!" Vinyl accused. I begged to differ with her on that, I did what I did for a reason.

"Yes, but you'll understand once I get into detail, so our President aka "Royalty" ordered a war on them since they wiped out millions with this massive weapon of mass destruction."

"Millions…a weapon of mass destruction!?" Vinyl asked outraged by the number. I assured her she heard that right and she remained speechless as I continued telling on. She was slowly getting insight into what I was trying to tell her and hopefully, she'll understand by the time I'm done.

"So, I was called up as S.O.U-"

"S-O-U?"

"Special Operations Unit, my job was to scout this place where the leader of these terrorists supposedly stayed-?"

"And?" Vinyl asked. Compared to before she was now interested in hearing me out, which I found respectful.

"Oh, he was there! But I could have never predicted what was to come, something so brutal and horrifying that life became meaningless after it," I foretold before Vinyl asked the obvious.

"W-what?" She asked curious but fearful of what's to come

I continued looking at the ceiling as those memories replayed like a movie on the ceiling. I felt my throat harden and my feelings twist painfully.

"We were captured, somehow they knew! Someone shared some information and we were caught, the last thing I felt was a piece of wood hit my head before blacking out," I yelled as I brought my hands to my chest and grabbed a hand by the other hand tightly. Vinyl remained silent as I continued.

"I woke up, it was nearly deep at night, and I dangled from a rope that held my legs up to a tree. I was trapped. I was drowsy and I couldn't clearly see that horror taking place in front of me…"

"What?!" Vinyl asked getting up from the bed and staring at me, wide-eyed and waiting for an answer.

I looked in her direction before looking at the ceiling. My hands fidgited and my breathing got heavier as those images burned back into my head.

"Hundreds of my comrades, soldiers, nurses, fathers, mothers, children, new-born babies…all hanging by a rope… _and pardon my description_ …they hanged with no heads…" I squinted my eyes and gritted my teeth as those images flash back into my head. Vinyl and Dash gasped as they looked at me grip my hands tighter and tighter. "Ben…" Vinyl eased out in a mere whisper before I went on.

"I couldn't, I saw them do it to them! Each one crying, begging for mercy, and these…monsters…come and cut their heads clean off with a huge fucking blade!" I felt my hands begin to hurt and quickly unattached them from each other and shook them as I caught my shaky breath. "Ben…what happened to you?" Vinyl whispered again, as I stared at the ceiling, I wanted to punch a hole into it.

"I watched as this _kid_ cut one of one of my closest buddies, the second closest to being a friend to me, head clean off, my friend was only fifteen, he acted so tough…and right there…he cried out for his mother…he screamed, "MOMMA, I'M SORRY FOR PAIN I CAUSED YOU! I JUST WANT TO SEE YOU ONE LAST TIME!" and I stared at him break down before his head hit the ground, I cried his name out knowing his head wouldn't answer back…you lose your mind in war," I said my hand shaking furiously. Vinyl and Dash's tears were numb to me in this state, all I could think about was how tragic that night was.

"Then…that kid walked up to me and placed his sword to my throat…I wasn't crying, I was raged and confused, my eyes locked onto his eyes as I cursed at him to do what he wanted to do, "COME ON KILL ME! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?" I yelled out hoping he'd do it…but he didn't…he laughed and quickly slashed that sword of his near my face. I didn't flinch or blink, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry or plead,"

"A-and what…did he do?" Vinyl asked trembling along with Dash.

"He stared at me seriously and I never stopped looking him in the eye…he cut me down and offered me to work with them…I had no choice, because if I got this chance to live, then I would be able to kill him when the opportunity arises,"

"Wait! is this where you…!?"

"Yes…this is how I began killing innocents, it was bad and terrible, but in my head, all I could think of what killing all of them, and leaving not one survivor! I WAS GOING TO KILL EACH EVERYONE OF THEM!" I yelled in a blood-chilling exclamation. They stared at me as I tightened my fists to the point my nails nearly pierced my palm.

"At last! They accepted me as one of them and gave me the authority to melt metals to bricks but I had another idea. I separated titanium with every shipment and…I made…this-this-this THING!" I cried taking out my sword, its shine in the moonlight made it visible along with my distraught face. Vinyl and Dash were in the same bed looking at me as I lifted my back and sat on the bed with the sword on my lap.

"One night, I got up and I went for this kid's room, you know how that went," I said my voice nearly cracked there but I sniffed back my emotions and ran my fingers through the swords face.

"It took three years…but I finished them all…one by one…and I made sure they cried and begged for mercy before ending them…then…I went home…HOME AND PRETENDED LIKE I NEVER KILLED SO MANY OR HURT OTHERS!" I yelled holstering the sword and covering my face with my hands as I ended that story once and for all. It only got worse the more I thought about it, and now I was holding back those tears that could never come out.

I sniffed away the tears and buried my eyes deeper into the palms of my hand. I always wanted to cry but now that I could, I didn't want to…I'm so messed up. I couldn't feel the bed sink or the two hugs from both sides before I felt tears run down my arms. I looked at the puddle of water in my palms before looking to my sides at the two ponies holding on tightly to my arms.

"Don't…cry…Ben! Please!" Vinyl pleaded gripping tighter with every sniffle and whimper she gave. I did my best to hold back but there was too much to even try. "I know! I wish I could have done this…earlier!"

"But then…you wouldn't be here…with us!" Dash sobbed from other side. I never realized how true that was, if I did cry that day, I would have died and I probably wouldn't be here. Life was played out so well, this is where life brought me and now I could see how.

"I'm sorry for being so rude, I didn't know!" Vinyl apologized making me sniffle back with the most externally painful and internally alleviated smile I could give her. "Don't be, I was waiting to cry again after that last time".

"Wha-"

"In other words, Thank you!" I thanked before she cried it out onto my arm.

Some time passed, and I finally gave into the sleep that followed crying, the best type of sleep is this one. I didn't care who it was with as long as it was these two, these two were the only ones who would know this until they decide to tell others because I will never be able to say it with such feelings ever again. For now, I'll pray to whatever is out there that I never lose these friends that oddly changed my life so dramatically. I will live as long as they live, I'll hurt anyone who tries to hurt them, and I hope I never turn my back on these codes.

 _Sometimes, codes are forced to be broken…surprises lurk around every corner…and war never ends. Hope is a strong word, that is meaningless without friends, hope hangs by a thread always and so do friends._

 **I'm going to start doing this from now on…** _ **on some chapters**_

 **NEXT TIME ON MLP: TTBLAIA: CHRYSALIS'S RETURN!? MORE AWKWARD MOMENTS!? CONCERT AT TWELVE!? DRUNK FRIENDS!?**


	35. Chapter 35 - Tightening Romance

**#35**

Something was on me, from my face to my groin. Whatever this something was, it laid on me, was warm, and fidgeted. "Wha..." I muffled out through the soft wall that limited my breathing and sight. This wall was radiating warmth onto my face and it smelled kinda funny too as it fidgeted after my last muffled word. " _What is_ _this?_ "

I moved my hands to remove this blanket or cover from my face. I didn't grip a blanket but I did grip gently to something a lot thicker and warmer than the blanket I hoped to be removing. My hands bounced around trying to identify what this thing was and my eyes slowly blinked away the blur. "This isn't a blanket…" I muffled out as I quickly gripped the object tightly.

"Hmm…don't be so rough…" Luna's voice purred as I felt the something shift and comfort itself on me. I felt something rub against my lips; soft-warm-pussy. I remained still and silent for a bit taking in what was happening, Luna was on me, presumably sleeping, and with her bottom to my face. I couldn't move, my body's instinct froze me in place while my head yelled at me to do something.

"Oh…so…warm…" Luna's voice hummed out lewdly. I didn't notice it automatically but I retracted my tongue back into my mouth and felt my throat lump up as what I presume to be Luna's head, dropped gently onto my crotch. My mind raced between "WHY WAS MY TONGUE IN THERE!?" and "OH GOD, WHAT'S SHE DOING!?" I wouldn't last long trying to hold back an erection when Luna's head is right on top of it and her, now dripping, vagina was pressed onto my mouth.

"Oh…look at that…he looks playful…" Luna eased out lifting her head from my crotch and now sitting up on my face. " _OH FUCK! WHAT KIND OF TEASE IS THIS!?_ I mentally yelled as my legs felt like cramping up and my dick twitched painfully. I could feel her pressed against my face and my body weakening from her sweet smell, but something kept me from giving in… the fact that Dash and Vinyl where right beside me. I tried to lift my back off the bed but just when confidence had risen, I felt her hoof begin to twirl my Little Me's head and my body fell and arched back onto the bed. " _OH, HELL NO, NOT NOW!"_

I forced my forced my hands to Luna's hips and tried to lift her off me but it seemed the harder I lifted the more it seemed like she was forcing herself down.

"GET OFF ME!" I exclaimed through her bottom, which muffled my voice to a low pitch. I knew she heard me and she knew I knew, but her actions didn't follow. I felt the pant's button come undone and my erection alleviate a bit, I might have thanked her for it but I was more worried about the two beside me finding me like this. "LUNA GET OFF! NOW!" I pleaded but it was just more fuel to her playful tease. I felt her lay back down on me and rub her cheek on my shaft.

"I wondered when we would do this again…" She silently giggled trying to get the last layer off but my instinct kicked in. All in front of me was her two holes and that was the solution. I had teeth, she had a clitoris, and she was asking for it. I bit down hard on her clitoris and she rapidly cried and leaped into the air before falling onto me again, this time her face was pressed against mine as she sternly stared into my eyes and I back at hers.

"HEY! AT LEAST GIVE YOUR PRINCESS A WARNING FIRST WILL YOU!" She yelled, pressing a hoof onto my chest.

"LIKE YOU GAVE ME A WARNING!" I argued back placing my hand on her chest and pushing her off but her magic forced me down. Luna pressed her muzzle tightly to my nose and gave me a punch with her hoof to my chest. "IT WAS A SPECIAL SURPRISE!"

I pushed her face back with mine, "FOR YOU OR ME!?" She gave me a knock on my forehead with hers. "THE BOTH OF US!"

"Wha…what is going?" Vinyl's yawned from my right. I quickly turned to her as she rubbed her eyes, I turned back to Luna and tapped on her chest rapidly. "Get off me…now!" She did no such thing, she instead giggled as she let herself rest on me. She was being too much right now, I could feel my dick wedged between her flank and she constantly moving her hips was forcing me to stiffen up from my neck to my legs.

"Aww, are you afraid of getting caught with the princess?" She teased with a whisper and blush. I didn't know who to answer, Vinyl or Luna, either way, something is inevitable is going to happen. I nodded my head in agreement with Luna's question and she returned it with a giggle as she rested her whole body on mine. "You're cute when you're nervous…"

I quickly turned back to Vinyl, she was sitting up and staring at both Luna and me, struggling to identify what was in front of her because of the darkness of night. "Ben? Is that you?" Vinyl asked squinting hard as she tried to adjust to the darkness. I had to calm myself before answering because Luna kept acting cat-like and purring against my body. I wasn't against her doing so but right now wasn't a good time, especially in front of Vinyl.

"Yeah…" I replied trying to hold in my breath. I couldn't move and I was erect in front of Vinyl; this wasn't going well.

"Why were you screaming?" She yawned raising her hooves to the ceiling and stretching her body out. Luna giggled and gave me a lick that ran from my neck to under my chin. I shivered as I pause again and took another breath in. "I…uh…had a bad dream," I lied but it was the best I could come up with. I saw Vinyl cock her head and scratch it.

"Uh…I think we should ask Luna about that," Vinyl said getting up on all fours and moving over beside me. I wanted to stop her from coming closer but my words never escaped my mouth, instead, Luna responded for me.

"Well, I could look into that, but then I wouldn't be able to spend time with Ben!" Luna cheerfully responded making me close my eyes pray to be somewhere else. I waited a few seconds before cracking an eye open and looked at Vinyl's wide eyes reflect in the darkness.

"L-Luna?! WHAT'S HAPPENING!?"

I couldn't speak any more; Luna's magic had reached my mouth too and now I was handicapped from moving and speaking. I stared at Luna as she giggled and smiled.

"You wanna see?" Luna asked flashing daring eyes at Vinyl who still couldn't see past the darkness. Vinyl was trapped between answering yes or no, and in the end, she nodded unwillingly. I couldn't anymore with this heavy tease, I shut my eyes tightly and hoped for a solution or change of events, it was one thing for Luna to play around and another to exploit me like this. The image me and Luna created wasn't one I couldn't stop imagining, my dick was throbbing as Luna moved her behind, rubbing it and I was pinned down to the bed with no defense. " _Why…must…you…be…so…cruel?_ " I mentally whimpered.

" _I'm soaking wet…_ " She intercepted my thoughts with her ability to speak telepathically.

" _SHUT UP! I WHAT WILL VINYL THINK IF SHE SEES US LIKE THIS!?_ "

" _Think? What is she thinking about! I gave her eyes an enhancer!_ "

I paused and took a deep breath to calm my attitude, of course she would do something like this. " _Luna…my dick is throbbing, I'm pinned to the bed with you on top of me…and you're telling me Vinyl is looking at us?_ " I telepathically asked back sounding depleted and given up.

" _Yeah, isn't it cute how red she is…oh…look, you're red too!_ " Luna giggled popping up in my head again. Of course, I was blushing, how could I not? Vinyl was staring at me while Luna played with me like a puppet and I couldn't cut the strings. I slowly opened one eye and quickly caught Vinyl in my sight, she hadn't moved but her mouth trembled along with her body as she stared at what was clearly exposed in front of her.

"Is…is that…" She asked taking a step closer, her eyes still wide as hell like her curiosity. I wanted to look away but I couldn't, the thought of being caught off guard kept my eyes on her.

"Yes, indeed that is Ben's stallionhood, I was a bit surprised when I first saw it too," Luna replied sounding persuasive and, above all, seductive. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold back my obvious pleasure, I could feel the strange urge build up inside me, and now, it seems I couldn't do much but hide my pleasure. Her low movements were already getting to me and so was this strange feeling of being watched.

"But…it's HUGE!" Vinyl shrieked, she was by Luna's behind and she got a good view of what they called, my "Stallionhood".

" _Fuck it, tell me something I don't know!_ " I thought as I slammed the back of my head on the mattress, my heavy breathing was ceaseless and so was my perspiration. "Enjoying yourself?" Luna asked me smugly. I gritted my teeth and let out a shaky breath, "Damn it Luna, I don't need to answer that! You know it damn well!"

"I guess I do, come on! I know you want to smile…" Luna teased moving her hips a bit faster. Her teasing was testing me, I could feel a smile starting to twitch onto my face, I was losing to her. I turned my eyes to Vinyl who was looking down at my face, her face represented an abundance of emotions and worry stood out above them all. "Ben…do you like…doing this?" she asked. I looked to the ceiling and grunted a bit as I mustered the strength to let out a few words with every breath. "…I do…I'm…sorry-"

I was interrupted by what felt like the warmest, wettest, and without a doubt, the most unexpected lick of my life go from the base of my shaft to the tip. I shivered, clenched my teeth and let out a grunt as I held back my breath. _"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!"_

"Vinyl?! That's…too…warm…" I grunted wanting to lift my back off the bed as she ran her tongue again but Luna's magic still had me suspended. I closed my hand into a fist as I resisted the urge to climax on the spot. Luna giggled as she lifted herself off my rod and turned around giving me a face full of her soft behind. "Mind if I help out?". She was asking Vinyl, and Vinyl replied with a nervous whimper.

I stared at Luna's two holes one was idle and the other was dripping onto my face. " _She wasn't kidding…_ " I thought remembering she said she was wet. I wanted to move my hands to grab her tightly but the magic was still in play and was annoying as ever. " _Damn it._ "

I gritted my teeth, letting out my grunts through them and fighting the urge of losing my mind. "Oh look, something is coming out the top…" Luna whispered finally placing lips to tip and I finally lost it. I didn't know how it happened but my hands gripped tightly to Luna's plump bottom and I sank my mouth into her tease. "GWAH! BEN!" She cried out as I made sure to drive as much tongue as I could into her, she whimpered a bit before placing her lips back on and sucking on the head along with Vinyl.

"I'M SORRY!" I muffled through her pony-hole before she yelped again. "GEEZ, I'M NOT A BALLOON!" Luna whimpered back keeping her eyes tightly closed as she continued doing what she was doing. "I may be one though…" Vinyl eased out in a muffled moan as she and Luna kissed with Little Me's head in between them.

" _How did sleeping come to this?_ "

K chuckled as he detached his face from the wall that separated his room from "their" room. "He-he, Balloon…"

He let himself fall onto the bouncy mattress of his bed, which was alongside the wall, like a ragdoll. "Oh well, I guess the cider got to them…" K sighed adjusting himself comfortably on the bed and flipping the pillow behind his head to the cooler side. After K said his goodbyes to every drunk pony at the restaurant, he came to his room to crash for the night but now he was listening to the lewd sounds of his next room friends.

K stared at the ceiling of his room curiously as he connected the moans, groans, yelps, and cries to their source.

"Vinyl…"

"Ben…"

"Vinyl…"

"Luna…"

He continued this for three minutes straight, he was highly concentrated.

"Luna…"

"Ben…"

"Ben…"

"Room Service!"

K quickly paused. "Dafaq?" He picked his back off the bed and stared at his partially opened door. There was a pony poking its head through the door, glimmering jade eyes, pure white fur, and a baby blue for her well-combed mane. K stared at her suspiciously and she stared at him nervously as she tried to back out of the room with a blush clearly seen through the dim-lit room. "Umm…wrong room…" She nervously giggled taking a step back and making her head disappear.

"WAIT!" K immediately exclaimed forcing the door to slowly creak open and the pony to poke its head around the door again.

"Y-yes," She asked, flustered and nervous. K quickly brushed aside the hair that covered his forehead and eyes before chuckling.

"Hey ya! How's it going?" K asked with a slight smile being as friendly as he could. The pony looked at him and around the room before taking a step into the room, cautiously. "Uh…g-good, you?" She asked trembling a bit, hoping to not get on any bad side. K wasn't easily pissed off but he was rather playful, hence his chuckles.

K ran his index finger to his lips and hushed her. "Shh…listen…". The pony curiously stared at him before perking her ears straight up and listening. It didn't take long for her to take notice, her ears immediately dropped, her eyes widened, and her blush upgraded.

"W-what is…going on?!" She asked looking at K. K smiled as he turned from the wall to the pony, "Last I heard, Ben was inflating Luna like a balloon, now I guess you can tell what's obviously happening!" He chuckled making her blush and look away.

"Luna…is doing that…" The pony whispered a bit crestfallen and with a whimper or two. "Lucky her…"

K's mind twitched a bit and maybe his ear did too, he looked at the pony and suspiciously stared at her as she looked at the floor twirling a hoof on the floor and her eyes slightly glowing bit greenish. K's eyes immediately switched to his bed-side counter and to the green glowing gem on it before rapidly snatching it and hiding it under his pillow. The pony hadn't noticed his quick movements and K sighed in relief as he laid his back on the bed again.

"Yeah, I guess she is pretty lucky…" K said with a smirk crossing one leg over the other and placing his hands on his chest. The pony looked up at him on the bed and looked towards the floor disappointed. K hadn't broken his soft stare and his smirk faded for a few seconds before reappearing with a new idea. He quickly lifted his back off the bed and gleamed his toothy smile towards his visitor. She glanced at him and she froze as she noticed him scratching his head and smiling awkwardly.

"You're Room Service, right?"

She gulped as she nodded, "Y-yes, how…can I serve-I mean help you?" Her blush stretched across her face as she stared at the floor having an internal struggle with her emotions. K made a smirk from his smile and contained his playful side.

"Well…how about you keep me company?"

"Keep you…company?" She asked lighting up the dim lit room with her blush. K nodded like a child would, "Yeah, I don't ask too much do I?" K teased with a grin. She looked away from his grin, trying to hide her embarrassment before looking back.

"N-no, I guess not…" She agreed in a near whisper before looking up at him, "Why are you so…kind?"

K nodded and shrugged before aiming a finger at his chest. "I'm a crazy dude, I have a crazy mindset, I've got a crazy heart. Or I could be lonely and want someone to be with."

She seemed to take in that seriously as she looked around herself before appearing by the edge of the bed, she had her front hooves on the bed while her hind hooves remained on the floor. She thought about what she was doing. " _What am I doing? K…_ ". She must have realized how long she stood there on the edge and shook away the question and hopped onto the bed, trembling a bit as she made herself by K's side and let herself plop down next to him. She looked around herself before stopping at the bedsheet refusing to look up from the embarrassment. "I'm…here…"

K lowered his back, back onto the bed and looked to his right, at her.

"Thanks…" K responded laying his head comfortably onto the pillow under his head and closing his eyes. If K knew anything about the perfect way to tempt someone (or "pony" in this case) it was to make them beg for it. He remained still and with a smile stretched across his face as he listened to the lewd sounds of his next room friends. He managed to keep his act on for fifteen minutes and still going.

Clearly, the pony beside him was confused, embarrassed, and with an urge. She lifted her hoof at times to ask but quickly stopped her mouth when it was about to ask. " _Why…why is he playing like this!?_ " She cried on the inside, smacking her head onto the mattress. She stopped when the dizziness started to kick in and she rested her body comfortably on the bed like K did but she kept her eyes slightly open. She looked at K and then at the wall that still passed the moans from the other side.

"He's by my side, why can't I do a thing? you're not supposed to be embarrassed…stop that!" The pony sternly whispered to herself making K pry an eye open slightly and curve the end of his lips. K peered at her as she began rolling around like a rowdy baby with the pillow that she had.

"K! You shouldn't tease your Queen like this!" She whispered a bit louder throwing a punch to the pillow, she swung her hoof back for another punch before being stopped by the muffled moans coming from the wall. She huffed out all the energy she used up on the pillow and stared at the pillow before throwing it off the bed and recoiling her body, looking at the wall. She sniffed a bit and whimpered as she shook a bit. "Shut up Luna! Why are you two always a step ahead of me!?"

"WHY CAN'T I JUST BE-HEY!"

K's hand softly landed on her belly. She was in a shocked anger before realizing who's hand she had on her and she shivered as she closed her eyes tightly.

"Chrysalis, you beat yourself up too much," K whispered rubbing her belly soft and gently. Her eyes widened as she rapidly looked down to her abdomen and seeing K's hand massage her. "You…knew?" She asked before covering her mouth with her hoof, her voice came out more like a moan than a question.

K smiled as he scooted in a bit closer. "I wouldn't call myself K if I didn't know my friends…"

She turned over to look at him, her eyes showing a ton of broken emotion. K retracted his hand a bit as Chrysalis stared at him wide-eyed and shocked.

"Friends?" She asked. K paused for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah, what's the matter, you're not familiar with that term?"

She looked at the bed with a light frown before shaking her head in disagreement. "I never liked that word, what's the point in it?!" She changed to a more frustrated attitude and was now frowning as she stared at the mattress. K paused, what did he just hear? He didn't understand why she was so upset about it or why she didn't like the word but he was curious.

"The point? Tell me, how long have you been lonely?" K asked giving her his demanding-an-answer eyes with a hint of please in them. She immediately scoffed as she shook her head in denial.

"Lonely? NO, never…never," Her scoff and self-confidence diminished on the spot and she did her best to cover up her insecurity with fake laughter. "I'm not lonely, I'm fine…".

K shrugged and turned his around and left Chrysalis talking to his back. "Fine then, goodnight…" K finished with a yawn followed by a smirk as he closed his eyes, she wasn't lonely anyways.

"NO! I DIDN'T, I mean…darn it…" Chrysalis quickly tried to make up for what she said, her hooves reaching for him but not having the courage to touch him. K chuckled and shook his head as he lifted his back off the bed and turned around towards her with a gentle smile. Chrysalis stared back with a bit of frustration but more with the embarrassment of being made to look so weak. K reached out his hand to her.

"What are-HEY!" Chrysalis exclaimed as K placed his hand on her belly again and gave her gentle belly rubs.

"The point is…they're there to give you someone to speak too, to share things with, or…" K ran his hand a bit lower forcing her to widen her eyes and use her hooves to try and cover herself.

"N-no" She shivered as K yanked slightly on the piece of fur that stuck out above her playful peice.

"Someone to play with…" K gently chuckled as he teased around her lower region, not going for the touchdown but just low enough to arose and soften her up. She let out the heavy breath she was holding back followed by a thin string of drool landing on the bed sheet as she closed the gap between her legs slightly making it harder for K's hand to venture.

"Wait…wait…" She let out in half moans, half shivers but K wasn't one to stop before he even got to the fun part. "What is it?" K asked back not struggling to get through Chrysalis's thighs and over her fun-time. Heat radiated from below her like a furnace, K chuckled as he decided to put hand on base.

"Epp! Please! I'll-I'll revert back…"

K's mind read that warning all the wrong ways, " _Revert back aye?_ ". He quickly used a finger to slightly split the two pink walls, he ran his finger up and down picking up the warm liquid that drooled from her marehood.

"D-did you not…hear me?" She moaned before biting down on her lower lip and pressing her face onto the mattress. K smiled as he removed his finger from her and lifted it up to face and studied the dripping juice from his finger. She felt the absence of his tease and looked up from the mattress, observing K lick her extract from his finger making her tremble a bit as he gave her a playful toothy smile.

"I did, and now…I'm thirsty," K chuckled quickly turning Chrysalis around on her back and with her whole front body exposed to him. She looked away terrified with embarrassment as he stared down at her fully exposed. She was cute in this position, it was a pony's body structure and how different it was compared to a humanoid; K had to process the beauty before him before getting to action.

"What are you doing?!" Chrysalis questioned annoyed by the wait. She kept her eyes closed as she waited for K to respond back.

"Admiring the view…"

Chrysalis shook her head in disagreement still maintaining her eyes closed. "Shut up, there is nothing to see!"

K glared a grin as he positioned Chrysalis to his liking and made himself comfortable on the bed. His head hovered between the wide gap between her legs. "Not yet…"

"Wha-MFGGH!?" Chrysalis's eyes shot wide-open and her hooves went over her mouth as K placed his mouth to her drooling pussy and gently nibbled it. "Ha….st-stop, you'll…make me change back…" Chrysalis pleaded through her moans but like before K read her words the opposite way. He forced in his tongue and Chrysalis laughed psychopathically before covering her mouth with her hooves again.

"You…don't know when to stop…do you?" Chrysalis eased out leaning her back off the bed with a smile showing lustful joy, that just so recently appeared. K knew how to answer; just push further; he closed his eyes and pushed his tongue in as far as it could go and used his mouth to plunge her pony pussy.

"Okay! I GET IT!" She giggled through moans as she used her hooves to push K's head deeper into her crotch. She pushed but quickly stopped when she noticed her left hoof slowly dissolving away and revealing a dark-colored hoof filled with pores. She lifted her hoof and stared at it as the dissolving slowly proceeded up to her shoulder. " _Why now_?!" she whimpered inwardly before feeling her whole-body tremble as K began using his tongue in more alternative ways. She stared at K's head for a while before giving a giggle as she rid her negative thoughts and placed her hoof on K's head again and pressed on it. " _I guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts._ "

K quickly felt the change, the walls that he felt around his tongue became tighter and the taste became different. He slowly opened his eyes to the black new color in front of him and the edges of his smile arched a bit more. " _Finally!_ " He was waiting for this to happen and at last, it did and he was more than excited. Chrysalis shivered as K slid his tongue out and lifted himself up to look at the new scene.

"Umm…Hi," Chrysalis waved at him, oddly finding a way to bend her hoof. She felt the feeling rush through her, she knew it was over for the fun, but her mental cries for more still pled. " _Why so soon?_ " She wondered as she sighed and tried to turn to get up but was stopped immediately by K hand going onto her chest.

"What's up, I thought you looked forward to this?" K asked her both worried and confused. K understood his feelings but Chrysalis didn't, she looked up at him dumbfounded by his question. "You…still want to continue?" She asked.

K nodded back and chuckled, "Yeah, but I prefer you looking like this, that's why I kinda got ahead of myself…sorry about that."

Chrysalis's mouth trembled as she thought heavily about what he'd said. "You prefer this…how?" K easily noticed the change in tone, her voice was emotional and shocked, maybe heartbroken but defiantly emotional.

"How? You look cute like this! When I first saw you, I never thought about the lies in that book I read but instead of how you looked…you stood out from all of the ponies." K chuckled towering over her with his hands on either side of her head as she looked at him, choking and struggling to get out her words. "Uh…Chrysi?" K asked as he noticed her giving him a stare that would carve so deep into his soul it would wipe all the sin he was; she had tears slowly emerging and streaming down her face as she whispered out his name under her breath. K smiled as she smiled back at him.

" _Oh look, she's even cuter now…EKK!_ "

"K!" Chrysalis cried out somehow launching her back off the bed and catching him with her forehooves around his neck and her hind hooves around his abdomen. K somehow ended up with his back to the bed with Chrysalis cheerfully embracing him, her face was over his and her _jointless_ hooves still wrapped around his neck.

" _Woah, I thought I would be on top_!" K thought as he stared Chrysalis's true dark-green eyes; they were deep and confusing. Chrysalis had tears still running down her face as K stared in amazement. "You okay? You seem a painfully cheerful…" K asked with a compassionate smile.

"Yeah-yeah, it's just," She had to catch her breath and wipe away her tears with her magic. "It's just, No pony, or anything has ever thought that way about me!"

K was stunned into a sudden silence as he tried to comprehend why no pony would ever consider being this cuties mate.

"No pony has said anything like that before, why? Why does it feel so painful?!" She burst into a second set of tears, tears of pain. K slowly lifted his hands and embraced her firmly as she lowered her head to cry onto his chest. Sympathy was K's motto at the moment and his knack for knowing what to say was always working.

"Maybe because, you've never been loved before…"

Chrysalis was hurt by what she hated the most, and now she was confused about every little aspect she originally thought was "Stupid" or "Weak". She slowed her tears and let out a shivering sigh as she looked up at K with a broken smile that held back the floodgates to her eyes.

"I don't know…what love is…"

There go the floodgates, she smacked her head down on his chest again and let it out as K ran his hand through her silky mane. He sighed and smiled as he stared at the ceiling, _"What is love…baby don't-Nah that won't work."_

"Love, is something weird, isn't it?" K asked with a gentle smile portrayed across his face. Chrysalis lifted her head from his chest and looked at him. "I don't know…how about we find out?"

K raised an eyebrow, "You sure you're feeling up for it?"

She nodded with a teary smile. "Yes, I'm just confused, that's all."

"Why don't you start off, you're on top," K chuckled making her blush a bit and look to the side. "I…uh…don't know much about stallions…I mean, you know..."

K smiled widely as he patted her head playfully. "Do what you think is right, that's what everyone does their first time!"

She looked at him and slowly picked herself up, using her hooves to support her as she towered over him. "…okay…"

She did as her mind told her and she went for his mouth, gently pressing her lips onto his. " _Good girl…_ " K inwardly chuckled as Chrysalis found a way to penetrate his lips with her tongue and forcing K to return it with his. As that was happening she used her magic to slowly undo the button on his pants, that restrained K's dick from going haywire.

It didn't take long for his bulge to slightly rub against her bottom through the underwear. Chrysalis separated from K's mouth and lowered her head looking through the tunnel her hooves made and at K's erection slightly tapping her and twitching.

"Isn't that a bit too…you know…big?" She awkwardly chuckled blushing a bit stronger. K looked between the tunnel her hooves made and tilted his head in curiosity.

"I suppose so, does it scare you?" K was being his oddly soft-self as he looked up at her staring at his erection between her legs.

"Umm…a little…will it hurt?" She continued staring, both worried and excited. K scratched the side of his head and chuckled, "A little…are you sure you still want to?" If K wanted anything it was to not have regrets by morning, he thought the same for Chrysalis.

She glanced up at him and smiled nervously. "Y-yeah, I just have too…". K turned his attention to the last layer of clothes, that restrained his erection, slide right off with Chrysalis's magic. His dick bobbed from side to side before going straight up. K's eyes widened as he remembered what happened between him and Derpy. " _Derpy managed to deepthroat this?!"_

"Woah…" K eased under his breath, "Now that I look at it, it does look abnormally huge…"

Chrysalis looked at him and gulped heavily as she used her magic to align his dick with her changeling hole. K's eyes gleamed as she slowly lowered her herself to the point he could feel her radiating heat onto his shaft making his breath quicken.

"I'm-uh…"

"Don't rush it, you can go as you please," K said giving her some comfort.

"You weren't like this when we first met…you were…crazier…"

"I'm still that dude, I just have a thing in which I can't stand others being down around me, unless it's someone I despise, then I can just leave them to suffer," K smiled, the same effect his smile had on Luna rubbed onto Chrysalis, she blushed as she stared at his smile that didn't match his persona.

"I like you anyways, don't tell anypony that…I mean…please?"

K nodded reassuringly. Chrysalis sighed and giggled a bit as she smiled back before looking between her legs again; he was still erect and twitching.

"Oh…uh sorry for making you wait…"

She looked behind her as she slowly lowered herself but stopped nearly at contact between both of their secrets. K chuckled as he reached out and gently rubbed her cheek.

"No worries, take it slow if you need to, we got a night and drunk friends next door!"

"Y-yeah…"

She was still a bit septic about how to begin or even what to do, she was inexperienced with such things. K was too but he knew how to keep it cool.

"Need some help?" K offered, smirking with confidence as Chrysalis chuckled with overflowing embarrassment.

"…can you?"

K ran his arms across her body until he finally reached her flank and got a grip. She let out a squeak followed by a weak attempt at speaking. "Y-you…do it…"

K gave a worried smile as he comforted himself and aligned himself and Chrysalis. He got Chrysalis on her hooves and his erection to rub against the slit between her warm lips send shivers down both their spines and to add to Chrysalis's curious anatomy, her fairy-like wings fluttered cutely. " _Cute!"_

"Okay…I guess I'll start…" K chuckled obviously feeling nervous and cautious. Chrysalis closed her eyes as K began pressing his hands on her flank forcing her down slowly, her wings fluttering a bit quicker. A slick sound appeared as his rod pierced through the lips and into her inner warmer walls, it was a jolt of pleasure for K and pain for Chrysalis, who whimpered as she felt the scorching tip of his shaft inside make it past her first layer.

"Oh…fuck…" K squinted his eyes tightly as he applied more pressure to enter her incredibly soaked hole. Chrysalis couldn't help but to whimper in pain as K forced her down his erection, despite her being as wet as she was, K was still a tight fit. He wasn't even halfway in but he could easily see that she was suffering in a bit of pain, it didn't take an expert to know that K was thinking heavily about what was happening. " _Should I just shove it in and quickly end her pain…or go slow?"_

It was sudden and unexpected; K slapped his hands onto her flank and gritted his teeth, showing half of a grin, he made his choice. "What are you-GAH!" Chrysalis's eyes shot wide and she cried out loudly as K forced her completely down him, leaving her twitching and tearing up in pain and pleasure. The moment K forced himself inside her she had instantly thrown herself upwards and was now in cowgirl/cowpony position. K laughed a few choppy breaths as he did his best to find the strength to look up to Chrysalis's face without regretting anything.

"A-ha…a-ha…a-ha…" Was all Chrysalis could let out of her breathless body as her tears rolled down her cheeks and down her body. K looked up with a smile he couldn't get rid of, the feeling of her pussy tightly wrapping around him was the most unmatched pleasure he'd ever felt.

"S-sorry!" K grunted trying to keep his breath from escaping. Chrysalis gulped deeply and placed her forehooves on his chest and weakly supporting her new position, "It…hurts…" she whispered under her breath as she moistened K's shirt with her tears. Even if she said that, she was still feeling something over that pain, K was inside her and she couldn't lie about the awfully painful pleasure she was feeling.

With Chrysalis in the position she was, K could easily see the blood that was clearly visible from where they connected. He looked up at Chrysalis as she slowly managed to take better intakes of air and use her trembling hooves to wipe away her tears. "I'm sorry, I got carried away!" K cried out hoping she could forgive him but she didn't respond. Instead of an acceptance of his apology, he instead felt his dick slide against the warm surrounding of Chrysalis's pussy up to the point the tip of his dick was the only thing inside her. K widened his eyes as he quickly looked up at Chrysalis confused and worried about what she was doing.

"Chrysalis, what are you-"

He didn't get the time to ask, she quickly dropped her flank down on him violently and forced him to stiffen up and become unresponsive. Chrysalis had her eyes glue onto K's eyes as she allowed herself to fall onto his chest and quickly connect her mouth with his. K could feel her snake-like tongue making rotations inside his mouth, he closed his eyes tightly as he gave her back what she wanted; he never let go of Chrysalis's plump bottom. He gripped her curves firmly as he thrusted himself out of her pussy before ramming right back in. She whimpered as she tightened her eyes and pressed her lips onto K's as K swirled inside her mouth and began sliding out and in, making sure he hit the deepest parts inside her.

Chrysalis parted her lips from K's mouth as she placed her hooves on his chest and lifted herself. She smiled completely lost in heat, her tongue was loosely hanging while drooling on him as K used his hips and hands to force her in deeper with every thrust.

"Ha…ha, K…I want to move…" Chrysalis requested giving him her look of complete lust which was a no-brainer for K, he let go of her bottom and let his arms fall to his sides. She didn't need permission when she was completely lost in the moment, she brought herself up and forced her way down. With every thrust, she let out a moan or yelp, and K smiled at his luck.

It was strange for K to even think when he was getting, probably, the most unique pussy in this land but he was thinking. He was incredibly joyful, not only because of sex but because of who it was with, she was someone that appealed to him. " _What made her special_?" K thought, " _Is it her beauty or something else?_ ". K couldn't find a clear answer, but something about her smiling lewdly as she looked down at him, flicked an unknown switch, one that will play a major role in the future.

Upon a deep thrust, K quickly grabbed Chrysalis's bottom and lifted his back off the bed sitting up with her and thrusting her up and down with his hands. She wrapped her hooves around his neck as K worked up a sweat moving her in rhythm.

"K! You're too big, I don't I can go much longer!" She cried out burying her face into K's shoulder as K bit down on his tongue and quickened the pace. "And you're too tight!" K grunted as he closed his eyes tightly and rammed himself into her, hitting the limit point of her womb.

"Something is going to happen!" She moaned out gripping even tighter to him and recoiling her hind hooves. Mixed juices were spilling out of her trap and flying everywhere as K refused to slow down to end this strong. "I know! Just hold on to the end! I'm almost there too!"

"Wh-ha! What's…going to…happen!?" Chrysalis asked, taking heavy breaths and moans between words. K did his best to pull off a grin as he managed to barely open an eye. "The…best…part…" he chuckled with nearly no breath and both of them drenched in sweat. Chrysalis clenched her teeth before quickly using her magic to remove K's hands from her bottom and pull them up to embrace her as she embraced back. "What are you doing?" K grunted.

"I WANT THIS NOW! PLEASE GIVE IT TO ME!" Chrysalis cried as she forced her hips back and forth, rapidly. K got the point and embraced her tightly as he helped out by moving his own hips with hers, in equal motion. Her wings fluttered rapidly as K pierced her again and again, twice every second, and juices just couldn't cease in slobbering all over the bed.

At last, K's arms began cramping up as he came closer and closer to the finale and Chrysalis began beating down quicker than before. "Okay…Chrysi! I…can't take it anymore!" K exclaimed as he gripped Chrysalis tighter. Chrysalis couldn't feel any different, her trap was swollen with pain and pleasure that it was impossible to say she wasn't going to explode in the next few seconds. "Me too!"

"Gah! Fuck it!" K groaned as he finally pushed Chrysalis as deep as he could and unleashed it all inside her, he couldn't control anything as his shaft throbbed with every spurt he shot into her. Chrysalis whimpered and bit down on K's shoulder and tearing a bit of his clothes as she experienced her own orgasm. "THIS IS AMAZING!" She laughed out manically as she pressed her hooves to K's chest and pushed away, arching her back to take in as much of K's spunk as she could. "IT'S SO WARM!" She exclaimed letting her hooves go and hugging it out with K but K wasn't done.

It seemed almost endless the amount that K was just bombarding her insides with, now it was oozing out of her and onto the bed as K just continued releasing with no control at all. It was almost thirty seconds of non-stop orgasm and still going.

"Th-that's too much K!" Chrysalis huffed as K somehow managed to find the strength to move her up and down again, and yet again unleashing another load into her. Chrysalis must have lost her mind with this new load since she began laughing insanely as she was filled constantly, and given no break. It must have ended at some point but not soon enough, it overwhelmed Chrysalis and she smiled almost silly-like as her eyes gave out and she leaned backwards, letting K's dick slip out. Even then he still managed to stain her as he released a few more spurts onto her belly.

K caught her before she could fully fall back on to the mattress and gently pulled her up to him as he let himself fall onto the bed. He set her beside him as she smiled in her fatigued state, he couldn't help but smile back as she constantly twitched from oozing out his semen. K turned his focus to the bed before scratching his head, "Shit, when you actually need room service…"

"Oh…" K yawned, turned his attention to Chrysalis as it seemed that what he left inside of her kept oozing out, but that wasn't as important as what was happening no her flank. It was a strange symbol, sort of resembling the cutie mark ponies had, had appeared, it was strange but K was beyond the point of exhaustion and shrugged it off.

K comforted himself throwing the blanket under him to avoid sleeping on his own residue and placed Chrysalis right next to him, before softly stroking her flank and admiring her curves and new symbol. He smiled gently as he let his head gently strike his pillow, he yawned once more before closing his eyes leaving his hand placed on her flank.

"Maybe, you have something special too…"

I don't know how this madness could become any more mad but I couldn't argue that I was enjoying myself with Vinyl blowing me. Exhausted, Luna took a rest beside Dash who was awake and she'd been for a while now but she hasn't moved or spoken as her wide eyes gleamed upon Vinyl. I was laid down on the bed, with Vinyl blowing me from between my legs. It was the hardest task keeping myself from orgasming inside her mouth, ( _to think I could hold this in this long was surprising_ ) although Flutters somehow managed it but she went full deepthroat…now that I think about it…I don't think I orgasmed in her mouth, let alone her throat…oh shit.

I never broke my gaze with Vinyl as she bobbed her head up and down in an enjoyable rhythm…maybe because she was wearing her headphones and listening to some hardcore beats. I don't recall her getting those headphones but she had them when she surprisingly plunged her mouth onto my cock and began moving her head. Where had my pants gone? like I know. Where has my shirt disappeared to? Like I know. Somehow, I strangely lost my clothes, and all I had was this erection which was close to exploding into a fountain. She's been going at it for ten minutes and her rhythm changed multiple times, with all three songs she's played as of now, and this would be her last.

"D-damn it, Vinyl…what are you listening too?" I grunted as I felt the first of many throbs occur, it felt like my dick was swelling up with every time she swirled her tongue around the head and slid down. Of course, she couldn't hear but I knew she felt that last throb and got a clue, her sudden attempt to take me deeper was the giveaway. She closed her eyes and forced herself deeper, despite her whimpering and whining, she persisted.

"Mrfgh-" She muffled out with a mouth full of cock as she only managed a bit pass half-way before she couldn't take it any deeper. She managed to get me a bit closer to that edge, now I was just one ultra-suck away from ending this.

I lifted my back off the bed but just got a few inches off the bed before I glared at Dash right next to Vinyl's head, she had this daring grin and crazed look as she hovered her hoof over Vinyl's head. Vinyl didn't notice her as she continued doing as she did. I widened my eyes barely, as I lifted a hand and tried to stop her but she ignored it. Using both of her hooves, she quickly placed them on Vinyl's head and put all her pony weight on her hooves. My back hit the bed immediately as my hands and back became stiffer than my titanium weapon.

"MMRFGH! MRFGHH!" Vinyl's eyes widened to huge round circles and her pupils went small as she teared up and plead for mercy from Dash, but Dash was a risk-taker; she didn't care. Dash giggled as she quickly noticed only one-fourth of my shaft was still exposed and quickly pulled off a pro-wrestler move and acrobatically jumped up and used gravity, her body, and her determination to force Vinyl to take it all into her, knocking off her beats and making her blush a wild one.

"Come on! TAKE IT ALL IN!"

"MMRRGFFHH! MFGHN!" She cried as her eyes rolled up nearly all the way to the top and behind her eye sockets as I couldn't anymore and at last, let out the breath I was holding back. The wall of her warm-slippery throat wrapped around my dick tightly and did what it does with food, try to pull it into the stomach, it was like getting the life sucked out of me. _Involuntary Throat Movements…this should be added to the dictionary!_

Vinyl whimpered out as she tightly closed her eyes and let out as many tears as she could as I erupted inside her mouth…or throat…or beyond. Well, safe to say, she's my friend and not a stranger. I felt my erection throb and send out spurts of semen everywhere inside her, as Dash's eyes lit up with an idea. Without a moment to spare, Dash quickly grabbed Vinyl's head and pulled it back, sliding my dick right out of her throat and into the sweaty air of the room. I stared as Dash and Vinyl both had their moment as I practically showered them with all the supply I had left in me, Dash held her tongue out with a lewd expression as she demanded more. Vinyl held out hers in complete exhaustion and with tears still streaming down her but she got a facial.

I didn't get a break as Dash quickly grabbed my still strong erection and forced the tip into her mouth, sucking at it with a smile. I glared at Dash before pulling off the best grin I could, _I shall avenge my friend's pain!_ I quickly placed my hand over Dash's head, she widened her eyes and looked up at me from her sucking position with fear and worry.

"Ben-MMRRFGH!"

I made sure to shove her as deep as I could, I could feel her doing her best to pull out but no way in hell I was going to allow that until I'm done. She quickly teared up like Vinyl and practically whimpered and begged for freedom as I made sure to give her throat…or whatever, all I could. Her eyes did the same as Vinyl as well and rolled up as I bombarded her insides with as much cum as I could let out.

"MMMFG…mrfgh…" Her eyes shut about half way and she pushed back, I let my hand loosen the pressure and she slowly lifted head from my limped dick, _the fun ends here I guess_. She coughed out as much as she could before swallowing everything that was left in her throat and wiping away the cum that drooled from her mouth and panting heavily.

"You look nice covered in cum…" I teased making her blush an excessive amount and use her hoof to remove some of my residue from her rainbow mane. She stared at her cum covered hoof before licking it clean, "As long as it's yours, I don't care…" She claimed making me feel a bit surprised but in general, I was screaming chants of joy internally. Anyone knows they did something right when a girl/pony tells them, they can be their personal cum supply.

"Thanks, I guess I do need to loosen up at times…" I chuckled.

Dash giggled nearly faintly as she wobbled a bit. "You're…welc-" she didn't her response and fell onto the bed into a deep exhausted sleep. I smiled as I turned to my other side to spot Vinyl heavily panting as she stared at the puddle of semen she let out her mouth and onto the bed mattress.

"B-Ben…you let out too much of that slimy stuff!" Vinyl panted, as she wiped her mouth and returned her hanging tongue back into her mouth. "What is that stuff!?"

I scratched my head as I chuckled before a wave of extreme gravity hit me and my back fell back to the bed.

"Uh…can I tell you during breakfast…I think…I think gonna pass out," I chuckled as I placed my arm loosely over my eyes.

"Yeah, I'm tired too," I felt Vinyl lay down right next to me and cuddle in before feeling Luna get in position on my left and rest her head on my chest like a pillow, I placed my arms over both of them before feeling Dash crawl up to my chest and curl up into a ball. " _Oh boy…"_ I mentally chuckled.

"Ben?" Vinyl's voice appeared again.

I kept my eyes closed as I smiled a bit. "Yes?" I asked in a whisper.

"Will I be able to pee this out?"

My smile left and I responded as seriously as I could.

"Go to sleep Vinyl…"

"I sometimes get thirsty overnight, Can I-"

"Go to sleep Vinyl…"

"But the slimy stuff tasted good!"

"Go to sleep Vinyl…"

"Please…"

"Once I deflower one of your friends, I'm gonna destroy your insides if you don't shut up!"

"Really!?"

"No! Go to sleep!"

"Who will you do first, Luna, AJ, or me?"

"We'll have an orgy, now go to sleep Vinyl!"

"Do you promise to do it with me sometime too?"

"Fine, just go to sleep Vinyl…"

"Okay!"

"Thank you."

By past midnight, only a few ponies remain awake and one in particular just couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen in about the afternoon of this special day. Octavia stared into a mirror as tall as her as she altered the bow on her collar, using it to distract her from her anxiety.

"Maybe he was bluffing…yeah, that's probably it," she told herself, removing the collar and placing it on a counter, next to her small framed picture of her and Vinyl embracing each other with friend-to-friend blushes. She paused and looked at the image before smiling softly with a small blush.

"She'll be there to support me, she always has…" She reassured herself yawning and hopping onto the bed that was right next to the counter. She turned the small picture to face her as she rested her head on her soft pillow and looked at the ceiling. she was obviously sleep deprived from her anxiety, her eyes bobbled as she slowly lost consciousness. _"What a crazy day, an all-day practice session, and apparently, Equestria has a new hero…I wonder who it could be?"_

From inside the castle, many were housed, and among those inside were some special ponies. Two of these ponies conversated in a candle-lit room, surrounded by books and documents of early Equestrian knowledge and life. They sat across from each other with a table between them as they drank from glasses of water and gossiped to each other about their day; Trixie and a unicorn, known as Starlight Glimmer, special thing she was since she was an ex-villain like Trixie, that was one of their relatable bonds.

Glimmer studied Trixie drink from her water before curiously placing her hooves on the table. "Did you hear about the fight from earlier? I was busy organizing all these books."

Trixie instantly gave her attention and nodded her head rapidly, excited by the question. She aimed a hoof at herself as she proudly recalled the "facts". "Of course, I did, I was involved!" Well, she was partly involved considering she used her magic to disable the movements of the beast. Starlight quickly questioned it, from what she heard, there was a huge violent magic used and obviously, she'd never known her friend to be that violent.

"What!? But they said the sky erupted into explosions, you're not capable of magic that strong!?" She exclaimed rocking the table and nearly tipping over a Trixie's glass of water. Trixie caught the glass with her magic and giggled nervously, she was brief in her explanation and now she had to be specific.

"Well, obviously, but I helped Ben out!" Trixie giggled feeling a bit embarrassed from having to downgrade herself from the story she tried to make. Starlight took a slight pause to take that in.

"Ben? What's a Ben?" She asked before Trixie shook her head.

"He's not a "What" he's a "Who" and he's a very charming…umm…creature," Trixie explained finding a word to match Ben. Starlight raised an eyebrow and giggled before drinking some of her water.

"He must be if you don't boast about yourself in the same sentence, but "Creature", he isn't a stallion?" She asked placing the glass down and curiously tilting her head to a side causing Trixie to become excited.

"Nope, he's way stronger than a stallion, if only you'd been there!" She used her hooves to show express her words better before placing her hoof under her mouth and pondered deeply. Within seconds she raised her hoof with an answer. "OH WAIT, remember that time the when the sky exploded with that blue light and you helped with that injured guard!?"

"…Yes, he had a fractured hoof! Are you telling me this Ben caused all that!?" She asked sternly. Trixie nodded and smiled, "Yes, but he isn't as bad as he sounds, he saved Twilight that day…"

Starlight paused again, to her Twilight being saved was like she was being saved. "He…did? I guess…he can't be that bad, when can I meet him?" She asked with a new smile, she was intrigued by his description.

"Hmm…after all of my impressive observations, I conclude he'll be at the concert tomorrow at noon!"

Starlight hopped off her seat and onto the floor.

"Alright, I'll have to ask Twilight about that-"

"That's a big no-no," Trixie quickly interrupted hopping off her seat as well. Starlight turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Why so?"

"I saw her on my way here, she's flooded herself with cider!" Trixie casually stated as if she expected such from her. Clearly, Starlight wasn't expecting that, she turned her body and attention to Trixie.

"WHAT!? What will Celestia say!?"

"Nothing, she too is flooded with cider!" Trixie casually stated again. Now Starlight was losing it, she got muzzle-close to Trixie, with suspicion shown throughout her face.

"WHAT!? WHY!?"

Trixie backed away one step. "Earlier, I saw them, Ben had them binge drinking cider, although, he looked a lot different from before, a bit darker…"

Starlight's eye twitched a bit as she tried to hold back her slight rage(she tried). "BEN DID THIS!? HOW DID HE EVEN!?"

"Like I said, he's charming," Trixie responded being as casual as she could. She intrigued Starlight even more, she stormed to the door of the library and opened it with a hoof-punch.

"I'll see this for myself! No pony is capable of making Twilight and the princesses binge drink!" She walked out the library sternly.

Trixie wasn't affected by her sudden display of strange anger instead she sighed, not taking her seriously. "Well, last time I saw Ben, he was sleeping with that DJ pony and Rainbow Dash in the dorm room, Might I add he looks even cuter asleep…" She added.

Starlight's eyes went wide as she quickly popped her head back into the room.

"…He's…in bed…with Rainbow Dash!?" She exclaimed making Trixie giggle and nod.

"Don't be so surprised, he's also slept with Princess Luna, Celestia, and Fluttershy! And he's had some very mature intercourse with them too!"

If Starlight was surprised about Dash, she was obviously going to explode over the princesses.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!? THE PRINCESSES HAVE NEVER BEEN IN LOVE WITH ANYPONY! AND FLUTTERsHY, IN SEXUAL INTERCOURSE!? THE PRINCESSES, IN SEXUAL INTERCOURSE!?"

"…Yup! Trixie is a bit jealous now…" Trixie blushed looking at the floor.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!? THIS BEN IS BROKEN! I'M GOING TO SEE HIM NOW!"

Trixie immediately got ahead of her and spread her hooves out denying her access to leave the Library. "NO! HE'S ASLEEP! DON'T DISTURB HIM!"

"BUT HE'S-"

Trixie returned to all fours and calmed her down with a different tone, a more relaxed tone. "You'll see him tomorrow at that concert! I promise he isn't evil or anything, just special!"

"GRRAW! FINE…What time!?" She growled.

"Noon, and please don't be mean!"

"I can't wait to give this "Thing" a piece of my mind!" She disappeared out the library doors and left Trixie adjusting her hat.

"Maybe, Trixie shouldn't have said so much…"


	36. Chapter 36 - Foes Reunion

#36

I reached my hand to my side to check on my company, there was nothing. "What the…?"

I opened my eyes slowly, lifting my back off the bed and rubbing out the morning daze out of my system. The sun was out again and its rays were visible through the window at the far end of the room. It was peaceful once again, the warmth that radiated gently was almost smile inducing.

I looked around myself and then the room before scratching my head curiously. "Where are they?"

I stepped out of the dorm room and studied the corridor, nothing seemed to be active aside from a royal guard that oddly waved unlike the others here. I waved back with a smile and he went about his way leaving the corridor with a friendly smirk. As I lowered my hand I noticed something that I haven't seen in a few days, those gloves that had the finger ends cut off.

"Hmm?" I checked myself, it seemed I was fully clothed with blue jeans, an all-black T-shirt that was a tight but comfortable fit, and a pair of white and black sneakers. I didn't recognize all these clothes, especially the sneakers but I looked like I was ready to hit the streets shopping so I shrugged it off with a chuckle. " _Thanks to whoever did this_ …"

I tightened the gloves, I missed how comfortable and secure they felt, and moved up to K's door and opened it. It wasn't what I expected but it was close enough, K laid there with some strange pony with odd damaged fairy-like wings, or insect, nonetheless, she was cute. This pony was cuddled in with K and had a smile that matched K's smile of satisfaction.

It was strange but I moved in for a closer look, the curiosity got the better of me. I moved up to the bedside and stared at them. I was taken by surprise as I looked at this so-I-called "pony." She wasn't like any I've seen; Her teeth were jagged, she had a snake-like tongue that slightly hung out her mouth, and resembled an Alicorn. I studied her intently as she twitched every now and then and shifted closer to K. I couldn't stop staring at her and her design, more importantly, I stared at the odd pores that were making up her hooves, horn, and hair.

"Was she hurt? Can she move with those holes in her hooves?" I asked myself as I leaned in a bit closer to get a better view, still curious. I looked at K and at her before slowly reaching my hand out to touch one of these pores, I got contact and indeed these things were real and surprisingly smooth.

She twitched as I removed my finger and slightly opened an eye and stared at me off the corner of her eye. I tilted my head and stared curiously back at her as she blinked her eyes a few more times and smiled.

"Did you enjoy last night?"

I paused and nodded suspiciously. "Yeah…how do you know about that?" She giggled as she closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against K's body.

"What are you talking about, you were inside me last night, you should remember when you let out so much inside…"

I had to give myself a small check before proceeding. "Oh, you mean K."

She opened her eyes again, this time with a blush and aimlessly glaring at K's chest. She exchanged looks with K and me before lifting herself off the bed quickly and rapidly looking between K and me.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" She asked aiming a hoof at me. I smiled as I scratched the back of my head. "You see, I have the same question!"

K awoke and rubbed out his eyes before lifting his back off the bed. "What's with the screaming?" He yawned and stretched out before his new friend got next to him and aimed her hoof at me. K looked curiously at his side before looking up to me, squinting his eyes.

"WHO'S THAT!? HE LOOKS LIKE YOU!"

K waved at me with a tired look as he chuckled. "Hey Ben."

"Hey K," I waved back smiling, of course, I could never not smile when it was K I was seeing. His friend quickly looked at him before going towards me as she tried to understand what was going on.

"Ben!?" She asked almost outraged and wanting answers.

K sighed as he turned around to look at her and back at me.

"This is Ben, he's where I came from…"

"Came from!? What does that mean!?" She asked.

I sat down on the bed because this was going to be one hell of an explanation and I was a good reference. She scooted away from me and closer to K's side before glaring at me with distrust. I mocked her by scooting away from her and glaring at her the same way. She pouted and stuck her tongue out, being serious about it too. Of course, I did the same and she look away with a pout, leaving me to chuckle out that bit of playfulness inside me.

"This is Chrysalis, Ben, Chrysalis, Chrysalis, Ben," K introduced us to each other. That name ringed a bell, that was the name that was supposed to be a monster, she obviously wasn't but she was unique. I smiled as I reached my hand across the bed. "Hey, nice to meet ya!"

"Umm…hi," she greeted back awkwardly, unsure about what to do about my hand for a few seconds before raising her hoof and letting me grip it. I shook it firmly but not too hard since she was obviously still in a bit of shock. She stared at her hoof as I let her go, and I stared at my hand after feeling her pores once more, felt weird.

"So, you're Chrysalis! I've heard your name being swung around town in some…negative ways," I chuckled scratching the back of my head. She stared at me seriously, I obviously stated the obvious. K sighed and nodded, "Yeah but she's not like that I can assure you!" K wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in a bit closer to him.

I smiled and nodded. "I bet, she has a pretty name, not to mention, look."

She blushed a bit and nodded. "Uh…thanks, I guess…"

"No problem, now I suppose you're wondering who I am, along with K, you obviously need some info." I offered.

"Yeah, because I'm sure you probably don't even know what I am! Or what he is!" K added with a smile. She sighed as she looked around over to me.

"Okay then, explain this madness," She demanded making me lifted my feet off my floor and fully cross my legs on the bed. K grabbed Chrysalis and moved her between us so that we could both speak to her from either side. She gave us some confused looks before waiting for us to being speaking. I signaled K to begin and he did just that, except he went straight to the point. Chrysalis gave him her curious attention as he explained.

"Well, to be simple, I'm a demon that was created from within Ben…"

"Excuse me, a what now?" Chrysalis asked being calm, checking to see if she heard right. K sighed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly and nervously. "Umm…a demon…"

Chrysalis had to take that in, she looked to the bed in a bit of disbelief as K rethought what he just said.

"It's not that bad, I mean…I'm not _that_ type of demon…" K said trying to be honest but trying make himself sound better than what "demon" said about him. Chrysalis looked at him a bit worried as she noticed how hard he was trying to make up for saying that. I was slightly amazed K wasn't being his crazy self as he explained himself, he usually acted like this when he was nervous.

"Demon…as in the ones that killed most of the Equestrian Empire centuries upon centuries ago…"

I paused for a second and K did too, what she just phrased triggered something in my memory. That book that I read over Twilight's shoulder back at her place, it spoke about a "Fighter" and a "Demon" and how they massacred throughout the empire. K looked up at me and I back at him as we both knew what she spoke of.

"I read something about that…" I responded crossing my hands across my chest. K nodded in agreement and sighed. "Yeah…me too, in one of Twilight's books"

"Yeah but those were ponies, you're…some other creatures…" Chrysalis pointed out aiming her hoof at both K and me.

"Human…" I replaced creature with the actual word. She tilted her head curiously towards me and lowered her hoof. "Oh…a hu-man?"

"I'll explain later, for now, let's get to know each other," I was hoping to get her distracted from my past because that was a shit-ton of storytelling I didn't want to retell.

"Right…" She responded a bit anxious, turning to K and awaiting something from him. K nodded a bit before closing his eyes and inhaling a big breath of air to calm himself.

"Well…I'm a demon, made from Ben's hate, but I'm different from other demons, unlike them, I was born inside of Ben, not in Hell, thus I'm a rogue demon because I broke the rules of being one," K explained and revealed some crazy new info I didn't know. Apparently, now he's a rogue demon for not being born in Hell and instead decided to be born inside me, that to me was incredible and probably answered most questions about K's attitude.

"Wait a minute, are you saying you act like this because you were born inside me?" I asked him curious and worried about the answer and possible outcomes if he'd been made in Hell, still, I'm thankful he wasn't. He crossed his legs like I did on the bed and nodded.

"Yeah, now I get to wander with you instead of dragging every soul I see into Hell…or in this case, Tartarus," He sighed scratching his head. "Basically, since I did what I did, I can wander about the world with freedom, but still bound to you of course…"

"That's kinda sad man, I wish there was a way I could unbind you from me…" I expressed trying to sympathize for him but he chuckled before shaking his head and whispering "That would be stupid" under his breath.

"There is but doing so will kill me, so don't think about it," He responded sounding serious and a bit depressed from saying so. I felt that deeply, it was depressing to think he was bound to me, but then again, he was an amazing company to have.

"Yeah but it's cool to have someone like you around, I can't argue you're probably the most entertaining dude I've ever met, I bet everypony here thinks so too!" I encouraged, he broke a smirk as he scratched his head once more feeling a bit uplifted by such words.

"Geez man, save you're flattering the ponies!" He came back laughing out a bit loudly. I smirked as I smacked a fist into my palm and smiled a toothy smile. "I was expressing, but still, good advice."

"Ohhhh…I see, a Master and his Demon! That fills in some gaps!" Chrysalis exclaimed proudly uncovering the mystery herself. K quickly turned to her and I closed my eyes as I nodded.

"Basically, do you need any more explaining?" K asked still holding onto his smirk. Chrysalis looked at him and pondered it for a few seconds before nodding.

"Is he as strong as you?" She asked lifting an eyebrow and lifting a hoof at me. K flashed a grin over to me and I lifted an eyebrow towards him in response.

"I haven't really tested his full strength, but last time he showed it off, well…he nearly murdered Celestia…" K explained giving an odd smile that represented his "Yeah, that's some serious shit!" feeling. Chrysalis looked at him wide-eyed as she quickly moved next to me and punched her hoof onto my arm. "Ow, my arm…"

"HE DID!?" She asked emphasizing me. I looked at her and felt a bit of dread comeback, I honestly didn't mean to hurt Celestia, it was just something that happened. K nodded reassuring her she heard right. "Yeah, it was a simulation though, but if it was in the real world, she would have been a goner!"

She turned to me and stared at me in disbelief as she gave me her full attention and asked. "What happened!?"

I stared at her face, it was very close up and it seemed quite oddly satisfying to look at. K clapped his hands on the other side of the bed to get our attention as he flicked a wrist explaining the story.

"Well, Ben tried to power up beyond his limits and triggered something, his body started backfiring and it nearly killed him, then out of nowhere he gave Celestia this merciless glare and picked her up by the neck, strangling her, while powering up a devastating attack in his other hand (K raised his own hand to symbolize what a hand was), no matter how much she cried his name out, he was blinded by something and would have destroyed her if it wasn't for it being a simulation!" K told that story with so much enthusiasm it wasn't surprising his chest popped out from the heavy breaths he was taking.

"Damn it, I know, but it was an accident! I had no idea that would happen!" It was all I could say in my defense, I had no explanation for what I did, although, I have to admit, it did sponsor my name throughout Canterlot. I felt Chrysalis come at me from my left ear as she yelled out another question.

"Why would you attack her?! Did she try to hurt you!?"

I was stunned a near half a minute, she just asked a question that I should have taken more seriously, Why did she attack me? She never really told me besides that it was a test…a test for what. I turned to Chrysalis who never broke her gaze with me before I turned to K who was also staring at me pondering the same question we all pondered.

I blinked a few times as I tried figuring out a way to respond and at last I answered with, "…yeah…she did…she dragged me into a fight, and started beating the shit out of me until I began to fight back…in the end, she said it was to see who was stronger…"

To see who was stronger? Hell no, it was now clear that Celestia lied to me and that maybe that's why she shut Twilight up back then, there was something she didn't want to tell me.

"That doesn't sound like her, she would only fight to protect her ponies…" Chrysalis added, showing her signs of confusion and curiosity. She proved my point again, Celestia only fights for her ponies, not for strength.

"Exactly, and if that's so…then why did she fight me? Was I still a threat to the ponies?" I asked, adding to her observation. I was distracted from so many things now, and I honestly hope this doesn't evolve into another problem about me existing.

"Or…are you a threat?" K added snapping fingers in a discovery. I never considered that possibility, she might be restraining the info just to not make me feel bad or something, but then again, she might be doing this to avoid me doing something dangerous. For everyone's sake, I hope it's the first one or a different possibility.

I shook away all the negativity as I threw myself off the bed and stretched out a bit.

"Well, I guess I'm damned to being a threat," I chuckled popping my knuckles and smiling, ignoring the fact I didn't have a clue about that fight, for now, everything seemed at peace and it should stay that way.

I finished loosening my body and shook off all the tingly sensations as I got Chrysalis's attention. K was using his hand to adjust his rugged hair and dusting himself off. My sight drifted to Chrysalis as she continued staring at me curiously, she was odd compared to any other pony I've met or maybe it was because I haven't met as many yet.

"So…Chrysalis," I wanted to begin some small talk to see if I could distract her from staring. I caught her off guard, she jumped a bit as she looked up to face me.

"Yes?" Her voice broke a bit there but I wasn't going press on that.

"What's up with you? I hardly know a thing about you…" I let the question hang, and she picked up on it almost immediately.

"Right, I uh…I'm Queen Chrysalis, of the Changelings…sort of…"

"Change-lings?" I asked.

"Yeah…um…we can change our bodies, or in other words, morph, hence our name-"

"Change your bodies!? A demonstration, please!?" I wanted to see this for myself, I had speculations about that name of hers, and the name of her species, "The Changelings". She looked at me with a slightly surprised look before hopping off the bed, I moved away as she made a bit of room for herself. K stared at her from the bed with nothing but a smile.

She sighed before quickly surrounding herself in a violent green light the blinded for a few seconds before dimming down. I stared at her throughout the whole process, she became smaller and she no longer had her jagged horn but she did have a fine set of pegasi wings. The green light eventually faded and all that was left was Rainbow Dash, well, Chrysalis disguised as Dash.

"I think this was how she looked? Right?" She asked turning to me with a proud smile, her voice was Dash's as well. I nodded and chuckled as she I clapped my hands.

"Yup, that's amazing, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I put you two side by side!" I exclaimed before she reverted back to her normal and smiled in the flattery. I could tell she doesn't smile often by how she hid the smile by looking down to the floor.

"I like her more like this, she's cuter don't ya think?" K leaned from the bed and gave Chrysalis a soft stroke through her hair making her blush and look off to the wall. K was going to get no argument from me, he was right all the way.

"Defiantly, you should consider yourself lucky to find a pony-I mean changeling like this…especially the queen!" I agreed and complimented both of them. I don't know whose smile I made wider first but I'm sure they both whispered out a "thanks."

"That might have worked a season ago, but thanks anyway…" Chrysalis chuckled a bit heavy and with pain. I turned to her and so did K as we both inquired about what she meant. It might have been best of hadn't asked since in a second her face became full of the pain of holding back tears.

"Oh shit, NEIN! Don't cry, my bad, my bad!" K pleaded as he immediately rushed next to her to calm her down. I got in front of her and stared at her, she sniffed away her yearn to cry and looked at the floor as she firmly smacked a hoof onto it. "I was dethroned…I… I sometimes dream of having it back…sometimes I even think I do, then I just wake up under a tree or something…" She chuckled followed by a slight tear that K almost immediately rubbed off. I sighed as I looked at her nearly let out another tear but K was calming her down with his presence.

[Yes, that last segment of Chrysalis from a few chapters ago was all in her mind]

"Who dethroned you? Maybe we can help?" I offered before K quickly got excited by the idea and nodded rapidly. "Yeah! I'll make them suffer!"

"My throne was destroyed, I was betrayed by my own…changeling…"

"Who?" I asked.

"Hmpf…Swollen with Love Thorax, then the rest of them…I lost to his…love."

"You were seduced?" K asked next.

"No, I meant, the power of love."

"Power of love? Isn't that a good thing sorta?" I asked making K frown a bit but he got the point I was trying to convey. Chrysalis looked up at me and shrugged.

"I guess it might be…I don't really know, all I know is that I lost and lost everything…I can't imagine what Luna, Celestia, Cadence, Shining, and everypony did after hearing I lost to love, they probably laughed and had a feast…"

"Luna? Celestia? Cadence? Shining? What are you saying?" I asked moved by her words, and how cruel she depicted them. She looked up to me with a serious glare that made me retract what I said for a new question. "Or, in other words, what happened between you all?"

She explained it all to me and K in what seemed to be a long half an hour but was actually half of that. I could see where she was coming from when she said that they would've probably laughed at her and K knew too after all that. She chuckled as she sniffed back another tear and smirked. "I guess I have myself to blame for all of this…"

"Yeah, but still, be glad you ended up with a cool guy like this one!" I encouraged. K nodded and agreed. "Yeah, now you got friends like us!"

"Friends? That's what got me dethroned in the first place!" Chrysalis added outraged by K's words.

"And now it's going to make you enjoy life much more!" K quickly added to her comment with a great joy in his tone. Chrysalis scowled at K for saying that and quickly turned to him to object but K's grin got the better of her

"MAKE LIFE BETTER!? YOU…You…okay maybe there is a good thing to…F-friends," She admitted struggling to say that word she found offensive, and who could blame her when it was always in her way in the past; I'd feel the same way if I was in her situation. It was obvious K's grin is the reason she blushed and accepted his words; based off what she said earlier (About how "I"(K) "filled" her up) I can only assume K had blackmailed her feelings with sex, low but gets the job done.

"Wow, that's all it took?" I asked out loud to tease. Chrysalis frowned at me while K chuckled and nodded.

"Funny how things work out, right?" He chuckled.

"Work out? I don't have a thing to do, I've got no throne, I'm basically powerless!" Chrysalis argued, pouting towards the floor. K shook his head as he looked over to his pillow, launched it and looted something from under it. He turned to Chrysalis and smiled.

"You're not powerless, you got looks, literally many looks, magical strength, and us by your side! Who do you have to fear!?" K was being his normal uplifting self again, and good thing he was since Chrysalis couldn't do anything but bust a smile and giggle.

"Just shut up, and help me get out of this castle before they find me…"

"Get out? NO! Prepare to be reintroduced to the princesses!" K grinned making her object on the spot and shake her head quickly.

"NO! ARE YOU STUPID!? YOU KNOW WE DON'T GET ALONG!"

"SCREW YOUR PAST RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM, I'M A DEMON! AND I SAY YES!" K replied placing his hand on her horn and shutting her up instantly. It was a nice move considering that the horn was their weakness. K ran his fingers to his forehead and I slapped my hand onto his shoulder.

"Wh-what are…you doing!?" Chrysalis mustered out making K smirk. "Fixing old problems…"

"Oh boy…"

poof*

"I'm glad we all got over that cider epidemic-" Celestia's voice emerged from ahead of us as I touched a smooth floor beneath me and so did the company I was with. I studied all the looks we were getting from all the ponies that were in front of me, it was all of them all on that long table with food everywhere. All their mouths were dropped wide open and their eyes were rounder than geometric circles.

I turned to my side to K and Chrysalis and I didn't know what was more shocking to the ponies; Chrysalis being before them, or the fact that she was all red as K held her over the ground by the horn and he was clueless as he stared at the ponies in front of him. It strange how he didn't notice it when he literally had her face next to his as he hovered her high over the floor.

"Yo, K! Let her go!" I ordered him making him turn to me with a lifted eyebrow.

"What?" He looked to the angry and embarrassed changeling next to him. "Oh! Sorry about that!"

He placed her on the floor instantly and chuckled nervously as Chrysalis lifted herself and shook away all the tingling she felt from being held by the horn.

"Don't do that again!" She scowled. K shrugged as he apologized once more.

"Be a bit more chill you two, look at the attention you're getting!" I whispered loudly to them as I signaled the ponies that stopped eating breakfast. They instantly turned and Chrysalis froze in place as her eyes widened and her mouth hanged slightly opened while K, on the other hand, smiled as he waved.

"Hey!" He greeted but they didn't greet him back. It wasn't surprising since they didn't even notice him as much as they noticed Chrysalis as she seemed to be having a mental struggle as she shivered and trembled at the sight of all of them.

"K…get me out of here…please!" Chrysalis pleaded taking a step back and shaking her head in denial. K looked at her and over to the ponies before stopping Chrysalis from moving any farther away by jumping back and using his foot to slide her forward.

"Calm down, I'm here, don't be afraid…" K reassured her with a calm smile and damn that smile was something strange coming from him, almost makes him look as friendly as Flutters. "What the?" K asked as Chrysalis hid partially behind him, she found it hard to take in his words but she stopped trying to run away and stayed. K must have realized how serious he should take this, he looked ahead at the ponies with a firmer smile that dared them to say something and his arms crossed over his chest. It seemed they all wanted to get a look at Chrysalis but none had the courage to get close, they remained seated, well most did anyways.

"CHRYSALIS!?" Luna exclaimed getting up from her seat to get a better view of Chrysalis hiding behind K. K met her eyes first and chuckled a bit as he nodded.

"Yeah, I got Chrysalis with me, cute ain't she?" He asked being friendly and semi-flattering. Chrysalis blushed as she closed her eyes tightly, praying to be somewhere else but here. "Don't worry, we're here with ya," I reassured her holding a comforting smile. She opened an eye to look at me before opening the other and taking a terrified breath.

"WHY IS SHE HERE!?" Luna asked next. Chrysalis jumped a bit and I turned to Luna.

"Because I thought maybe it's time we had a reunion," K replied stepping away from Chrysalis revealing her to the ponies in front of us. Chrysalis stared ahead of her trying to hold composure and not squirm to another hiding place, she was shivering, and her face was just holding back fear.

"Re-union?" Celestia asked getting up from her seat as well and looking over to K.

"Yeah, we all sit down and talk it over the table, can we?" I asked with a smile. Smiling is always a good way to covey a question; Luna and Celestia slowly choked out a weary "S-sure" out of their sort of nervous bodies with fake smiles. Almost consecutively, Flutters, Dash, and Vinyl unoccupied three seats next to each other and filled in others seats around the table, a kind gesture but it seemed to be played out of fear and worry.

K gleamed with joy as he turned to Chrysalis and clapped his hands once.

"Great! Come on Chrysi," He joyfully offered aiming a hand at the three seats.

Chrysalis's eye twitched as she snapped at him. "Don't call me that!"

K pouted childishly and he rolled his eyes, just when he was making good progress. "Geez, I thought I could call you that."

Chrysalis sighed as she carefully neared K a bit closer, making contact with his body. "Well…not here…" she whispered out to avoid any more awkwardness. K got the point and whispered out and "Ohhh…" as he apologized for calling her that. They seemed clueless about how they were being seen as by the audience that were watching their "couple drama".

"Come on you two lovebirds, we gotta take a seat before we flat-out look stupid…" I chuckled walking over to the long table and taking the seat left to the middle one. K nodded with Chrysalis as they moved to the table too, K being mighty proud while Chrysalis hanged her head low as they passed by the seats of, Rarity, Lyra, Bonbon, and Applejack. She lowered her head a bit lower each time they turned to look at her and whispered some drama.

They got to the table and K took a seat in the seat, right of the middle one, thankfully too since having Chrysalis sit right next to Applejack or Dash might not be a good idea considering the past between all of them. K made sure to pull back the seat to allow Chrysalis to hop on to it and pushed her back when she was.

We couldn't really have chosen any better seats; we were parallel to Luna, Celestia, and Twilight, I had Celestia in front of me, K had Luna, and Chrysalis, unfortunately, had pissed-looking Twilight. I looked at the food in front of me, which was appetizing but my hunger was diminished by the sudden reunion of old foes in front of me. Everypony and princesses had their eyes locked onto Chrysalis, and poor Chrysalis was getting her soul sucked out by their stares, she maintained incredibly idle; wide-eyes, glued-shut mouth, ears perked straight up, and her body sitting upright and stiff. It wasn't long before K and I realized we've been sitting quiet for two minutes.

"I assume you know each other very well?" K began. He knew the answer but asked for the sake of starting conversation. Even if K didn't ask them, everypony on the table nodded simultaneously and responded with "Yup" or "Y-yes". Chrysalis glanced at K before looking ahead at Twilight staring her down.

"Yes, we have…history…" Celestia answered, being calm but trying to throw the spotlight on Chrysalis. K nodded accepting that answer. I could tell Chrysalis was a bit easier after hearing Celestia talk, but she still glanced at Twilight every now and then, she seemed to have some grudge towards Chrysalis.

"Okay then, if that's so…then why are you surprised to see her?" K asked another question and this time I could see how he was aiming to get somewhere. Luna and Celestia gave each other a look as they tried to come up with an answer before getting back to him.

"Well, there's many reasons!" Luna responded. K lifted an eyebrow as he got a glass of water in front of him and drank out of it leaving it half full. "Then please, tell me."

Chrysalis finally looked away from Twilight to look at K, she had this surprised look, probably from seeing that K was actually trying to get some something out of this odd reunion. Twilight squinted her eyes suspiciously at Chrysalis before looking up at K as well.

The princesses looked at each other for support before nodding and getting back to K, who waited patiently with a small smirk.

"Right then, reasons…um…can we ask why is she here in the first place?" Luna asked starting off nervous but ended aiming her hoof at Chrysalis with a frown slightly showing. Chrysalis gave a "hic" as she blushed a lightly, as K nodded and placed his hand to chin to ponder about it.

"Well…um…I think she came to me actually, twice, last night and two nights ago…" K claimed. Celestia, Luna, Twilight, as well as everypony were dumbfounded and had to swallow their words before blurting them out, Twilight slightly raising her voice.

"I remember, it was two night ago, I was there…" Twilight let out before Celestia caught on immediately. "And you didn't say anything Twilight, why is that?"

"I was…too shocked to say anything in at the moment, then K did…you know…so I ended up too busy, I'm sorry," Twilight apologized as she looked straight ahead at Chrysalis, still for some reason looking pissed. Chrysalis, this time, frowned a bit and mustered out the courage to respond.

"What?"

"Why did come back a second time? And how did you get into the castle without us or the guards noticing?" Twilight was demanding the answer; her tone was strong and almost unlike her. Chrysalis paused and was put in a corner in which no one here understood why she couldn't just answer.

Twilight was impatient and lifted an eyebrow. "Well?"

"I…uh…came to…" Chrysalis was avoiding looking at Twilight by looking at the glass of water in front of her. Twilight clenched her teeth as she placed her hooves on the table, shaking it, before yelling out at her. "Come on! Just say it!"

Chrysalis frowned as she looked up at Twilight and growled back. "I came to see K!" She responded at the same time Twilight finished rushing her and created an odd silence between everyone at the table, even the princesses were shocked at the moment. K was stunned too and sipped out of his water nervously as he looked at everypony at the table eyeing him and Chrysalis. I also was stunned but by the reactions that everyone gave.

"Did…you say…K?" Twilight asked separating the words and giving a slight laugh between each word which easily made Chrysalis annoyed.

"Yeah, is there something wrong with that!?" Chrysalis asked sternly.

"You can't be serious!? All you were ever good for was feeding off of love and ruining our lives!" Twilight yelled back more serious than a few seconds ago. That must have hurt Chrysalis bad since she was almost immediately lost all will to respond back and swallowed deeply as she got that lump in her throat that makes it difficult to breathe. In seconds, Twilight was going to respond with another hurtful comment before Chrysalis quickly growled as her eyes widened with rage and she cut her off on the spot.

"Shut up! Talking about being the "Princess of Friendship" when all you do is cause turmoil among those trying to change!" Chrysalis fought back placing her hooves firmly on the table making it shake violently. "And if you think what you're saying is true, then who's to say, you haven't failed your role as a princess already!"

Everypony around the table gasped loudly and K even choked on the water he was drinking. If I felt that verbal comeback deeply, then I couldn't imagine how Twilight must have taken it internally, not so well. Twilight slowly lowered and let her body loosely fall onto the seat, she stared at Chrysalis with nothing to say back, but Twilight's look of defeat and realization was enough to describe how damaged she was from that unexpected outburst. What Chrysalis said must have sounded reasonable to everypony here since they did nothing to defend or support Twilight, not even the princesses could defend her, they were stunned into silence.

"I came to see K…that's all…" Chrysalis eased out, sighing deeply as she lowered herself back onto the seat and letting out a deep breath to let out the stress. She stared aimlessly at the glass of water in front of her trying to get an understanding of what was happening. K glanced at me, trying to tell me with his face, "Oh shit, this wasn't how I planned it at all!", I nodded reassuringly to tell him, "It'll work out, give it time!". We exchanged another set of nods before Twilight mumbling something got our attention.

"I…I'm sorry, Chrysalis, I'm sorry…" She apologized, regretting ever being harsh towards her. Chrysalis ended her gaze with the glass and focused on Twilight as she straightened her posture to a more suitable one for conversating. Chrysalis followed and fixed her attitude along with her posture.

"Y-yes…" Chrysalis eased out with a nod but she wasn't done there, no, she had something else stuck on her tongue. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "I…" she paused before letting out her breath and staring at Twilight eye to eye. "I'm sorry too…"

Judging from all the wide eyes in the room from the ponies and princesses, Chrysalis apologizing was a huge deal apparently.

"Did you…apologize?" Twilight asked wanting to make sure she heard correctly. It was difficult but Chrysalis managed to nod her head accordingly. "Yes…"

Twilight swapped surprised looks with the princesses before looking back at me and K.

"What did you do to her!?"

We both immediately raised up our hands in our defence. "Nothing!"

I turned to K surprised he said he did _nothing_. Obviously, he did do something quite "Unclean", or in other words, deflowering. Twilight quickly turned over to Chrysalis, questions rushing across the table.

"Chrysalis? What happened? Aren't you supposed to be…you know…evil?"

"Hmpf, well after waking up under a tree clutching a poster for a concert and suitcase full of belongings, it's safe to say anyone in their right mind would realize there's got to be something better to do…sadly it had to be me to realize that, still, I'm not a do-gooder neither," Chrysalis chuckled through a gentle smile, trying to numb the internal pain of her unfortunateness.

That small expression was impactful to me, K and everypony in the room, but it seemed the two princesses had a hard time buying that story. The princesses stared suspiciously at Chrysalis as she, out of nowhere, spawned the concert poster from thin air in a green glow.

"You see, poster!" Chrysalis explained moving the poster up to Twilight's face so she could look at it. Twilight took the nearly falling apart poster with her magic and studied it for a few seconds before placing it down on the table.

"Yes…but wait…are seriously telling me, you're here to see the concert!?"

"No, I thought "he" would be at the concert, so I came to…find him…" Chrysalis placed a hoof on K's arm making his smile a little wider.

By now, Twilight had all the clues like everyone else at the table, that, there was something going on between these two; she had all the clues but she found it hard to believe.

"So…you came for K…do you have something of interest on him?" Twilight asked. Chrysalis, of course, had interest on K but of course, she would try to downgrade the meaning of interests. Even if she was nervous about Twilight asking, she should have considered how she was speaking about K earlier.

"No, I just wanted to see him again…that's all…" She quickly responded. The table hid most of their lower bodies and Chrysalis used this to hide her fidgeting hooves as she answered. Twilight smiled a bit, finally showing off a less aggressive side and a friendlier one. Chrysalis softened up a bit but couldn't pull off a smile back.

"Ohhhh…" She exaggerated the expression very well, as if making a discovery. "I get it! You like him, don't you?"

The princesses choked on their water, and everypony gasped as Twilight revealed the quite obvious observation. Celestia and Luna coughed their lungs out before finally expressing what everypony on the table felt like yelling out.

"*Cough* WHAT!? *Cough*"

"Love is in the air with these two!" Twilight giggled, playing around with Chrysalis. Of course, how could I not see Chrysalis denying it coming, she denied it like an exposed teen would; with no good counters, just "no" to everything.

It felt nice for a change to have these two conversating semi-civil-like, they weren't fighting, they were playing around. K looked to me before smiling and shrugging telling me, "Oh, you were right!". I returned it with a nod. "I told you so."

As they threw back and forth "Yes" and "NO!", Celestia quickly cut into their argument.

"Quiet! Chrysalis explain yourself! Those can't be your real motives!?" Celestia asked still uncertain and sketchy about her. She forced us all into a quick pause, her voice was spine-tingling, there was so much emotion put into it. Chrysalis shook away the goosebumps and got back to Celestia.

"I've already explained everything! There's nothing left to explain!"

"How did you even meet K or figure out about him!?" Celestia asked next making K stare at her more confused than he already was about her strange approach. Chrysalis had an answer well prepared and didn't waste time giving it to her.

"I sensed his strength, it was immense and I followed it…nothing more," She answered calmly to not agitate Celestia's nerve. K quickly nodded as he reached into his pocket.

"Yeah, I was going to go find her that same day too," He pulled out the stone from his pocket and reached it out to Celestia's face. "Isn't that why you gave me this?"

Celestia backed her head away from the stone to get a better view since K shoved it into her face. "Gave you-?" She paused before quickly widening her eyes and latching onto the stone with her magic but K quickly gripped the stone to avoid it leaving. "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT!?"

"Uh…I found it, and I kept it!" K said. He pulled back on the stone but Celestia pulled back harder and nearly launched him out of his seat if it wasn't for Chrysalis using her magic to grab K's body and force him back down onto the seat.

"You're not supposed to have that! Give it back!" Celestia demanded still trying to pull the stone with her magic but K quickly placed both hands on the stone and refused to lose grip. "NO!" K exclaimed as he brought his hands on his chest and secured the stone. Celestia quickly used her magic again but this time to undo his fingers and separated his hands. K was about to lash out in another yell but Twilight quickly cut him off.

"Stop! Celestia! It belongs with him!" Twilight claimed using her magic to counter Celestia's. Celestia looked at her, surprised that she cut her off and asked the only thing she could ask. "What!?"

"Yeah! She tested it and it chose me!" K revealed. I was there when the stone was claimed as his, so I had had to give my own testimony. "Yeah, I was there too, Twilight tested the stone and it chose K."

Celestia shook her head silently as she retracted her magic and exchanged looks between me, Twilight, and K. It was if she had lost her mind that she suddenly stopped and looked at K and Chrysalis and placed both hooves on the table.

"By all the delicious flavors of cake!" Celestia expressed quickly turning to Chrysalis with the most surprised look she's given in my presence. "Chrysalis, you can't really love him!? Right!?"

"What's the problem with it?" Chrysalis responded tilting her head curiously. She answered that like she didn't just witness Celestia fully lose her composure. Celestia quickly retracted her hooves from the table and give faint chuckles as she stared at Chrysalis, still trying to believe what she was hearing.

It was obvious Celestia wasn't going to answer that question with all her trauma going on, so Luna decided to squeeze into the scene. Highly unlike Celestia, Luna was not asking twice about anything, on the contrary, she was smiling and glad over all this.

"To explain a bit better, we just created your stone for the fun of it, we joked about it since…we never expected it to actually find an owner!" Luna giggled as she took the stone from K with ease, leaving K staring into his empty hands mentally saying, "Oh…she took it…".

Luna twirled the stone with her magic before placing in front of Chrysalis on the table, Chrysalis stared at the stone before picking it up with her magic. "You see this stone is made for finding love…strange thing was we never thought yours would find somepony but it found K!" Luna joyously explained making Chrysalis's curious as she placed the stone down and look at her.

"So, is it a good thing K found this?"

"Yup, like I said, it finds love!"

"Are you saying he loves me?"

"I don't know about him because the stone represents your love! Who would've thought a simple joke could end up causing the world of a difference!" Luna joyfully expressed.

"Do you love me Chrysi?" K chuckled, leaning closer to her seat from his. Chrysalis looked away in my direction and blush heavily as she pouted. "I told you to not call me that!"

"Do you?" K persisted making it hard for her to keep up her pout. Her pout instantly morphed into a smile as she giggled, "Oh, shut up, talk to the stone!" Chrysalis slid the stone over to K and K used his finger to launch the stone into the air and catch it.

"Love you too in that case…" K chuckled pocketing the stone and drinking from his water with a smile that wouldn't cease to impress all those around him. Chrysalis smiled too as she sighed and straightened her back on the seat before glancing at K. "Me too…"

"I don't really know what to say…" Celestia commented looking at Chrysalis in disbelief.

"I know, how about, Oh my Celestia! I can't believe our fooling around worked out!" Luna added. Celestia nodded with Luna's claim before Twilight stepped into the conversation.

"I was thinking more like Congrats!" She giggled looking at Chrysalis while Chrysalis returned her look with a smirk.

"Yeah…that's…right…" Celestia agreed before straightening up and sighing. "I guess this is congrats Chrysalis! Just don't go and terrorize my ponies alright?"

"I guess I'll just have to scratch it off my to-do list," Chrysalis played around before chuckling. "I didn't really plan on doing that…"

"Well, with that being said, I never thought I would say this…welcome to Canterlot Chrysalis." Celestia introduced with her hoof moving in a rainbow over her head.

"Wait so it Chrysalis really a friend now? What the heck!?" Dash asked beside me.

"Yeah, do we just call her that now?" Applejack asked K from K's side.

"Yeah?" The rest of the ponies asked, agreeing with Dash and AJ's question. I looked at Chrysalis and around the table along with K as we studied their looks of uncertainty and worry.

"If you want…I understand the past between y'all, so it's up to you to decide whether you want to accept her," I wisely explained making them ponder. They stared and asked among each other before finally, they all looked up to me, K, and Chrysalis.

"Well if she isn't going to hurt us anymore, I'm okay with calling her friend…" Flutters said from the far end of the table before getting nods of agreement from Pinkie and Vinyl before being joined everypony.

"Cool, appreciate it Flutters!" I thanked with a smile making her smile back gently.

"And everypony here too." K added, ending my thanks to everypony. They all let out a breath of relief as they slouched in their chairs and exchanged silent smiled between each other. Chrysalis and K smiled as well as they exchanged these odd eyes daring lovers give.

I slouched back a bit too, to relax but quickly stopped when something pressed against my thigh. I reached my hand into my pocket and pulled out the source of the uncomfortableness; it was Princess Cadence's stone.

"Yo, I gotta question!" I inquired, completely going off topic or maybe still on it but relatively not concerning Chrysalis or K. Everypony, princess, K, and Chrysalis turned to me as I gripped the stone in my hand, concealing it from their view.

"Yes?" Luna and Celestia asked together. I opened my hand and showed them the stone, everyone looked at it strangely and confused as I flicked it up like a coin and caught it.

"This tells one's love, right?" I asked.

"Yes…" They answered not getting the point of my argument. I nodded as I played with the stone in my hand.

"Okay…" I said stopping my little display of coin skills and showed it off for all to see. "But if Cadence is married then why do I need this?"

"Cadence? What are those three up to?" Chrysalis asked randomly. Three? I thought they were a happy couple, not a three-way marriage conundrum.

"Three?" I asked turning to Chrysalis. She nodded before looking curiously ahead at Luna giggling to herself, I turned as well.

"Oh, they're fine and yes, they have a baby filly, making them three," Luna answered the both of us. I paused before quickly bringing the stone up to my face and staring at it intensely. I didn't want to imagine the problems this thing would bring if I kept it any longer.

"What the hell!? I really don't think I should have this, uh, here…" I said reaching the stone out to Luna. She and everypony/changeling/princess stared at my hand as I held it out for maybe half a minute with nothing happening. Luna just stared at my hand completely lost and unsure about what to do.

"But that's yours…I made sure to test it too…" She finally said pushing my hand back to me with her magic. I looked at my hand and opened it to the see the stone once more. This couldn't be right, how can a married pony love another that isn't her husband, I didn't want to believe it neither did I want to have anything to do with a betrayal.

"What the? No! That can't be!" I refused reaching the stone out to her again with an open hand, hoping she'd take it up without a question, obviously that wasn't going to happen. She slowly closed my hand with her magic and pushed it back to me again, pressing my closed hand against my chest, above the area where my heart was.

"Why not?" Luna asked almost saddened by the fact I didn't want the stone. It was obvious she couldn't understand my reasoning and I was pretty sure she had all the clues to deduce her own theory, so why wasn't she thinking what I was thinking? I brought my hand down onto the table gently as I cocked my head curiously and stared at the stone pondering if I was missing something.

"Why not…" I looked away from the stone and to Luna. "Do you believe in adultery?"

She rose an eyebrow and shook her head silently. I looked around the table to see them all staring at me curiously, besides K, he knew well what I was arguing about but remained oddly silent.

"Never mind then but can you explain…" I adjusted myself on the seat and glanced at the stone before focusing on Luna holding the stone between us. "She's married…how can she love someone who isn't her husband…isn't that like betrayal?"

They all exchanged confused looks before all staring me down, I felt their confusion just from their stares. Luna pondered the question almost childishly as she placed a hoof under her mouth and swayed her head gently side to side. She eventually opened her eyes with a smile and with a hoof out to me.

"Betrayal doesn't exist when it comes to Cadence! She's the "Princess of Love after all!"

"Are you saying Cadence can go pick up a random stallion and nail him on the spot with Shining just standing with their daughter, both watching with smiles?" K asked crossing his hands across his chest and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! That's what I'm trying to sorta ask!" I implied agreeing with K's explicit question. He closed his eyes as he nodded and waved his finger. "Adultery was frowned upon back on Earth, is it not here?"

Luna looked at her sister and asked something not trying to hide the question.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I don't think so, mother never said anything about this…" Celestia responded pondering it too.

K looked to me with the "Seriously?" look on and I looked back at him equally but he was more disappointed while I was surprised. I looked down to Chrysalis to see if she understood my point, and she thankfully did, she shrugged as she let out in a casual sigh. "They won't understand, might as well just let whatever happens, happen."

I nodded to her judgment as I turned back to the princesses. "You know what? Forget about it, I'll let time decide what to do with me." I finally allowed them to end their mental struggling. They nodded accordingly with my decision and returned to their oddly casual selves, conversating and joking about what I just tried to explain.

"Geez…" I sighed slouching on the chair and using my arm to rest my cheek on. Chrysalis and K turned to me and chuckled a bit. I focused my eyes on both of them. "What?" I asked a bit annoyed that the princesses were still mocking me for what I said.

"This world's logic is weird but cool, isn't it?" K asked me with a smile. I looked to Chrysalis and the rest of the ponies conversating at the table like a normal people would. He was right, I guess I could admire the fact this world is crazy new to me, I couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Yes, it is…" I chuckled closing my eyes for a bit of rest but quickly opened them when Twilight caught my attention with her suddenly questioning Chrysalis about something.

"So, you're not looking for revenge anymore? Right?" Twilight asked. Chrysalis quickly looked at her and she paused for a few seconds before looking to the floor.

"I guess my work isn't done after all, Yes, I still want my revenge!" Chrysalis responded making everypony freeze and slowly turn to her. Twilight's smile faded and her joy suddenly became a trembling worry as she quivered in her seat. Celestia and Luna rapidly turned to Chrysalis and stared sternly at her.

"You still want revenge!? I thought you said you had no more intentions!?" Celestia exclaimed dumbfoundingly.

"Yeah! What gives!?" Luna asked next with the same tone of voice. Nice slang from Luna.

"My throne was special to me and so was that power…that is something I will never so easily forget, I've been plotting my revenge but stopped when K appeared…maybe I could pull off this one final scheme…" Chrysalis chuckled giving a malicious grin towards them.

"No, why would you do that after this!?" Twilight asked getting off of her seat and placing hooves to table, rocking it. Chrysalis scoffed as she flicked a hoof and spoke out as if this was common sense.

"For revenge and to prove myself once more…what else!?"

"We won't allow you to do so!" Celestia implied getting up from her seat before Luna forced Celestia to sit down with her magic. I glanced at them, struggling with who to support in this argument, they both had reasons to be pissed and some reason I could relate to my own life. Chrysalis stared down Celestia before looking to her side and at K rapidly rising from his seat.

"Why not settle it…" K finally decided to break into the conversation with his toothy grin, and standing up from his seat, aiming a finger towards the ceiling. "WITH A DUEL!"

"WHAT!?" We all asked as we stared at K change from excited to frowning. "What do you mean what!? A duel!"

"How will that help us!?" Luna asked.

"We have fun destroying each other in combat and seeing who's stronger!" K excitedly exclaimed sending a punch into the air that actually caused a wave of air that nearly knocked down all ponies off her seats but the magic of the alicorns and unicorns grabbed them before that could happen. K scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry about that…"

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" Celestia asked K as she used her magic to force K to sit back down. "I REFUSE TO FIGHT AGAIN!"

"Please listen! You'll love the idea! I promise!" K pleaded placing his elbows on the table with both hands pressed together in standard begging manner. K annoyed Celestia with his constant repetition of the word "please". She finally snapped at his twentieth beg.

"Alright! Just say it!"

"Cool-cool, now listen,"

We all leaned in a bit closer to hear him out, everypony showed off their interests quite clearly, even Celestia was listening in interested by the offer even after she despised it a minute ago.

"We'll have two groups, Chrysalis's group, and your group," K began assigning roles giving Chrysalis the leader of her own team and Celestia the leader of her own team. As soon as K gave the order to Celestia to be leader of her own team, Chrysalis quickly cut in.

"No, make it Starlight! Starlight Glimmer!" She excitedly asked

"Who?" K and I asked.

"She was the main cause of my problems! Twilight's student to be exact, a young protégé in the making…" Chrysalis explained with a well over excited tone. Twilight quickly got involved along with the princesses.

"NO! I will not allow you to hurt her!" Twilight sternly refused.

"I will take the role of leader!" Celestia said. Chrysalis refused having her as leader and went back to wanting this Starlight Glimmer aka Twilight's student/protégé.

"Revenge is blissful when it's to the problem, so I want Starlight!"

"You were the problem of your problem! So don't take it out on Starlight!" Twilight struck back.

"I'm not taking it out on her, but you all in general!" Chrysalis explained with a mischievous laugh.

"She's got a point, a leader will always require assistance from his or her pawns, that is why we I agree with Chrysalis, and this is her revenge so let's make it interesting!" K said before getting looks of "what the fuck!?" from all three of them.

K aimed his finger to them and nodded. "I want Starlight as your leader!"

Twilight growled at K for a bit before accepting it. "Fine! I'll make sure she knows!"

"Twilight are you sure?" Celestia asked. Twilight nodded with a new grin that stunned us all for a bit before she explained it. "If Starlight defeated her once, then I'm sure she'll do it again!"

"R-right!" Celestia agreed, she seemed to have a great deal of faith in Twilight. Twilight nodded as she turned back to K and stared at him waiting to hear the rest. K smirked and nodded as he explained the rest.

"AWESOME!" Chrysalis yelled out of character, causing us all to look at her with raised eyebrows. She chuckled nervously as she cleared her throat. "Uh…I mean, now I can exact my revenge to the maximum potential."

"Right! Now to finish, the leader can take as many fighters as she needs, even an army if she has one!" K explained using his hands to give off a clearer picture. Celestia laughed out loud a bit which was clearly out of character for her too.

"Face it Chrysalis, you can't win this!" Celestia mocked forcing Chrysalis to laugh out loud as well before grinning.

"We'll see Sunbutt!" Chrysalis returned with the second most humorous thing she's I've heard since that describing "sex" incident. I couldn't help but smile and hold back my laughter, my chest popped out a bit as I held back the laughter wanting to escape. Celestia quickly aimed a hoof at Chrysalis and gritted her teeth.

"That name is CLASSIFIED!"

"Wow, I like that name!" K commented before waving his hand to get their attention, "But anyways, now we just have to decide where to host this! Any ideas?"

"How in that world of simulation!" I quickly offered aiming my sights to Celestia. "We are capable of feeling pain and it's the same as actually fighting, so it'll make it more exhilarating!"

"Excellent! Oh Goody! Goody! Goody!" Chrysalis giggled to herself rubbing her hooves deviously.

"I guess no pony can get hurt in the end, right?" Celestia asked looking around to get approval from everypony. She got the approval of Luna and Twilight but had to ask again before getting the approval all the ponies in the room.

"So, it's decided?" K asked.

Celestia looked around once more before nodding. "Yes! In the simulation world, it shall be done!"

"Alright! Now, let's decide on a time!"

"Tomorrow!" Chrysalis quickly answered still holding onto these excited set of eyes and a huge smile of satisfaction. K and I had no problem with that but it was up to the princesses to ultimately decide since they were part of it. They looked at each other and nodded.

"I guess it's then, we won't be busy that day so it's fine!" Celestia explained before looking to Chrysalis. "Do you promise to stay out of trouble till then?"

"Of course, It'll be worth the wait when I humiliate all of you!" Chrysalis proudly exclaimed.

"Keep talking! We shall see tomorrow!" Luna grinned before everyone finally finished boasting and taunting. Everypony, Chrysalis, and K took their seats and took a bit of time to simmer down. Chrysalis chuckled to herself a good amount while K drank down the water in front of him.

I slowly slouched on my seat again and sighed before quickly jolting up again, why can't I get a moment to rest? Apparently, K had given the table a sharp jab to the table and startled everyone, including me.

"Now, why don't we discuss this concert business, we haven't forgotten about it, ya know?" K brought up. I guess now wasn't a time to be sleeping, he brought up a good point and now I was well excited. "Yeah, he's right! It's was at noon, wasn't it?"

"Noon is an hour away, you should prepare yourselves!" Twilight warned. She was better off just telling us the time because we didn't really have time to practice or anything, not that we needed it for that matter.

"Well, we don't really need that much…I'll just have a good time! Plus, I'll get to see that Octavia pony again!" I said rubbing my hands togwther in anticipation.

"You know Tavi!?" Vinyl suddenly asked from the far end of the table. I looked over to her, her glasses where there but not covering her eyes.

"Tavi?" I asked before my mind comprehended it. "Oh! Tavi for short! Yeah, I know her, slightly that is."

"Wow! How is she?"

"Last time I saw her she made fun of my choice of instrument, so I say she's fine apart from being too overconfident, but that's still a good thing," I said remembering that day in that store. Vinyl glanced at me with a smile as she nodded. "That sounds like her, are you two friends?"

"I have no idea, but I'm sure I'm on her good side," I smiled, reassuring her I was good and that Tavi was too. She smiled back perfectly. "Awesome, can't wait to see her again!"

"Me too," I whispered out before looking at K get up from his seat and back away from the table, he turned away from the table in the direction out of this food court.

"Well, I'm gonna go grab my guitar!" He said waving his hand in dismissal before turning and aiming a finger at me. "Where's yours?"

"In Celestia's room, I'll go get it," I replied getting up too and moving away from the table waving my hand. "I guess we'll meet later, see ya!"

Without hesitation, Chrysalis got down her seat as well and moved to K side. "I'll go with K." K chuckled and nodded. "Cool!"

"And I'll go with Ben," Twilight claimed hopping off her seat and happily trotting over to my side. I cocked an eyebrow and nodded suspiciously before she filled in the details.

"I'll introduce Ben to Starlight and Trixie along the way!" She happily explained. Trixie? I remember that name well, she was an odd case, I don't know how this reencounter would go but I know she's got an odd thing for seduction, plus her look even gives off a seductive tone.

"Alright, come on Ben, let's get your guitar and then I'll show you two of my favorite pupils, I'm sure you'll like them!" Twilight expressed tugging my shirt a bit with her magic. I nodded and waved back once more as all of them disappeared from sight. K was already long gone by now but I'm sure he's got something planned considering he has Chrysalis with him, maybe they'll plan out this duel we plan on having.

I arrived in Celestia's room via Twilight's teleportation and quickly grabbed my guitar but I had to pause for a second to study something odd and peculiar in the room, on a dresser with a mirror, it was carelessly left on a stand that levitated and rotated it with some magical force. It was another stone, double sided like the princesses one and even had the same cutie marks but this one had a deeper shading of the original color and a different feel to it, a more malevolent feel. I reached out my hand to at least get a touch but Twilight quickly appeared from behind me.

"Come on Ben, you gotta meet Starlight and Trixie!"

I quickly but gently placed my hand on the stone. I seared my hand drastically and I quickly shoved my hand into my pocket to avoid Twilight seeing anything. I hid the pain well with my face and nodded. Deep inside I could feel my inside screaming curses at the stone, I would have cursed out loud if I hadn't prepared myself before touching it. I had a general idea I was going to get burned by it considering the one I had earlier did the same but the burn of the last one was one-fourth of this one. I let out my breath slowly and turned to her clenching my hand tightly.

"Okay…let's go," I said casually, giving one more glance back at the stone before feeling the teleportation magic surround me.

"Great! You'll love them!"

Something odd was going on with these stones and I forgot to ask the princesses why the other one burned me. For now, I'll remain quiet until our next meet up when they aren't busy. The pain was simmering down but still I won't forget how badly it hurt, and I especially won't forget that stone that mimicked the princesses, the damn thing felt way off bounds.

It's nearly show time, I got a lot on my mind, and I'm about to meet this Starlight and seductive Trixie, this day (of course) can only get crazier.

 _ **Back at the table...**_

"Sister, did you notice anything odd about Chrysalis?" Luna asked Celestia. Celestia turned to her sighed.

"Besides her not inprisoning us or taking over I say, no," Celestia replied sighing once more. "Why do you ask?"

Everypony at the table took one breath before yelling out at the top of their lungs.

"BECAUSE SHE HAS A CUTIE MARK!"


	37. Chapter 37 - Breaking Balls

#37

"You seemed a bit too overconfident in there, do you really have a plan to take down Celestia and her friends?" K asked. He was sitting on the bed, checking on the guitar's tune and checking for any flaws, luckily for him, he didn't find none.

Chrysalis paused and turned away from the pony-sized mirror to look at K. She obviously wasn't feeling as lively as she did at the table and K had taken notice.

"Of course!" She replied, chuckling to hide the worry she felt. K wasn't easily fooled, he could see through her like a book or maybe that's because he still possessed the skill to read minds.

"Oh really? Wanna know two good tips?" K asked, his serious tone alerted Chrysalis that he was onto her. Chrysalis turned back to the mirror but she could still see K in the reflection, studying his guitar as he caressed the strings slowly.

Chrysalis swallowed gently before taking in a deep breath. "Sure."

K looked at her face through the mirror and a small smirk appeared on his face. He placed the guitar to his side on the bed and placed up two fingers. Chrysalis stared at K's fingers through the reflection and lifted an eyebrow.

"One, never underestimate your opponent, always go into battle using minor force that way you can catch your opponent off guard and get a chance to eliminate them and slowly find out their strategies," K explained folding in one finger leaving one out, his index finger.

Chrysalis cocked her head slightly, studying his last standing finger. "And what's that last one?"

"Two, there are no limits to your power," K bluntly stated closing in his last finger before grabbing his guitar and hopping off the bed.

Chrysalis turned to him, not looking at him through the mirror anymore. "What does that mean?"

"It means, you can always surpass the power of others, even if they out number you, you will always have the strength to fight all of them inside you," K chuckled approaching Chrysalis and looking down at her. "It's on you if you wish to channel this power hidden within your body. But then again, that's easier said than done."

Chrysalis understood well, but she could only ponder what her body can muster up without her army of changelings to back her up, now it seems she needs them more than ever. K popped another chuckle as he took a seat on the ground next to her and scooted in closer, making it look like the friendly bro-friend conversations boys have in movies. Chrysalis looked at him, slightly glad he was there and slightly nervous of what he was doing.

"You know, you have the strength of that army of changelings inside you, whether you believe it or not," K eased out in a breath, looking straight at the floor. Chrysalis turned to him dumbfounded by what he brought up, as if he had read her mind.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" She asked. K smiled his smile and turned to her with it which made her shiver and glance away for a second to calm down a bit.

"I'm a bit of a physic or a fool when it comes to knowing how someone feels, but still, you are stronger than all of them put together," K deeply expressed sounding like the wiseass romantic he is, if no one knew what he was they would say he's one for the shy ones. Chrysalis couldn't stand his words, he was so unlike when she first met him it was funny, she let out a giggle before smiling. K smiled in accomplishment and ran his hand through her silky hair.

"Not a bad smile you got there, you should show it off more," He complimented.

"Oh, hush up! You're gonna flatter me when I'm I need to prepare myself for a battle I must fight alone?"

"Alone!? Non-sense! You got me and Ben too, we will be right there with you!"

"Will you two be enough?"

"Chrysalis…remember when we first met and I tried to power up just a little bit and Twilight interrupted me?" K asked seriously, trying to prove a point. Chrysalis quickly understood and chuckled nervously, pondering why she ever doubted his strength.

"Yeah, I remember, and I'll admit you terrified me with all that magical power," She expressed before slowly becoming a bit serious as she stopped chuckling and eased out an observation that obviously intrigued her. "It was so…destructive,"

"Yeah, but I can do a lot more than destruction!"

"Like?"

"Well, there plenty, let's see…I can capture souls, destroy souls, eat souls, heal but only those who have a shared soul with me, teleport, share my energy, fuse with others-" K was quickly cut off by Chrysalis questioning that last thing he said before being interrupted.

"You can fuse with others?"

"Yeah, well sorta, I got three ways!" K explained placing up three fingers now and showing them off to her. She stared at his fingers before lifting an eyebrow. "And they are…?"

K nodded and folded back one finger. "Yeah, first method only involves those who share my soul in them, which is Fluttershy and Ben-"

"Wait up, Fluttershy has some of you in her!?" Chrysalis interrupted. K nodded as he smiled childishly. "Yes, she's going to need it so I gave her part of it, believe me, I made the right choice." K reassured her.

Chrysalis thought to herself before looking to K. "What about me?"

K sighed and shook his head negatively.

"I'm sorry but I can't, If I were to do another soul emerge…I will suffer for it with a torturous death, if I could I would, but I can't…I'm sorry," He apologized using his hands to demonstrate how his soul and body would just collapse on itself. Chrysalis got the point and quickly retracted any thoughts about ever asking that again before meeting him with a smile

"It's alright, tell me the other two," She approached with a slightly enthusiastic tone which lifted K's spirits enough for him to smile and nod back.

"Right, my second way is fusion dance, but I need to test to see if it works."

"A dance? That's odd."

"Yeah, the third way is even odder, I read it in one of Twilights books…apparently, if there is a strong enough bond between two creatures, a fusion will occur when they kiss passionately and if fusion is the intended purpose, I have to test that one out too," K explained with his hand to his chin, thinking it through seriously. Chrysalis slightly jumped and perked up as K closed his eyes and pondered it deeper.

"Why don't we test it…I mean if you want? Do you?" She asked leaning in a bit closer to him. K smirked before opening his eyes and rustling her mane playfully. She blushed but not strong enough since K shook his head to that too.

"I would like to, but there's one problem with that, I don't know how to unfuse from that type of fusion, what if we end up getting stuck and right before this concert?" K warned making her think. She sighed as she nodded disappointed by the letdown.

"Oh yeah, good point…"

K smiled once more before rustling that mane of hers again making her quickly look up at him blushing like K wanted her to.

"But we still got a whole day ahead of us…who knows, we might just find the time,"

Chrysalis couldn't stop that smile from coming back, it was the _K Effect_ at its max. She giggled as he finally let her mane go and she brushed it aside with her hoof. "Only time will tell."

"Exactly."

After a few minutes, K was off the ground and with his guitar in one hand and a closed fist on the other as he stared out a window of his room. Only in those few minutes of staring out the window he realized his passion for looking down below maybe hundreds of feet at such a sight. Chrysalis was staring at him from the bed with a slight smile, her smile wasn't a surprise when she was alone with him in a room. She looked low and noticed his guitar in his hand and used her magic to bring the guitar to her. K had a late reaction from looking out the window and turned to her in almost a half-minute later when she ran her magic through all the strings and jumped from the sound it made.

"Uh…how does this work?" She asked adjusting the guitar to the perfect playing style suitable for her with her magic. K lifted an eyebrow with a slightly surprised expression showing his growing excitement.

"The guitar?" He asked moving up to her and taking a seat on the bed next to her. She looked up to him and nodded. "Yeah, it makes music but how?"

He chuckled as he aimed his fingers at the sections of string on the neck of the guitar, "Use your magic and hold down these three down and then strum all the first three strings and then all of them."

Chrysalis followed the steps accordingly and bit down on her tongue as she used her magic to do as he said. "Like this?"

"Right, now first three strings then all of them, do it smoothly and with a timed flow."

She looked down at the guitar as she concentrated highly on it and did as he said and strummed it like he told her. The sound gave her shivers of adrenaline as it sounded beautiful and released her excited laughter. She turned to K baffled over what she had just done and K returned it with a, "Ta-da!"

"Here's a harder one, repeat the first steps and once you finish that, change the strings you're pressing on to these ones and strum the first three strings two times, and then change it back to the original step I told you," K said indicating the strings and how to achieve it.

Chrysalis nodded and easily placed her magic where it belonged, K studied her carefully with a smile as she took a deep breath. She did the first step before perfectly combining the steps K set her up with and her expression was the greatest, she nearly got a urge to continue but stopped when she realized she got a bit too into it.

"Sounds beautiful, am I right?" K asked with a cocky tone, knowing the answer from Chrysalis's over excited look.

"Y-yeah, umm…" Chrysalis chuckled before stopping and remaining silent, trying to get K's attention. K looked to her and lifted an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Chrysalis blushed as she looked away before pushing the guitar up to K's chest, K let out a bit of air as the guitar hit his chest and placed his hands under the guitar as he stared at her.

"Do you have time?" She asked plucking a string on the guitar.

K chuckled as he grabbed the guitar and made adjusted it to his body. "Yeah…I got time."

I was upside down again and I could feel my sword sliding out of its holster. I was probably about six feet off the ground and I could see Twilight and Trixie arguing with this Starlight Glimmer, trying to convince her to put me down. I ignored them for the while as I slowly spun around and noticed the room I was in, pretty fancy with nice decorations and comfortable furniture. Once I completed a full 360 I was looking back at Starlight with my hands crossed across my chest and a daring smirk going about; I was gonna be extra cheeky to get down from here.

"Hey, how's it going?" I asked her, she paused and suspiciously stared at me before clearing her throat.

"It's going well…" She responded curiously, her guard was slightly deprived from before but she still was a bit alerted. I chuckled a bit as I looked up to my feet both locked together by her magic.

"Good, cause I'm just hanging around, literally…" I said looking back down at her and smiling a bit from my corny humor. She must have found it quite funny since she let out a slight shaky breath of air from holding back some laughter. The two beside her also found it funny since they giggled along as well, I forgot how Trixie looked since we only had a few minutes to speak on our first encounter but I'll admit, she's a lot more appealing than before.

"You must be Starlight Glimmer, I'm Ben, nice to meet ya, although I must say, this is an oddly peculiar way to meet, wouldn't you say so?" I introduced myself in the most cliché way I could, I loved to make humor from these types of meet-ups.

She stared at me curiously as if she had just changed attitude on the spot, she stared a bit more innocently and almost speechless. Twilight stared at me with a kind smile knowing what I was trying to pull off while Trixie stared at me with her seducing look, although I think this is how she looks commonly.

I quickly felt my body twitch and I found myself quickly grabbing my sword's handle, it finally slipped out. I saw their faces nearly change on the instant, I grabbed the sword right before it got out of range. It was an odd thing that the sword was looking shiner than before or maybe that was because Starlight's eyes actually glimmered as I could see the reflection of the sword in her eyes as well as Trixie's. Twilight hoof-smacked her forehead as I chuckled nervously.

"Is that…a sword?" Starlight asked staring at the sword, not blinking or losing focus. I nodded, which was a bit hard to do when upside down, and felt my chuckled turn to awkwardness as responded even a bit more nervously.

"Yes…"

"What's it for?" Trixie asked next. I turned my eyes to her, she's seen it before, then why ask? I looked at the sword before bringing it up parallel to my face.

"It's for protecting my friends," I proudly responded taking a deep breath before staring Starlight's look of suspicion. Trixie had the same look going on and Twilight only stared nervously at me, she knew well that this sword had much more history than that.

"You're not lying?" Starlight asked softly, giving me these eyes that just begged me not to lie. I wanted to look away but doing so might as well just incriminate me, I remained focused on her eyes.

"Of course, not-" I paused as her eyes literally widened before me and forced me to look away, what torture this was, is hurting my mental state and confidence. I looked back and her pupils had become as big as her eye and I forced my eyes closed.

"Fine! But Twilight will tell you that later! Please don't do that!" I pleaded looking away and losing my chill. I let out the breath I was holding in and panted out a bit as tried to control my breathing again but being upside-down made that harder too.

"Wow…couldn't you just have given her your evil stare?" Twilight asked me. I spun to her and shook my head in defeat as I holstered my sword and used my hand to make sure it didn't slip out. If I were to give her my death stare, I would have embarrassed myself even more since that look of hers is heart wrenching and impossible to compete with.

"No, those eyes…they were too cute to deal with…my goodness…" I let out in pants as I controlled my breathing and stared at the floor below me.

I quickly felt my body spin back to Starlight and she stared at me curiously and blushing a bit. I felt like face palming myself but I couldn't stop staring at her now, her eyes were naturally becoming cuter as she blushed redder and her pupils got wider.

"You…you think I'm cute?" She asked. Twilight and Trixie each gave their looks of complete speechlessness at Starlight, it was obviously something they didn't expect to hear from her. I blinked my eyes for the first time since I began staring at her, and looked away to the floor, nodding in agreement but still a bit underwhelmed I lost in a stare off.

"Please…just put me down…"

She obviously wasn't going to when she was so close to hearing something she wanted to hear. She pulled me in a lot closer to her, now I was inches from her face compared to before. She gave me an even better view of her eyes and I just couldn't with them, I gulped heavily which was also painful when upside-down.

"Before I do so, can you…answer that question for me?" she asked me again, kinder and a bit desiring.

I stared her eye to eye and sighed as I was close enough to do something I wanted to do to every muzzle I met. I raised my hand up to her muzzle and smiled.

"Boop! Yes, you're cute, I'm surprised you need to hear it from me when all you need to do is look in a mirror," I complimented. Maybe I shouldn't have added that extra piece, it seemed to be too flattering for her. She blushed uncontrollably as she retracted herself from me and rubbed her muzzle as if she'd been touched by a miracle.

I felt the magic on holding my legs disappear.

"What the!?"

I quickly reached out a hand to the ground and bounced off my hand and onto my feet. I keep on forgetting how numb my legs feel after a being upside down, then again, I didn't eat anything to keep me energetic but then if I did, I wouldn't be getting the food I need to replenish my lost nutrients, what a conundrum I've got to deal with.

I wiggled the numbness out of my feet and looked over to Twilight giving me a smirk, she knew how I handled cute ponies trying to be hard. I smirked back as I dusted off my pants and shirt.

"What?" I asked her.

She giggled and she turned to Starlight exchanging some excited news with her "pal" Trixie.

"He said I was cute! Did You hear!?" Starlight excitedly expressed, she couldn't contain her joy it seems. Trixie giggled and shook her head as if saying "I told you so".

"You see, a real charmer he is," Trixie commented turning those seductive eyes of hers to me.

"I guess I can see what you mean, but still, he didn't have to do those things to the princesses, Twilight and friends…" Starlight mentioned turning to me. "Did you?"

I had to think about it since I didn't know what I did to the princess that was negative, unless she was speaking about the short battles we've had, although those battles were not even that dangerous.

"He did what exactly?" Twilight asked getting beside me. Starlight and Trixie looked at her and up at me, both exerting mass confusion with their lifted eyebrows. Twilight gave them her own helping of confusion as she repeated the question. "What did he do to us?"

Starlight moved up to Twilight to face her and aimed a hoof at me. "Didn't he make you poison yourself and the princesses with cider?"

Twilight backtracked and blushed a bit as she giggled out waving a hoof in the air, shaking her head. All I could respond with was a simple "What?"

"No, no, that was K who did that, not Ben, and we all decided to just join in to what K was doing, which was drinking cider until he couldn't handle anymore," Twilight explained lowering her hoof and giggling a bit more. "We did it to ourselves, it was pretty fun too."

I let my head piece that together and again the dots connected. Luna was drunk last night and that was all I needed to know, that probably explained why she fell asleep so quickly too. I chuckled to myself as I blurted out my thoughts.

"That explains a lot,"

"What?" All three of them asked me and I chuckled as I accepted their questions.

"Luna came into the dorms last night, and let's just say I had a very unexpected awakening…" I briefly explained with a smirk as I left them off at a cliff hanger. They all quickly attacked me with the question.

"What does that mean!?" Twilight asked me beating Starlight and Trixie to the question. I sighed and smiled.

"I woke up with her on top of me, her bottom on my face and her head where it shouldn't have been, I'm pretty sure you can infer what happened," I was good with conveying my thoughts without being too detailed, their looks of disbelief helped me understand my talent better. I nodded my head to reassure them again before they asked any other questions about the truth.

"AGAIN!?" Trixie blurted out making Twilight turn to her quickly with a face that couldn't be matched by any shocked pony besides her.

"AGAIN!? WHAT!? THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE!?" She asked nearly shattering the glass decorations in the room.

I reached my hands to stop her from yelling out but Trixie quickly cut in. "Yes! A few days ago and now again, but I only saw you sleeping with that DJ pony and Rainbow Dash, Luna must have come in after I left!"

"Damn, way to exploit information Trixie, and stop stalking me!" I told her. She glanced at me and quickly changed her stern look to an innocent smile and giggled nervously. "Sorry, and I just wanted to…uh…make sure you didn't get hurt…"

" _Right, of course…_ " I thought as I nodded with her words, she wasn't giving me much trouble in terms of making me see the truth in her words but I credit her for calming down. I looked over Trixie at Starlight giving me the suspicious look, but I quickly turned to look at Twilight blowing out my eardrums.

"YOU'VE MET BEFORE TOO!?" She asked nearly outraged that her plan to introduce me to one of her students slightly failed. I used my pinky to rub out the ringing in my ear before giving her my painful expression to convey she nearly gave me hearing damage with her outburst.

"Yeah, we've met and yeah, about Luna, but geez, calm down!" I said emphasizing the _calm down_ part of my request. Twilight exchanged her talking to quick breaths of disbelief, I found it quite hard to believe that she didn't know about that odd affair.

"But-but…You've had intercourse with our princesses…Isn't it a bit too early!?"

"I technically just had intercourse with Luna, then it wasn't even deflowering, so she's still as clean as a plain white sheet of paper…sorta, and I guess it was a fast move…" I explained trying defuse the bomb inside Twilight. It worked to an extent, now I triggered a new intention in her.

Twilight glared at me suspiciously as so did Trixie and Starlight. I looked behind and around myself to check of there was something else staring at me and turned make to them with heightened confusion.

"Is something wrong?" I asked them. Twilight stepped up and looked up at me with worry while Starlight and Trixie began studying my physical aspect, circling around me.

"What about Celestia?" Twilight asked bluntly.

"Huh?" Was all I could respond with but I knew what she meant. I just needed some time to come up with an answer for her question.

"If Luna gets to have you to herself, then why can't Celestia?" Twilight rephrased. I felt my face twitch as I heard Celestia's name come out her mouth. I had nothing against Celestia and for sure she's appealing but I couldn't find a way to explain her why I haven't dared touch her in any way.

I let out a sigh as let my hands fall to my sides loosely and I let my body sit itself down on the floor. I got some surprised and confused looks Trixie, Twilight, and Starlight but sitting helps me think better. I raised a finger as I tried to find the words to explain. "I've been alone with Celestia at times…"

I paused for a bit to find the words to explain this odd feeling of anxiety inside my chest. "…but…she's so much more different compared to Luna…" I expressed shaking my head and chuckling a bit.

It was true, now that I was able to think about it better, Celestia is so much more different compared to Luna. There are the minor things about her, and then there is the one major thing about her, the one major thing that was hidden from plain sight to me.

"Why?" All three of them asked me. I didn't want to really admit it to them how I felt about her since it was pretty odd and funny to a point so maybe it would be best to keep it to myself to avoid the laughs.

"Uh…I kinda just become a bit…nervous around her, she's, you know, when you see Luna it doesn't feel like Celestia presence…" I answered them, but my lying look obviously failed me today. They all became more curious and closed in on me, Twilight from front, and Trixie and Starlight from both my sides.

"How so?"

It was now clear they weren't going to leave me alone until I give them the answer they wanted. I looked at each one of them before thinking about it for a second and finally decided it would be best to tell them, it was just these three I was telling it to. I chuckled and scratched my forest of hair in slight embarrassment making them quickly change from curious to nervous and blush.

"She's Celestia…she's like a mother figure to all ponies," I had to pause there because it seemed that Twilight quickly caught on, I let out a chuckle and closed my eyes as I eased out the answer. "And she sorta…reminds me of my own mom…"

I reopened my eyes and found out I was staring at the ceiling of the place, I slowly lowered my head and caught sight of Starlight and Trixie's confused looks, while Twilight nodded nearly saddened by my words.

"Celestia…like your mother!?" Starlight asked me almost outraged. I turned to her and nodded but I wanted to show her I was serious with my expression first before I explained it. She didn't say a thing but she still wanted to hear something come out my mouth. I sighed once more.

"Yeah…Celestia is sweet, kind, shy, lovable, protective, daring at times, she's got the heart of a mother, my mom was no different," I explained but with difficulty. I looked up to them with a smile as I forced myself to lose the image of my mom from my head, I didn't want to remember the happy times; remembering the happy days reminds me of how much life I wasted without her. But it's like everything I think up, once I start thinking about it, it never leaves until I distract myself. I looked down to the floor and nodded once more.

"Yeah…I wish I could've…seen her…one last time," I whispered out, regretting a few things already.

I saw those violet hooves park right in front of me and a gentle stroke of magic lift my face up. Twilight had this new smile that was carrying a load of feelings with it. I could help but get curious and slightly anxious.

"I know life hasn't been kind to you, but you always find a way, you're a lot tougher than us ponies will ever be…"

" _What the hell was she saying?_ " I thought as I looked at her.

"…Thank you, Twilight…" I answered blankly. I don't know how I felt after her saying that, I felt happy and saddened to think she thought of me like that. I admired her complement but I couldn't feel right when she looks down on herself when next to me.

"But Twilight…" I stopped her from turning away.

"Yes?" She kindly asked.

"You can be as strong as you want, don't ever think you're lower than anyone else, you got it?" I said with a thankful and excited smirk going on. She stared at me almost dazzled by my smile and quickly smiled back with a giggle of joy.

"Yeah, I got it, thanks!"

I smiled a bit wider before turning over to Starlight and Trixie both obviously lost after that mother analogy. Twilight caught on to my look and turned to them as well.

"What's so sad? He can just visit her? Right?" They asked us. If it were possible, I'd be one step closer to being happier. Her saying that was painful but not striking, I found a way to numb out the pain of the past to a blunt hit.

Twilight was obviously aware they didn't know and quickly stepped ahead of me.

"Starlight, you don't know thus explains your reasoning, but what you're saying is impossible…" She said, not sad one bit since she knew I was fine.

"What?" Both Trixie and Starlight asked both tilting their heads to one side curiously. "Impossible? How?"

"My mom is dead…along with my dad," I replied casually from behind Twilight making her turn to me along with everyponies attention. Twilight squinted her eyes in a bit of pain but it wasn't like what Trixie and Starlight were fighting at the moment. Starlight quickly backed a step away from me and shook her head in disbelief.

"D-dead? How? How!? I-I've never…I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" She quickly apologized and continued until I stopped her, raising my hand. Trixie gulped down her words and tensed up a lot, her forehoof twitched continuously and her eyes wobbled a bit as she tried to hold back some feels. Unlike Trixie, Starlight just let it all out as she quickly rushed to me and embraced me with a surprise hug that made me shiver a bit. It felt like too much for a past event that happened a long ago.

"Calm down, I wasn't there with them when they died, I didn't even have time to mourn back then, but listen, it's alright I left-" I tried to explain but was quickly met by some disagreeing eyes. She was agitated by what I just said and punched me on the chest with her hoof, _these punches hurt a lot_. My body recoiled a bit from her hit since it got me off guard.

"NO, IT'S NOT! YOUR PARENTS ARE DEAD FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE! HOW DO YOU JUST SAY IT'S ALRIGHT!? AND WHAT KIND OF PONY DOESN'T EVEN GO TO THEIR PARENTS FUNERAL!?" She lashed out grabbing my shirt with her hooves and tugging violently, she was on my chest with all her hooves. I stared at her completely dismayed, she was in the correct mindset but she didn't know enough about me to make judgment. Although, she was right too, the day I figured out about my parent's death, I should have at least have gone to their grave to give my own goodbyes, even if they would have been years late.

I stared at her silently for a while before she tugged on my shirt again forcing me to snap out of my thinking. I didn't know what to say to her, she was right but I couldn't combine her words with my own thoughts, I was stuck in mental tug-of-war.

"I…don't know," I whispered out feeling low and defeated once more. I thought she would back off a bit or at least give me a break but she was in a state of trauma. Death wasn't something these ponies took lightly from what I could see, they were of course a gentle society and not as crazy as my old world.

I felt her try to push me down on to my back but I reached my hands behind me and caught myself.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING THAT WAS SO IMPORTANT, THAT YOU COULDN'T EVEN ATTEND THEIR-"

She was quickly cut off my Twilight calling her out loudly.

"THAT'S ENOUGH STARLIGHT! You clearly don't know his past, if you did, you would know he was intertwined in a grueling four-year war!" Twilight explained trying to calm her down but only agitated Starlight even more.

"A four-year war!? It wouldn't have lasted that long if he just used his friends and the power of friendship!" She quickly commented back. I chuckled a bit and that was a mistake. But fuck it, I would be dead if tried to be friends with those bastards on the other end, but I did bribe them into believing I was one of them, then betraying them, sounds like a job well done if you ask me. If by power of friendship, she meant having my friends by myside, then that would be true, if they didn't die the moment we landed on badlands.

"Why are you laughing!?" She asked giving me a shake with her hooves. I felt slightly pissed she had not comprehended me.

"Friendship!? I would have died trying to do that! Listen to me! Your methods would never have worked in my world! It would have been great if they would have but they didn't!" I told her, reassuringly and with a great deal of power in those words. She took a step back but tripped on her own hind hooves. I raised a hand and grabbed her forehoof before she could fall on her back and pulled her back to me.

She shook away her slight daze from almost falling and quickly sprung out of my hands and onto the floor beside me. I followed her lead and flipped myself onto my feet. My eyes met Starlight as she looked at twilight with hoof out to me

"What does he mean by all that!? His world!? And that friendship would never work!?" Starlight asked still massively confused.

Twilight closed her eyes gently and nodded as she went about calming down the stress in the room.

"Open your mind Starlight, Ben isn't from here if you haven't noticed, he's from an entirely different world, their wars aren't like our current ones, their wars are more like our past ones…bloodshed, betrayal, death, and a reason to use their physical weapons, so please, be more considerate…about his reasons for not attending his parents farewell…"

Starlight remained quiet as she stared up at me, not pissed, not saddened, not worried, but freaked the hell out. "A different world…bloodshed…death…what are you!?" She asked me.

I chuckled, made a fist and hit my chest with it and aimed it around the room at each of them. If I knew best, it was that I didn't want to be seen as evil or mad.

"I'm Ben, you're Starlight, she's Trixie, and she's Twilight," I pointed out with a smile making her look at her friends before turing to me.

"We all have backstories, bad and good, but in the end, you don't care because you have friends…that's my case, I made my mistakes but I got friends…can you say the same Starlight?" I asked her. She gulped as she looked behind herself at Twilight and Trixie, both quickly encouraging her to say something.

She looked up at me and nodded, "Yes, I guess I can say the same, I don't have a good story myself you know?"

"Interesting, your face lied to me then, you don't look like a malevolent pony," I complimented giving her the friendly grin. She lifted an eyebrow as she quickly questioned it.

"How does my face-" She paused and quickly blushed as she closed her eyes. "DON'T FLATTER ME AT A TIME LIKE THIS!"

"Really? I thought I was stating the facts not flattering, whatever you want to call it,"

"Just be quiet!" She yelled out turning away from me, sitting down on the floor and pouting.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I knelt down and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"No, but seriously, I do have bad history but I promise you I'm over that! I don't do what I use to, I just fight to protect my friends," I reassured her giving her a slight wiggle on the shoulder with my hand. I got no reaction from her, so I neared myself to her ear and whispered.

" _I'm serious…_ "

She quickly arched her back and giggled loudly as she retracted her body away from me and used her hoof to rub away the tickle in her ear. That trick always works. I stood back up and smiled as she couldn't help but smile as the tickle ran down her body.

"Okay I got it! Don't need to get so touchy!"

"Lucky for you, I didn't nibble your ear, I haven't had my breakfast, I might have lost my mind," I teased. She blushed amazingly and covered her face with her hooves. Twilight blushed too as she covered her mouth with her hoof and giggled.

"Why are you so…so…so"

"Charming…" Trixie popped her head out from between my legs. I quickly looked down and she looked up at me. I stared at her curiously as she formed some magic around my crotch and squeezed gently, I was going to tell her off but she quickly squeezing wasn't called for. And above all, she wasn't doing it through the pants but in the pants. "I've been thinking, what does Luna like so much that's in here?" she teased squeezing my junk like stress ball.

"Trixie! Stop that!" I exclaimed before she squeezed the breath out of me again.

I was being held from everywhere by magic and couldn't react at the moment. I liked the feeling but I couldn't be molested by Trixie in front of Twilight and Starlight. Why wasn't I able to overpower her magic? I overpowered Luna's magic last night and Celestia's, why couldn't I do the same with Trixie!?

"Oh? It's heavy…" She curiously observed before standing on her hind hooves and nearing her face to my crotch and sniffing. I didn't know what to do, my eyes were locked on her and my mouth was open but nothing came out.

"TRIXIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Twilight and Starlight quickly exclaimed, exchanging looks between all points of interest. Trixie was obviously not listening as she took one more whiff and smiled seductively.

"Smells funny too, but it's strangely pleasant," she giggled before quickly being pulled back violently by Twilight and Starlight's magic. Her magic around my crotch was still there which was the worst part, she squeezed incredibly hard, and now I was on my floor clutching my crotch with my hands and yelling out I pain with a boner and sore balls.

"TURN THE MAGIC OFF, TURN IT OFF FOR MY BALLS SAKE! PLEASE!" I yelled out nearly with no air and clutching my crotch with my own hands. I might just cry again, never have I felt such a horrifying pain be done to my crotch, I didn't know what was worse a kick or this prolonged squeeze.

"BEN! I'M SORRY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Trixie quickly asked getting by my side and shaking me with her hooves violently. Nearly in tears she was as she shook me, I would have been to if she hadn't stopped that magic of hers. That pain was still pulsing and it became only worse with the rocking Trixie was giving me.

"DON'T DIE!" She pleaded out shaking me even faster, she sniffled back the tears as she quickly pleaded again. "DON'T DIE AND I PROMISE TO MAKE IT UP TO YOU!"

I rolled away from her and sat up right before bring my knees up to my face and clutching my legs with my arms. I buried my face into my knees and let out the pain through slow breaths.

"…I-I'm not d-dying…" I managed to ease out in quick slivers of air, but it sure felt like I was.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" Twilight and Starlight asked appearing on either side of me. I looked at them weakly and shook my head swallowing some saliva that had accumulated in my mouth.

"She squeezed too hard…" I explained letting my legs extend out and letting my crotch take in the air of the room. Twilight blushed as she looked away and nodded, Starlight looked at me worried over what I meant.

"Squeezed what too hard!?" Starlight asked staring between me and Twilight.

"Well…stallions have these uh…hanging _things_ ," Twilight explained to the best of her knowledge, yet now it seemed her knowledge of it come from her own experiences. I couldn't help but chuckle when she said _hanging things_. "I heard they're really sensitive and important…"

"Your damn right, they're sensitive and important!" I exclaimed taking one more deep breath.

"Are you okay? Do I need to get you something?" Twilight asked me. I shook my head as I wobbled my way onto my feet and stretched out a bit. I felt three forces of magic keep me in balance as I limped my way around the room to get rid of the slowly dying pain.

"I guess it's true about them being sensitive but why?" Twilight mentioned as I gave a small sprint from one side of the room to the other and hopped, landing firmly on the floor. I was still in pain anymore but I could easily now speak and move with a limp.

"I don't know why they are sensitive, I think something about nerves in that area." I said before placing my hands up to admit something. "But there are good things that come from them being sensitive."

"Good things?" Twilight asked not taking me seriously.

"Yeah, if you can treat them right, you can pleasure them and me," I explained giving them a thumbs up and nodding one to assure them I wasn't lying. They both blushed a bit more and looked away for a moment before breathing in deeply.

"Oh…well, you seem like an expert on this stuff, then how are they important?" Starlight asked me recalling what Twilight said earlier. I covered my mouth to hold back a slight urge to laugh, since it was incredibly hard to believe these ponies, that apparently are supposed to be smart, don't know about reproductive organs. _Although my knowledge did come from those freaks from the barracks and books I read._

"Important? I thought you read on this type of stuff?" I asked crossing my arms and flicking a wrist. Twilight nodded before meeting me a foot away from each other. She had a small smile as she did what I did with my wrist with her hoof, I looked away from a second to ask myself _how is she doing that?_

"Celestia banned me from reading any books on stallion anatomy and reproduction after Cadence told me they were having a baby…she said I was too curious, but I still don't know why she didn't allow me to read books on reproduction?" She explained giving a confused look and scratching her mane in curiosity.

That explained a bit, of course Celestia would be protective of Twilight's knowledge on sexual reproduction and anything revolving around sex.

"Oh, that makes sense, she was just being her normal-Celestia self," I told her. Twilight and Starlight scratched their heads confused about what I meant but I expected such. It would be funny to see their expressions if they didn't know shit about this topic, although Twilight knew what sex briefly was so she wouldn't be too shocked.

"Can you tell us? If Celestia wouldn't let us find out, then you can, it's always good to learn something new!" Starlight excitedly asked for. I looked off to the wall at the end of the room and pondered it, but there was nothing to think about. I snapped my fingers and smiled.

"Okay, part one of Sex Ed, topic one: reproduction!"

"Sex Ed? Reproduction? What does his have to do with the importance of those things you have," Twilight asked me, a bit annoyed, thinking that I was going off topic but I wasn't.

It almost clicked in my mind that Twilight didn't know jack about Reproduction, she wouldn't be asking if she knew. I smiled a bit as I put up two quote-on-quote symbols with my hands.

"Well…inside these "things", there is something called Semen-" I explained exercising the quote-on-quotes but was quickly stopped by Starlight and Twilight quickly questioning the obviously new vocabulary.

"Semen?"

Despite the interruption I nodded and continued on with the short lesson, it would all be worth it in the end, just to see their faces.

"Yeah, and this semen is ejaculated from a male's shaft into a…" I paused since I didn't want to use word _womanhood_ , "in your case, a pony's breeding hole…aka the Vagina and Thrill Ride!" I explained with clearly the opposite feelings of the two in front of me. I smiled with excitement as I used my fingers on either hand to indicate their flanks.

"Breeding…hole? Wait a minute…IS THAT WHAT THIS THING IS FOR!?" Twilight quickly asked looking back to her flank along with Starlight both blushing heavily as they did. They were mixed between fear, worry, and shock.

"DING-DING! You're right! Inside of those, there are ovaries, a weird structure that contains ova or ovum or, in simpler terms, eggs…"

"E-EGGS!?" Twilight spoke in outrage as she looked behind herself in horror and Starlight imitated silently and quivering. I already loved the reactions but there was more to discuss.

"Yes, and the semen is combined with the egg to form a baby pony inside your body! Thus, leading to birth a few months later! TA-DA YOU'RE A MAMA!" I exclaimed giving a backflip and aiming my fingers in their direction, giving her the _congrats, you just earned some knowledge_ excitement. Twilight held her breath tightly as she tried to accept it, but couldn't. She let out her desperate breath and quickly flew up to my collar and grabbed it, and stared at me in disbelief. _I loved this reaction._

"YOU MEAN I HAVE TO HAVE INTERCOURSE TO HAVE A BABY!?" She asked pulling me from the collar and smacking my head on hers.

I quickly grabbed her body with my hands and smiled widely as I nodded.

"YES! AMAZING ISN'T IT!? AND IT CAN BE DONE A LOT OF TIMES FOR MORE BABIES!"

My excitement must have gotten to her since she stared at me, lost and surprised by this funny me she was seeing.

"THEY HAVE TO SHOVE THEIR THING INSIDE ME!?"

"YES! AND BREED YOU! THAT'S HOW IT WORKS! What do you think your parents did before you were born!?" I asked her making her widen her eyes and freeze in my hands. I chuckled as she slowly let out her reaction in a whisper and let her body loosen up.

"They bred? Oh Celestia…"

"Right and the princesses mother did the same before Celestia and Luna were born! Whoever she might be?" I said. I confused myself a bit for a second with the origins of Celestia and Luna, damn, now I was making myself think.

I felt Twilight break loose from my arms and float down to the floor, she nearly tipped over by how distracted she was but Starlight had her side secured with her magic. I felt a wave a wind hit me as Twilight quickly snapped out of her daze and turned to me rapidly, it frightened Starlight and forced her to jump back a bit.

"W-will y-you…do that to us?" Twilight asked me in a worried and frightened tone. Just to keep my friendly and non-serious feel going, I knelt down and petted her head and rustled that smooth mane of hers making it bed ragged.

"Well now, I don't know if human semen can mix with pony ovum, that's up for experiment…but you got your answer in the end, that's the importance of testicles aka the _things_ ," I indicated with a smile, which made her blush to the point I felt the heat her face was radiating.

"You don't have to worry about any of that right now, it's your body after all, not mine, you chose what you do with it, I'll just be here to protect and keep it company," I assured her with a calmer tone to show I wasn't exaggerating a thing. She must have liked being reassured, she gave me tight hug with her hooves and wings, thanking me before backing away with a smile with red around the cheeks.

"I can see why you seem to be so cherished by Trixie and Twilight, and the princesses," Starlight commented with a gentle but embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry for lifting you off the ground and raising my voice, I never thought I would meet some…"

She paused to think about what to indicate me as.

"-One, I'm not a pony but a human," I said gently. She smiled and nodded aiming a hoof to me.

"I never expected to meet _someone_ as interesting like you…some-one, someone! Hey, it works!" Starlight joyfully exclaimed testing out the word "someone" a few times before agreeing it rolled off the tongue smoothly. It was cute how she expressed her joy from almost any small detail.

"Uh…Ben?" I heard from behind me. I turned to a depressed looking Trixie with a blush and regretful looking going on. Her eyes were not daring but just hard to look at without feeling some compassion and emotion towards her.

"Hey don't be sad, you were just being a bit playful, it was an accident," I said, comforting her with sincere words. She smiled a bit but only to an extent, she looked towards my crotch and back up at me.

"I didn't break anything, did I?" She asked making me shake my head and chuckle a bit, I was thinking the same thing at the moment. My balls were not made of steel but I'm sure I was fine, considering I've been kneed before, I might just make it through a tight squeeze.

"If they are, we can just ask Celestia to repair them!" Starlight inquired making me look off to the distance and wondering how in this world, I would go about not expecting an answer like that. In all honesty, this is a magic filled world, anything is possible, even healing broken balls.

"Don't worry, I think I'm fine, just don't go and squeeze them so hard," I expressed shaking my hand in front of myself. I didn't want to ever tell anyone how my balls were magically fixed by the princess of the sun. _Wow! What a great title for a short story:_ _**My Balls Were Magically Fixed by The Princess of The Sun!**_

"I'll make it up to you, I promise!" Trixie reassured me quickly making it a foot from me and smiling and wagging that tail of hers. I stared at her tail and then at her before scratching the back of my head and smiling nervously. If a pony come up to me and wags her tail like a dog, then I was in for something good, that's pure logic!

"Uh…okay, but it's not that serious," I said in an attempt to stop her from thinking. Trixie shook her head and gave me those sexy eyes of hers.

"Oh, The Pained and Injured Ben, will soon be feeling a lot better after some Trixie Treatment!" Trixie said. She managed to get me excited by giving me such an oddly-long name and now, she was going to give me a Trixie Treatment, _honestly what couldn't I be more excited for_?

I realized where Trixie was when I saw only her head peeking through the door out the room. She was leaving off to go somewhere and was waving her hoof towards us.

"The Sorry and Excited Trixie must take her leave! See you all later!"

She disappeared and closed the door making me chuckle, never have I met someone use their name so oddly in third person.

"Well, it looks like she hasn't changed that habit," Starlight sighed before giggling and turning to Twilight who was excitedly holding onto my guitar with her magic. "Uh…Twilight, what's that funny looking guitar doing here?"

"Well now, Ben has a thing for music! From what I can tell, he's incredibly talented!" Twilight commented. I smiled in the fact that she had the faith in me to say that much about my talent. I'll make sure to impress and not embarrass her.

"Is he now, he should consider appearing on the concert, he's got half an hour to join!" Starlight added making me turn to her on the dime and chuckling.

"I am going to be in it!"

She smiled widely became excited standing and hopping on her hooves like a hyper-active child.

"Great! I would like to hear you sing and play that instrument!"

I nodded before looking down at her curiously and squatting down in front of her, "Thanks…but…"

"But what?" She asked me.

"What's the theme of this concert?" I asked her. I had to know what I was dealing with here, I had many songs on my head but I had to know which to play so I don't ruin the mood of the crowd.

"Theme?" She asked back before I picked up.

"Like music preference…" I explained.

"Oh…anything that can excite the crowd!" She stated with an excited smile.

My eyes widened a bit and make her chuckle back nervously. If this was just a concert to excite my audience, I had a damn list of songs in my head. I think a special appearance from Journey or Queen or maybe even REO Speedwagon will do the trick, I've always had a deep and passionate love for their music.

"Hmm…I got this in the bag!" I said as I picked up the guitar from Twilights magic and wrapped it around my back with the strap I attached on it. Starlight turned to me and gave me the "Oh really?" look. I returned it with a lifted eyebrow.

"You do? With just that instrument?" She asked. She made a good point, all the songs I could think of had at least two different instruments. I wasn't going to panic since I could make anything sound good with a guitar but there were a few aspects missing from giving off the full experience of making the crowd get off their seats.

"Hmm…now that you mention it, I could to with a drummer and electric pianist…although it wouldn't be necessary," I mentioned pondering it with my eyes closed and my hand on my chin.

"OH! I know some of the bands that will be participating will have drums and electric pianos! But how will you get them?" Starlight exclaimed before pondering it herself.

I smiled as I nodded and opened my eyes. If I knew something, it was that K would be into getting those instruments the moment he sees them, he too is a fan of my music preferences from what I knew. All I would need to do is get him within range of the instruments and they're as good as ours.

"Oh, believe me, I've got a crazy look alike friend that can get just about anything done, and if I know him well, he'll get those two things one way or another," I chuckled closing my hand into a fist and pumping it with excitement and achievement. This was going well for me.

"look alike?" Starlight asked me.

"You'll see him! You can't miss him considering he has some crazy origin story!" Twilight exclaimed making it him a bit popular now. Starlight stared at her before looking to me and back at Twilight.

"Is he like Ben!?"

"Yup, just not a human, he resembles one, but…I'll tell you later what he is!" Twilight explained. Making me sigh internally in relief, it was pain in the ass trying to explain that he was a demon to everypony I met. Starlight smiled widely again and nodded.

"Alright, I can't wait to see him!"

"Great! You'll love him about as much as Ben!" Twilight replied happily before getting a quick response from Starlight.

"I don't love him!" Starlight argued aiming a hoof to me. I smiled and mentally nodded sarcastically with what she was saying. I was full of myself at times and now was one of those, I was just like that.

"Oh, don't start something here! You feel the same way I do!" Twilight argued back with a grin. I looked at her and back at Starlight, if Twilight admits she feels someway, then Starlight, being her pupil and all, would be weakened of her power to object.

"How would you know!?"

 _Oh damn, she objected…_

"Because your blushing and you can't stop looking at him every few seconds," Twilight exposed making her blush more than what she already was. Honestly, I think she needs a break from being embarrassed. Maybe now she won't object.

"That doesn't prove a thing!"

"Oh well," I sighed giving my sword's holster a pat and spinning to the door. I quickly got Starlight's reaction as well as Twilight's.

"Hey! I didn't mean to deny it!" Starlight apologized getting in front of me and stopping me from leaving. Twilight joined her in blocking the door. "Yes, she has a lot to learn!"

I looked to my wrist and poked at a make-believe watch.

"Well, we got half an hour before this concert thing initiates, the least we could do is get something to eat and plan out how this shows gonna go!" I said breaching their pathetic defense between me and the door. They stared at me as I opened the door and used my hand to indicate them to go on and step out the room.

"Oh…uh…right!" Twilight cheerfully perked up stepping out with Starlight following behind her with a still slightly embarrassed smile. I was curious about this Starlight, she had something coming to her when she figures out about the little thing we planned to do tomorrow. She looked innocent above anything, and that was enough to throw my head into a new series questions, the most important being _How was she targeted by Chrysalis the most?_

I would have continued thinking about it if it were not for Twilight quickly turning to me with excitement. I nearly tramped her to for it but I managed to brake centimeters from her hooves. She smacked her hoof to my knee and smiled as she quickly unleashed an enthusiastic piece of news.

"I know a place, where they can offer something you might like! Pizza!"

I was paralyzed for about a minute, and my mind was trying to comprehend what she just told me. Pizza? Where the fuck did this come from? Was all I could think of. Honestly, I was having a hard time believing it, I haven't had pizza in probably a year or so, and now she brings it up out of nowhere.

"P-pizza…?" I whispered out in disbelief, my voice almost cracking under the thought of pizza. Starlight nodded as she turned to me with her brow raised.

"Yes, have you never had it?"

"PIZZA!? PIZZA IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER HAD! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING ABOUT PIZZA WHEN I GOT HERE!?" I yelled out excited by the offering I was given, clearly shocking them from my heightened tone. Twilight chuckled nervously as she retracted her hoof from my knee and smiled.

"Umm…you never asked, I guess you want to go there?"

"You got five seconds to make me appear in that pizza place before I eat up Starlight," I playfully threatened but in the most serious voice I could conjure up. Starlight blushed and hid behind Twilight immediately.

"WHAT!? TWILIGHT!" Starlight pleaded before Twilight quickly nodded and raised her horn to the ceiling.

"Pizza it is then!"

Poof*

 _As Peter Parker once said, "Pizza Time!", now Ben will get to say "Pizza Time!"_ _after all this time!_

"You don't need an electric piano or drums! I think that guitar thing sounds good enough on its own!" Chrysalis reassured K trying to convince him he didn't need all the extra. K turned to her quickly and nodded his head agreeing with her but still, he wanted to really blow away the crowd.

"I need to get this crowd dancing! But to do that, I need these things!" K insisted taking his guitar and quickly studying it intensely as he studied its physical aspects.

"What good will it do? You don't have others to play the instruments," Chrysalis reminded him making K placed hand to chin and close his eyes as he paced around the room, thinking. Chrysalis stared at him go from one side of the room to the other as he mumbled out ideas and used his fingers to take some numbers down.

At last he finally stopped in placed and turned to Chrysalis with a great grin.

"I can get Dash on the drums! And Flutters on the piano!" He replied with excitement and smacking a fist in his other hand's palm. Chrysalis stared at him confused by what he just said, she looked to the floor thinking about it before turning back up to him.

"Do they even know how to play?"

K shook his head and aimed a finger to himself, still holding onto his grin.

"Ah…I've always got a way! I'm K, just watch me work some of this magic!" He reassured her rubbing his hands together making a bit of darkish smoke appear and evaporate into the room along with his eyes slightly changing into a deeper shade of red. Chrysalis stared at him a bit shocked by his actions but ignored it when he ultimately yawned and stretched casually.

"Fine, I guess, but you do sound incredible without all that," Chrysalis reassured him back. K paused and nodded once, his confidence was over the roof and so was his excitement.

"Thanks, but I'm gonna blow away this audience! Screw it, I'm gonna make them orgasm on their seats!"

"Uh…please don't do that!" Chrysalis begged of him playfully with a smirk.

"Not literally," K replied chuckling and following along with her reaction before picking his guitar up to his face and studying it intensely again. Chrysalis looked up at him and asked over it, in which he replied very oddly.

"I need some wires, a aux jack, some scrap metal, and a small converter…"

"Why?"

"I'm gonna make this guitar electric, and I got…" He looked up to a clock over the door of the bedroom. "Thirty minutes, that's more than enough!"

Chrysalis couldn't get a break from his randomness but she knew logically he wouldn't have the time to do that in half an hour.

"Make it electric!? You won't have enough time!"

"Chrysalis…you're talking to the crazed demon who can cut a perfect sword and guitar out of a tree in less than thirty seconds, I think I can handle," K assured her throwing his guitar on his back and cracking his knuckles. Chrysalis was a bit stunned by his words and nodded in defeat hopping off the bed.

"Oh…I guess we should go find your things before we waste any more time…" Chrysalis said moving to the door of the room and opening it before quickly changing into a new pony. K stared at her as she shrunk and became that same pony from last night, he smiled as he made it to the door and opened it fully.

"Cool!"

"What do you plan on playing that requires all that?" Chrysalis asked using the new voice. K stepped out the room with her following closely by his side.

"Some Journey, Queen, or REO Speedwagon, that sounds like the best options I got," K explained using three fingers to represent each one. Chrysalis nodded slowly and suspiciously, she obviously didn't know what he just said but would put her trust in his words.

"Ok…ay, you better tell Ben about that," She warned him but K was confident in that too. He smirked as he stared straight ahead, head held high and back straight.

"Oh, don't worry about him, if I know him, I know he's already ready!"

"Okay, now slowly…what did it look like?" Celestia asked them once more still being calm like the past half-hour. Everypony at the table took their sixth deep breath before finally saying it again.

"It. Looked. Like. A. CHRYSALIS! AN ACTUAL ONE!" They exclaimed chopping up the words to make it clearer for their princess to get it.

Celestia nodded and shamed them with her hoof. "You see, we just wasted about thirty minutes discussing a cutie mark when you could have just said that."

Everypony sunk into their chairs giving her their groans of defeat. Celestia look at all of them before pouting.

"Oh, come on! All you were telling me was that it was Cutie Mark! I need to know how it looked!"

"Sister, I feel like we must take this more seriously! Chrysalis is a changeling, for her to have a Cutie Mark is madness and impossible!" Luna expressed seriously making Celestia lose the pout and tap her muzzle with her hoof repeatedly as she pondered this new predicament. Everypony stared at Celestia as she finally looked down at the table and nodded.

"Hmm…I don't know how this happened but I am curious, we must find out who did this to her!" Celestia expressed calmly and not going on a tantrum.

"How?" Luna asked, curious about Celestia's claim.

"We'll ask K, he obviously must know something," Celestia giggled which was odd considering everypony was worked up over what they had just witnessed on Chrysalis's flank. Luna gave a herself a whack to the forehead with her hoof as she agreed.

"Oh right! Maybe K did something to her…but what?" Luna asked rhetorically as she stared at the table before looking up to Celestia. Luna quickly paused as she noticed Celestia had this smile going on and a small blush happening across her face. Luna was curious but it was reassuring to her that her sister was happy about something.

"We'll wait till after this concert though, in all honesty, I really want to see and hear Ben and K make music!" Celestia added being a bit too happy. Luna smiled and giggled.

"Ah, yes, I from what I hear, he's got a way with that guitar of his!"

"It's like magic but with sound!" Vinyl added from the far end of the table before Dash added. "Yeah, it just needs to be played correctly!"

"I wonder what music he plays?" Flutters asked getting some smiles from everypony at the table.

"We'll find out soon!" They all replied making Flutters fluster and hide in her seat.

"Yes, he has a lot of secrets hidden from us, makes you wonder what else he might be hiding…" Celestia whispered out in a smooth and _lost in bliss_ voice. Luna had to look over to her once more, she was weirded out a bit by Celestia odd change in personality.

"We'll see in time, he's still new here but he's already found a way to fit in among us, I'm glad he has too…he's an adventure that must be taken without hesitation," Celestia added in the same tone. Luna smiled a bit as she nodded with her sister, she seemed to know what she was thinking.

"I want to talk to him again…alone…" She eased out even quieter, only Luna was able to hear while the ponies around the table conversated with each other. Luna felt a bit guilty as she swallowed heavily and nodded gently with what her sister said.

"I'm sure he wants to spend time with you," Luna whispered back almost depressed. Celestia turned slowly to her sister almost hurt by that but she hid it with a smile that held back something. Luna felt the pain her sister had, she did know how to read minds after all. Then Celestia knew well what Luna's done with Ben, but it was only until now that she was actually thinking about it deeply after she, herself, brought Ben into the conversation.

"I'm sorry…I don't know why I did that again…" Luna apologized looking at the glass in front of her.

"It's alright Luna," Celestia calmly replied. It wasn't a secret that Celestia was above all disappointed she hadn't done a thing that Luna has done with Ben. She stared blankly at the food that became had become cold.

"But we're sisters, I want us both to be happy," Luna plead, her ears dropped low and her eyes staring regretfully at her glass she wished was full of cider.

Celestia smiled unwillingly, just to hide her feelings from Luna, although Luna being able to easily read her mind like a book nullified her smile.

"Don't pretend to be happy, when you're not," Luna eased out in a whisper. Celestia nodded and lost her smile along with any intents to ease the situation.

"I am happy Luna, I just really want to know what it feels like to be close to him," Celestia admitted with a sigh. Luna's ears perked up a bit and her hoof became fidgety.

"Which way?" She curiously asked, her eyes widened with an idea and her ears standing straight up.

"All the ways…" Celestia whispered, still staring blankly at her cold food. Luna's ear twitched just once before a smile creeped onto her face and she began tapping her hooves on the chair anxiously.

"You must really like him…" Luna whispered back, excited and hinting to something, but Celestia was too lost I her thoughts to even notice Luna's sudden change in tone.

"I do, but I know he's just one, and we're many, he can't be everywhere"

Luna quickly got her moment to respond and fully turned to Celestia, "Hey! Why don't we go into his dreams!?"

"Luna, why would we do that?" Celestia asked turning to face her sister with a serious glare. Luna ingnored her as she wrapped her hoof around her.

"We could all have a three-way lucid dream!"

Celestia's eyes widened extremely and she lost her serious and rushed to ask.

"Are you suggesting-"

"Yes! I will be fun and I have to make it up to you!" Luna exclaimed quickly cutting in and giving her sister a share of excitment.

Celestia blushed lightly, she had no idea how to respond to such an offer. It would be stupid to not accept and embarrassing to quickly say yes.

"I…uh…"

"And there's no consequence once we wake up, so we could take it as far as we want," Luna whispered in a tempting tone, slowly rubbng her body with Celestia's making both of them blush equally.

"As far as we want?" Celestia asked nervously with Luna still attached to her.

"Yeah," Luna giggled before blushing a bit stronger. "You know…he's kinda frightening considering how big he is down there,"

Celestia froze and matched Luna's blush as she gulped heavily.

"Frightening?"

"I fear for my bottom, and more for the ponies who are smaller than us," She giggled giving Celestia a new thing to worry about.

"Do you think it would hurt?"

"I wouldn't know, I haven't gone that far," Luna casually expressed taking a deep breath full of relief, knowing her sister was already convinced.

"Thank you…Luna, but would you really do that?" Celestia asked. Luna closed her eyes as she giggled and rubbed her cheek on Celestia's.

"Anything for you..." Luna paused and her eyes shot open as she separated from Celestia quickly. "Oh! We need to get ready for the concert!"

Celestia stared at Luna hop off her chair and turn to her.

"Let's go, I wouldn't want to miss for the moon!"

Celestia sighed and smiled as she also hopped of her chair.

"Me too Luna, Let's go!"

Everypony turned over to Luna and Celestia trotting off giggling and making small talk.

"HEY! WAIT UP, WERE GOING TOO!"


	38. Chapter 38- Bon Jovi, Queen, and Journey

#38

 **I've realized I take a shit-ton of time explaining somethings and filling in gaps to keep up the story from losing itself, probably why it seems so damn long. So, I do apologize for that, and also for not being as communicative to my audience as I needed to be from the start, this was probably my major flaw. I do read the comments and I do try my best to get the best out of me. If I have any flaws, I would like to see them in the comments so I could improve myself and edit what needs to be edited. Anyways, this story isn't just a simulator for living in a different world, and if you thought that then that's my fault, there's plot going on here, it's just skimming the surface to the point it's concealed.**

 **I hope you continue to read, then again, I don't know how many of you make it up here.**

I found myself actually walking around Canterlot for the remainder of the time with Twilight and Starlight accompanying me. My mind was still wrapped around why I was so careless as to bite into a pizza right out the oven but it got the two ponies happy, so I was happy, _mostly_. Above all it was pizza they gave me and pizza I enjoyed, though, I did have to restrain myself from over stuffing. It was odd and sort of mind-boggling that the more I learned about this world of ponies, the more it resembled my old world.

I shrugged off my thoughts for the sake of not ending up a paranoid philosopher lost in this world of cute little ponies and erotic happenings. I looked down at Twilight and Starlight both giggling at how I burned my mouth back in that fancy restaurant. I was embarrassed by how stupid I was to have done such a thing but seeing them giggle to each other softened the embarrassment a bit, but just a bit.

"Like you've never burned your mouth before," I seriously claimed going ahead of them and walking backwards to face them. They both looked at each other and giggled some more before nodding.

"Yeah, but when I was a baby filly, to see you do it before us was hilarious," Starlight explained not being able to contain her laughter. "And your face when you bit into it- _she held back some laughter_ -I was sure you were about to cry over it," Twilight added letting out her amusement.

For one, I was only more embarrassed by Starlight explaining I did the mistake a baby would do, second, I did tear up a bit as I swallowed that piece of molten lava down my throat, both these occurrences were enough to put a blush of embarrassment over my face as I sighed in defeat. I felt a wave of more embarrassment come at me as Twilight giggled some more and whispered something to Starlight.

"What?" I asked them, nervous enough already. They both giggled some more before turning to me with smiles.

"You're cute when you blush you know?" Twilight added with a smug look on her face. Starlight quickly smirked and put on the same look Twilight had. "Yeah, maybe we'll have to make you blush more often."

"AHHH-No! Leave my reputation alone!" I begged trying to sound as cynical as I could to avoid sounding like I was begging for mercy. They laughed it up among themselves, I frowned slightly as I lifted my hands up. "What!?"

"What reputation Ponyboy!?" Twilight asked making a mockery of me. I felt my feelings collapse on themselves as she let out that nickname that I will pray wouldn't become permanent. I felt my blush grow stronger as I mentally cursed at myself.

"Aww, I like that name!" Starlight gushed out in a blush. I'll admit the name had one good thing about it, it reminded me of a book I read about a boy and his gang of troublesome friends, coincidently that boy's name was Ponyboy. Even if that name had that connection, they didn't get the reference and would only use that name as a tease.

I looked at them shocked at how they didn't know my badass reputation, but then again, I haven't shown it but a few times. I guess I could change my reputation to more of a Badass Friend than a Badass in general, that seems like it would be for the best.

"Fine, I guess I haven't established a rep, but still…Ponyboy!?" I asked them, making sure to emphasize the word of interest. Twilight rose an eyebrow as she slowly lost the giggles and became oddly serious.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?" She asked. "Oh…" I eased out as I nodded awkwardly; she really wasn't teasing with the name. I smiled as tried to make up for asking the question.

"Nah, it's nothing, I just thought you were teasing with such a name, guess that wasn't the case."

I was hoping for mercy but none came as Twilight giggled some more and gushed out an "Aww!" as if she'd seem something adorable.

"Aww, you're a lot shyer than you look!" Twilight teased jumping back from being serious to being a playful tease. I chuckled as I gave up on them, but it was true, I was honestly shyer than before but that's mostly because of how quickly I got involved with a harem of female ponies that always seemed to find a way to squirm into my deepest soft spots. _Hell, they found a way to make me cry and blush, that's about as much that needs to be said_.

"Well, that's probably because I've never been so close to any female without her yelling out "rape" or trying to kick my balls up my crotch," I explained with a smirk as I continued my backwards walk into the unknown.

Twilight and Starlight both quickly widened their eyes in disbelief. "What!?" They asked making me nod with a few chuckles slipping out.

"Yeah, I wasn't too loved by any girls, I just gave up on talking to them and based my life on finding friends, then trouble struck and that never happened," I shrugged off the negativity and smiled widely, looking to the positive side; _the two cute ones in front of me_.

Twilight smiled back as she noticed my smile was the real deal. "Oh well, they missed out on the chance to have an incredible guy like you!" she complimented giving me her sweet smile along with her cutely-wide eyes.

"They sure did, but I can assure you we're not like that!" Starlight assured me with the same smile as Twilight's and that glimmer in her eyes. I smiled at both of them as I closed my eyes and nodded.

"I know Starlight, I decided to accept everything you say since your eyes will just make me hate myself for objecting your word," I chuckled as I reopened my eyes to look into her eyes again, but was quickly distracted by the bright red that was under her eyes and on her cheeks.

"Geez, and you said I look cute blushing, you should look at yourself." I continued making her giggle as she finally began accepting the embarrassment and laughing about it. I smiled wider as I laughed out loud with her and made a quick 360 around with my eyes closed in joy.

"Man! I love you ponies-!"

"BEN WATCH OUT FOR-" Twilight yelled out looking away immediately.

I felt something sharp stab to my chest nearly to the point of puncturing. I quickly opened my eyes as I noticed something I haven't seen since I last saw her mocking Fluttershy.

"…Her…" Starlight finished for Twilight.

Time had slowed down again for me as I quickly noticed the talon coming for my chest. I stared at the talon slowly coming for me as I took the moment to take a breath and shake my head.

" _Oh boy, just like when we first met_ …"

Time sped up again and her talon swiped across where my body would be if I hadn't changed positions. I loved being where I was, I could see a lot of crazy new things, like the decorations that were covering lampposts and benches, the thing was that I was seeing it all inverted. My body was perfectly balanced with her head, with my head floating above hers and my whole body looking like it would, standing on the floor; basically, I was upside down on this creature's head. I had my arms crossed across my chest as I stared at Twilight and Starlight both wide-eyed and with hanging mouths.

"What the…Where did he go!?" I heard the odd beast from a few days ago speak out making me grin just a bit wider. Twilight and Starlight stared at me as I winked at them playfully, and looked down to the top of this creature's head.

"He was…where…what!?" She asked again looking around herself. I gave as much time as she needed to look around herself but she never thought about looking up. She quickly turned to Twilight and Starlight with a massively confused look.

"Did he…disappear!? You saw it! Didn't you!?"

I looked down at her with a huge smile as I reached down my hand and rustled that flat edge of hair at the top of her head. I was going to make this as memorable a reunion as I was going to make it.

"Hey, long time no see, I was looking forward to seeing you again!" I greeted with a casual friendly voice. Everyone froze and this creature blushed heavily and looked up and met me eye to eye, our faces nearly touching. Her eyes were about as wide with shocked as I expected them but her blush I didn't account for.

"DAMN! You got some huge eyes too!" I exclaimed grabbing her face with my hands and pressing my eyes to look into hers. She was stunned into silence for a moment before trying to launch another attack with her talon.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU SAYING!?" She yelled out as her talon was about to strike my face, but I let it get just that close for good reason. My hand quickly met her talon and grabbed it firmly, not hurting her but not letting her go either.

"What the!?" She exclaimed looking off at my hand gripping her talon. She's probably never had someone stop her talon before, someone with five fingers that is.

"Remember me? I was the one inside Flutters body when you decided to attack her," I explained as I gripped her talon. I was still upside down and still over above her head. She stared at me before nodding with nothing but shock and blush throughout her face.

"Yes, you gave her the power of a monster…" She replied her eyes glued to mine. I closed my eyes and shook my head as I let go of her talon and began joining her on the ground. I knew I could have floated to the ground, but I liked feeling a heavy landing with feet and so I landed on the floor like a spring.

"Say beast or something else at least, it's not like I'd ever call you a monster," I said as I flexed body and stretched my back. She seemed to be dazed for the moment just staring at me blankly as I stretched out my body. Even after I ended my stretches, she oddly remained focused on me. It was also odd her pupils seemed to have widened _WIDELY_ as she stared deeply at me, like some of these ponies do when in complete daze.

"Yo, you still there?" I asked her waving my hand in her face, she quickly snapped out of her daze and looked away blinking multiple times while still blushing. I stared suspiciously with a smile over my face as I thought about her actions, she wasn't hiding the fact she was blushing or staring at me earlier.

"Dang it," She whispered before turning to me sternly as she regained her composure as a bad chick. "Why did I have to run into you!?" She asked putting up this hard-girl attitude.

She would regret ever taking that tone with me, I knew how to handle these situations.

"That's sad, I thought I was lucky to have ran into you," I expressed casually as I confidently crossed my arms and proceeded to undo her aggressiveness. She backed away slightly before coming back looking stern again.

"Lucky!? Why would you want to see me again!?" She asked almost annoyed by my honesty. My eye twitched slightly with her saying that, I always want to see someone who looks cute and can be a potential friend.

"Geez, it can't just be a normal reunion of friends?" I asked back, frowning slightly. She did the backing off thing again and let out a chuckle as she shook her head.

"Friends!? You and me!?" She asked laughing at the matter. I lost the frown in exchange for a casual smile as I faced her confidently and nodded. I saw the flat hair on her head and gave it rustled it again, she oddly didn't do anything to stop it.

"You don't have the appearance of someone who is evil, so yeah, I'll judge you my way and call you that," I explained leaving her hair and staring at it. Her hair was now rustled like mine was, I never really bothered with my hair because it just naturally becomes rustled. I smiled a bit more as I looked lower and noticed her blush and smile. " _Gotcha!_ " I mentally exclaimed as I noticed her fluster and hold back her breath a bit. She looked down from her hair to me and almost appeared to have the fastest change of heart right then and there as she smiled and giggled. It was odd for her to change so quickly, something was up with her but right now, I was glad she was easy.

"…Fine, friends," She said lifting a talon to me. I looked down at it before noticing that I was getting greeted like I would usually greet others, it felt great to actually have someone to greet me like this. I chuckled as I slapped my hand onto her talon and shook it firmly.

"Cool!" I replied with a smile.

She giggled a bit before nodding once to confirm it. "That's right."

I let her talon go first and we both chuckled a bit as she let go of my hand last.

"So…what are you doing here?" Twilight asked coming from behind me and standing my right while Starlight remained to my left. For the sake of not insulting her with the word creature anymore, I'll call her… _whatever else I can come up with_.

"I was just looking for Dash, you've seen her?" She asked casually, not noticing Twilight's frown. Twilight stepped out from behind me and aimed a stern hoof at her.

"I don't think she'd like to speak with you!"

She didn't take that well, she immediately stared back at Twilight in complete confusion, by surprise she wasn't pissed or annoyed, but she was worried.

"What!? Why!?" She asked.

"You attacked Fluttershy! And for who knows why!?" Twilight returned. The hybrid between lion and eagle almost immediately lost all her worry and exchanged it for a nod that agreed with what she said.

"Oh…I was in a bad mood," She expressed almost sounding sorry about it, which was oddly intriguing again, considering she didn't appear the bipolar type.

"That was no reason to attack Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed and clearly, she was right but there was more to this than just a simple bad mood, _I knew so_. "Hold on Twilight, why were you in a bad mood?" I asked reaching my hand out to stop Twilight from talking.

She lifted an eyebrow as she scratched her head with her talon. I stared curiously at her as she lowered her talon and shrugged.

"It just happens around this time of the year, that's why I rarely visit around this time," She was almost lamenting herself as she said that in a depressed tone. Twilight and Starlight both showed their confusion with cocked heads and both scratching their heads. I was a simple man really, I know females more than these female ponies understood their reproductive organs.

"Ohhhh…okay that makes some sense!" I chuckled. The answer was simple to deduce once she mentioned this was annual, there could only be one explanation and if I knew better, these ponies wouldn't know shit about this either.

"You know?" The hybrid asked. I nodded reassuring her. "Yeah, it's just your hormones, it's alright."

"Hor…mones? Explain that," Twilight demanded, _of course, she would demand knowledge_. I sighed and shrugged as I placed my hand on the hybrids head and explained while caressing her hair smoothly.

"Hormones are basically…what makes your body react a certain way, it's science," I explained to them, Twilight scratched her head along with everyone else before they accepted the new information. I looked around to see if I got their attention, I did. "Okay, now, at certain times in a year a female will experience a sudden change in hormones," I added using my hands to demonstrate this half-lion, half-eagle thing as an example.

"Ok…ay?" Twilight said, speaking for everyone's confusion. I knew they were all just completely clueless about this but it was worth explaining, I wouldn't want them to freak out when it happens to them. I let go of the creature's and continued.

"And when that happens, it triggers uncontrollable mood swings, like…" I reached out a hand to indicate this cute creature beside me, to see if I could pull out a name from her, _I've had enough of calling her creature and hybrid_.

"Gilda," She eased out still worried and probably a bit paranoid from everything I was saying that made no fucking sense to her. My eyes widened a bit as the name traveled in and out my ears, for once, I've actually found the most realistic name apart from Big McIntosh.

"-Like Gilda…nice name by the way, sounds the most normal of all names I've heard in my time here," I complimented making her blush a friendly one which eased her mind from what I was explaining.

"Thanks, but why does this happen?" She asked me getting back on track. I nodded, she wanted to know why this happens to her but she might not like the answer. Despite that, I smiled positively as I patted her head almost congratulating her.

"Simple, your body is ready to have babies,"

"EXCUSE ME!?" Gilda asked backing away from me. I patted the air some more before noticing I wasn't petting her head anymore. It was expected that she would react this way, and I loved to see her blush to the point her white feathered head was all red with embarrassment. I aimed my hand at her flank and curiously stared at it.

"As weird as it may sound, have you bled a bit from your behind lately, if you know from where I speak of?" I asked, getting involved with her personal business. She blushed a whole lot more as Twilight and Starlight turned to her blushing as well.

"Y-yes…" She replied looking away from me and the ponies, to the ground. I nodded and placed a hand on her head giving it a gentle rustle to ease her, although what I was about to say would probably just do the complete opposite.

"Alright then, your body is just doing these things to get ready for sexual reproduction, to not make you paranoid I'll simplify it, your body just prepares for sex with a male, to have babies," I calmly explained to her but she resented it and let her beak hang wide open as she backed away from me again.

"S-sex!? Mom said I can do that until I find some other griffon when I'm older!" She yelled out.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE! Fuck, I knew there was a name for your type!" I yelled back as I facepalmed myself. She was griffon, those things from mythology and Harry Potter books, yet it was impressive to see one in person.

"BEN!" I heard Twilight yell out trying to make me more serious about this situation.

"Oh right!" I regained my composure and cleared my throat. "Well Gilda, aren't you old enough to find another griffon?"

"I…uh…" She paused and blushed some more as she looked at the ground and used her talon to make imaginary circles on the ground. I stared and immediately got the message.

"Oh, I see, you can't because you're too embarrassed…"

"SHUT UP! IT'S HARD OKAY!" She came back at me furiously, _I couldn't blame her_.

"I know it's hard! I tried to talk to girls before, that didn't go so well," I consoled by relating to her with my own experiences. Gilda nodded as she quickly came back with another thing to say.

"I'm not ready for that! I'm still me!" She said almost frightened by just a situation. "But then you'll lose your temper every now and then! You nearly hurt Fluttershy last time!" Twilight commented making Gilda whimper a bit as she quickly looked up at me.

"BEN! Is there anything else I can do to get rid of this!?" She pleaded. Of course, there was a way to get rid of this, all she really needed to do was comply.

"Yes," I replied quickly and calmly.

"Really? What!?" She asked filling up with hope. I knew she'd be crushed by just an answer as the one I was going to give her. I sighed and smiled to make the answer not sound so bad.

"Have sex,"

"WHAT!?" All three of them immediately yell out, outraged by such an answer.

"Yes! Just have sex and it should resolve like that! Well temporary, look, you don't even have to get pregnant just do it and you'll be fine!" I explained being honest and truthful but that was the least they wanted right now. Gilda immediately whimpered out a lot more than before as she gritted her teeth.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEANT WHEN I SAID I'M NOT READY FOR THAT!?" She shrieked. I knew my answer but she just refused to believe me, it was hard for her but honestly, she had no other option.

"Yes, but honestly, that's the only option you have," I replied. She blushed as she shook her head. "But I'm…"

"A virgin?" I asked filling in the gaps.

"A what now?" She asked back still whimpering.

"You haven't had sex or no griffon has shoved himself inside you," I explained being casual to avoid her losing it but her face already showed the resent.

"Don't say it like that!"

I sighed and crossed my hands in the disappointment that she didn't comprehend this. I expected it but I couldn't really say I was proud of predicting such a reaction.

"Look, you got the idea Gilda, I'm sorry if this sounds bad but it's just natural for this to happen," I lamented again, she couldn't face the cold facts and fanned her wings out. I stared at her a bit saddened she didn't take it well. "Or find some other way of dealing with your moodswings."

"I-I've got to think about it! I'm going to find Dash!" She exclaimed, quickly taking flight causing a wave of air that brushed my hair gently. I stared at her leave, slowly going out of sight. I balled a fist in guilt, I felt wrong for telling her such a thing when I knew she wouldn't understand. I send my fist into the air and waved it insanely as I yelled out towards her.

"HEY! I hope to see you again Gilda!"

She disappeared. I don't know if she heard me but I made sure to yell it out at the top of my lungs. I lowered my hand almost disappointingly and sighed as I turned to Twilight and Starlight. They stared oddly compassionate towards me as they as they sighed.

"I fucked up, didn't I?" I asked them chuckling without reason. They stared at each other before shrugging.

"If by that you mean you mess up, I don't think so," Starlight comforted with a compassionate smile. I didn't want to believe that smile of hers but her eyes made me think again.

"Yeah, you had to explain it to her or we might have to face her wrath again," Twilight explained placing a hoof on my leg and giving me the _feel better_ touch.

"That makes me feel a bit better, but still, I was too explicit," I returned thinking back to that face Gilda gave me; horrified with worry.

"No Ben, you have knowledge and know-how, but it's just hard for us to comprehend it when we've never heard of such thing before…by the way, how do you know so much?" Twilight comforted and asked going off topic, honestly, that was the best thing to do at the moment since I didn't want to think about it anymore. I turned to Twilight and pondered my answer.

"Uh…I went to school a few years, but most of my knowledge comes from books I've read and experiences."

She got her answer and how she was ecstatic about it, she jumped from the word _books_ and grew almost full of energy as she jumped again this time reaching my face with her jump.

"Really!?" She squealed in excitement. "How much did you read!?"

I smiled nervously and scratched my head, "Uh…I think like maybe two-hundred, counting from way back, till now."

"Ha! And Celestia says I read too much, okay, maybe I read about two-hundred times what you read." She snickered before toning it down and giving me some attractive eyes. "Anyways, if you want to read anything interesting, you can always come over to my place, I've got books for years…maybe we can read something together…" She ended her offer up sounding like Trixie when she offered me something besides books.

I smiled a bit wider as I accepted part of that offer.

"Thanks! I bet I'll find something good to read!"

I bet I would find something good to read, yet one book did come to mind when I mentioned finding good books; that book she shielded away from me and kicked us all out of her house over, that would be an interesting read considering it might hold something concerning me and K.

"Oh…" She replied almost disappointed by my answer before shaking it away. "But stay out of Rainbow Dash's Daring Do Comics, she's still not done with the latest volume," Twilight warned me, almost making Dash sound like she would have my head if I touch her comics. I cocked an eyebrow and chuckled as I looked to Twilight with a humorously confused look.

"Daring Who?" I asked.

Twilight shook her head and pouted playfully. "No silly, Daring Do! She one of Rainbow Dash's idols, apparently she pretty cute according to her."

I let out a chuckle as I covered my mouth with my fist and excused myself. A comic book character as an idol was something farfetched but I could understand, what I couldn't understand was Dash ever needing an idol, she seemed to run on her own accord.

"Oh really? A comic book character?" I asked almost pointing out how crazy that sounded. Twilight seemed to catch on and nodded before giving me some persuasive eyes.

"She's a real pony too, you know?"

I nodded curiously as Twilight eased those words out. That changes everything, this Daring Do is a female pony and is real, now that's something new. I was skeptical about it but decided to not give any more questions on it until the time comes.

"O…kay, I'll remember to not insult this Daring Do character and not touch those comics, for my own safety." I seriously ended that Daring Do saga but beginning a new one as Starlight cleared her throat loudly getting both of our attention.

"Um…we should get to the stage of the concert it already started but they always give time for the audience to sit down and for the participants to go and sign up," Starlight explained turning to the direction of balloons floating and decorations bombarding everything. Twilight exchanged a smile with me and we both nodded.

"Yeah, let's go!"

Was it a surprise to find K already sitting on a bench with a random pony and a new guitar by his side? I think not. He was catching the rays of the sun as he slouched with his eyes closed and the pony by his side resting on him with a smile.

"Hey Ben, who is this?"

I looked to my left at Starlight and chuckled, "You see, Twilight told you can't miss him."

Starlight paused before gulping heavily. "This is K? He looks just like you!?" She whispered aggressively trying not to awaken them. Twilight got next to Starlight carrying along a calming smile as she nodded reassuringly.

"Yes, but, he's a lot different from Ben considering he's a rogue demon, but apart from that he's a fun time too!" Twilight whispered out with a giggle. Starlight lifted an eyebrow and gave Twilight a suspicious glare.

"Demon?" She asked curiously, not fully reacting outraged like the others did when first meeting K. "Aren't demons the main reason the empire nearly fell all those centuries ago?"

By now I've heard that story enough to accept it as a fact, and it fueled me to read that book I wasn't allowed to read before. Twilight gave Starlight a nod but it was good intentions since she smiled while doing so.

"Yes, but K is different! He's a true friend, he's shown it to us all," She confirmed as she smiled with delight from admitting such a thing. K had shown many things to a lot of ponies that incriminated him of being a friend, that's just how he was and will be, thankfully.

I smiled, I admired such acceptance for K from Twilight considering she was oddly ominous about him and Chrysalis. Starlight lost her doubt in him and smiled, nodding. She was convinced just like that.

"Well, friends are friends, and who's this, I don't think I've met her?" She asked next, aiming her hoof at the random pony sleeping by K with her head resting comfortably on his thighs. This time Twilight became nervous and scooted behind me and pushed me forward.

"You explain this Ben," Twilight demanded with nervous giggles. "Please?"

I looked at Starlight and back at the pony which both me and Twilight clearly knew was. Panicking mentally but not showing it, I quickly force my mind into conjuring up some smart answer, as far as I knew, these two had some unsolved problems and that would lead to a problem.

I knelt down to Starlight and placed my hand around her muzzle to make sure she couldn't open her mouth. "MMFFGH!" She quickly resisted, trying to break free of my muzzle-lock but my hand was latched on firmly. I quickly used my other hand to calm her down and get her attention away from my muzzle-lock I put her in by stroking her mane gently.

"Hey, you want to know who this is right?" I asked her making her frown with a blush. She rolled her eyes as and nodded. "Okay, don't freak out," I ordered as I sighed and stretched my head, still thinking of a way to soften the words I was going to say.

"Uh…Okay Starlight, do you remember who swore vengeance against you?" I asked and boy was it a stupid way to begin.

" _Ah shit…_ "

Her eyes widened as she quickly began pushing away with her hind hooves murmuring out all her fear into my hand. I stared at her trying to break free as she continued back-paddling and yelling out muffles.

"Nice job, now we got to calm her down," Twilight shamed clearly mocking my impressive skills on making ponies panic. I chuckled nervously as I continued looking at Starlight thinking of a new idea to calm her down. Damn, now I had to do double the work.

"Hey do that thing you did with that filly!" Twilight whispered quickly from behind me. I paused for a split second to think about it. The image entered my head of me holding the nameless pony as I heard some words anonymously.

 _Daddy…"_

I looked around myself and back at Twilight. Those words, they sounded so realistic almost as if they whispered into my ear. "Well?" Twilight asked. I snapped out of my conscious and looked back at Starlight.

"Oh, right…" I whispered out as I quickly swept Starlight off her hooves and carried her like I carried the little one. She stopped struggling and stared at me with her wide eyes, she trembled and almost recoiled her body insecurely. "Shh…" I whispered out as I softly gave her some chest-to-belly rubs to calm her. Her body became stiff and her tail oddly wrapped itself around my arm. She continued staring at me for about a minute before her eyes slowly dazed off into a mesmerized gaze.

"Mmm…" Was all she let out as her eyes just lost all sense in them.

Apart from the blush she was displaying, she completely simmered down to just breathing slowly. I stared almost dazed by her eyes just going from being tiny pupils to become huge deep eyes. It took me a moment to realize what I was doing to her, I was giving her some belly rubs that a baby would get. I came to a slow stop as I looked at Starlight's cute look of ecstasy.

"Starlight?" I asked her but she was too focused on me to even pay attention. I looked away for a moment to avoid getting sucked into her eyes, before coming back to see her again.

Her eyes blinked the slowest blink I've seen, _this escalated a bit too fast_. I looked over to Twilight who was staring at me with her eyebrow lifted and her face just showing complete confusion as I cradled Starlight childishly. "What's wrong Ben, did it work?" She asked. I looked at Starlight and back at Twilight.

"Maybe it worked a bit too much," I nervously chuckled as I fully turned my whole body to Twilight so she could see the scene, even if she couldn't see Starlight's expression she could see how my arm was being squeezed tightly by her tail. Twilight jumped a bit as she the tail and how it spiraled around my arm. "Uh…it seems she might have something going on towards you," she mentioned circling me to get multiple angles on what she was seeing.

"You think?" I asked before having my eyes ripped away from Twilight by Starlight blinking her eyes once more but this time her eyes weren't dazed.

She was slowly blinking them, almost as if she had come back from being in comatose or in deep sleep.

"Have you calmed down?" I asked with a smile as I shifted to look at K and Chrysalis both still appearing out, although, I was sure I noticed a twitch from one of them. Twilight looked up at me curiously before smiling in seeing Starlight moving her head to look up to the sky and around herself.

"Y-yes, put me down," Starlight requested blushing and looking away from me off to the distance. I looked over at my arm and back at her.

"Well, let go of my arm first," I chuckled as I lifted my arm slightly to show her. She looked down her body curiously before widening her eyes and quickly closing them, embarrassed by the sight. She undid her tail bond immediately, quickly throwing about an apology.

"S-sorry-sorry! I-I…"

I covered her muzzle again to stop her from tripping over her words. Despite that look she gave me of utter shock, I put her down and smiled as I patted her head comfortingly, "It's alright." She looked at me in some disbelief before shooting a smile back at me as she took a deep breath to rid the embarrassment. "Alright then," I chuckled as I picked myself off the ground but not before giving her head another playful pat.

"Starlight? What a surprise, I didn't expect you to find me before I found you," Chrysalis giggled getting off K and staring down at her with an easy smile. Starlight jumped immediately and turned with her trembling hoof out to her. I made a quick turn and smiled nervously as Chrysalis stretched out and smirked.

"C-Chrysalis! What are you doing here!?" Starlight exclaimed changing her tone on the spot. Chrysalis yawned as she ended her stretch before bobbing her head in mockery of Starlight's serious attitude.

"I was looking for something to eat while K did some things to his guitar, he left me these bits here and I got me that odd cold delicacy you call _ice cream_ ," Chrysalis explained pushing the bag of bits from behind her and up to her side. Starlight quickly looked at the bag of bits before quickly switching to me, Twilight, K, and Chrysalis. At the moment, I couldn't say I was feeling the effect of Chrysalis and Starlight meeting again, I was more into thinking of a way to get an ice cream cone.

"Ice…cream?" Starlight asked almost out of breath from the farfetched reasoning she was hearing. Chrysalis nodded as she pulled from behind her a styrofoam cup with a small plastic spoon sticking out the top and showed it to her. Starlight stared into the cup and studied it from every aspect before looking up at Chrysalis.

"It was quite good, this was vanilla flavor, they've got I think about forty-nine more flavors, gives me another reason to stay here longer," She stated putting the cup down next to her and looked back to Starlight.

"ICE CREAM!?" Starlight yelled out full-tilt confused. Chrysalis nodded. "I'll be honest, if you ponies are good at something, it's making this ice cream delicacy."

I was as confused as Starlight now too, if this was who Chrysalis had sworn revenge to then why the hell was she so calm about it? Either way, to hold off on personal issues at the moment was best since this concert was beginning and we were just about a few minutes away from the place.

"BUT…Wha-?"

"Don't argue, ice cream is amazing, plus we need to get to the concert, I already told Dash and Flutters to meet us there backstage," K said get off his slouched position and rubbing out his eyes before pulling from the side of the bench his guitar. Chrysalis was right, the guitar had changed drastically, it was now electric but it was way too similar to the professionally made ones. I scratched my head as I pondered what I was seeing and what he said about Dash and Flutters meeting us backstage.

"What?" I asked as K jumped off the bench and grabbing the bag of _bits_ with Chrysalis following behind him. They both seemed to have had a sudden boost in adrenaline as they grinned widely and quickly took off a few steps and turned to us. I stared at them as I stood waiting for my answer but he was clearly not going to give me one at the pace he's going, although, mom did always say she loved dad for being a man of action.

"COME ON! LET'S GO!" Both of them exclaimed, K waving his hand and Chrysalis waving her hoof. Twilight launched two empty cups of ice cream into a trash can next to the bench and giggled to their enthusiasm.

"What in Celestia's name is going on?" Starlight asked as she stared at Chrysalis and K walk off to the concert. I sighed along with Twilight as we both stared at the two walk off.

"I don't really know exactly, but something tells me it has to do with love," Twilight answered with a calm smile turning to Starlight. Starlight looked like she should after hearing that, full-on broken on the inside. I chuckled as I turned to Twilight and answered calmly.

"Yeah, you can say that."

Starlight took that in, she shook her head before turning to Chrysalis trotting away and exchanging some words with K followed by some laughs.

"I…uh…do the princesses even know about this?" Starlight asked as she looked away from the two ahead of us move further away. Twilight nodded as she smiled and began trotting towards the concert as well.

"Yes, we had breakfast together, come on now, we must get Ben to the concert!"

"You had break…fast…with Chrysalis…" Starlight whispered almost depressed from not knowing what was happening, stopping Twilight from trotting away. I turned to Starlight and began walking backwards away from her with a grin and towards the concert using my hands lure her towards me. She looked up at me as I yelled her name out and did the _come at me_ signals with my hands.

"What are you doing?"

"Come on! You know you want me!" I teased as I continued walking away from her but this time I had my fingers to my head.

"What!?" She yelled out with a blush.

"Try to touch me!" I yelled back patting my chest with my hand. She stared at me as if I had lost my mind and quickly shook her head.

"No!"

I grinned as I continued walking with my fingers to my head.

"Come on Starlight-"

"I GOT YOU!"

I felt goosebumps form on my arms as I quickly _instant transmissioned_ myself away from Twilight. I never noticed when she got behind me but it was a good scare she gave me. I looked at her from behind as she looked around herself before turning to around me and smiling.

"You're really fast at teleporting,"

"And you're not to slow yourself-"

"Touch," Starlight giggled as I felt something press on my pants. I looked down to notice Starlight gleaming with a smile towards me and her hoof pressing my pants. "Now, my prize?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to play a little," I chuckled as I scratched my head over the letdown.

"Oh…" She replied with a sigh.

"Don't worry about it Starlight, Ben is more about giving than receiving so I'm sure he'll end up doing something for you, Luna should know that well," Twilight giggled bring that up immaturely. She was logically and humorously correct and incorrect, Luna would know that she _receives_ a lot but then she also knows how to _give_ as well.

"Might I add she can also give a lot more than she receives," I chuckled making them both blush but only Twilight giggled while Starlight held her breath to hold back the embarrassment.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Twilight eased out with some daring eyes. I raised my hands up to defend my position.

"I'm only basing it off what I already know,"

"LET'S JUST GET TO THE CONCERT!"

K wasn't lying, Flutters and Dash where here backstage and both with raised eyebrows, staring at K as he shuffled around the room picking up microphones and connections. I had to get separated from Starlight and Twilight as I was the only one allowed to enter backstage apparently, they promised me they'd be watching from the seats just like Chrysalis promised K.

"So why are we here?" Flutters asked making K stop and toss a microphone to me which I caught and flicked into the air. "Yeah!?" Dash agreed cross-hooved and frowning a bit.

"I'll give you a clue, here catch!" K said tossing Dash some drumsticks which she caught with her hooves.

"What the?" She whispered as she took both drumsticks, one on each hoof and studied them carefully.

"And Flutters, this one's for you!" K exclaimed sliding over an E-piano over to Flutters. Flutters quickly squeaked as she put out both hooves to avoid the piano colliding with her, oddly enough, the piano stopped right in front of her, allowing her to take a breath of relief.

I stared at what K had just done and got the clues I needed.

"Uh…K? Do you really intend to do this!?" I asked him. He returned it with a grin as he slid out a drum set out of this backstage area. This backstage area was well-lit with any instrument I could ask for, all except a six-stringed guitar, there were boxes everywhere and dresses along with some other equipment. K wiped a sweat as he jumped up onto a wooden box and crossed a leg over the other and rested.

"Of course," He replied taking a deep breath. _Well, I did tell Twilight that K was on it, so I shouldn't be surprised he came up with something like this_.

"Wha-WAIT UP! DO YOU REALLY EXPECT US TO PLAY!?" Dash asked looking at Flutters, who was tapping randomly on some of the piano keys.

"Yes, can you play?" K asked jumping off the box and getting in front of both of them. Dash shook her head and Flutters blushed with embarrassment as she as well shook her head. "We don't even know what songs you'll be playing," Dash added looking mildly depressed for not being of any help to us, Flutters included. K grinned as he nodded and quickly placed his hand on his chin.

"Hmm…I prepared for this, Dash, Flutters, I can give you the skill you need for the drums and piano," K answered aiming a finger towards them.

"You can do what now?" I asked K. His grin grew as he stared directly at Dash and Flutters, who were staring at each other thinking it over. They turned to K worryingly.

"Is it safe?"

"Totally! I'll just put all the songs we know into your heads with some magic, you won't know the songs but once you play the first note or hear the name of it the whole thing will become as clear as daylight! It's like you just know what to do and then you'll get into the rhythm!" K described oddly but understandably. I nodded along since I had no other option, but Dash and Flutters did have the option of deciding whether yes or no.

Dash looked Flutters eye to eye and they both exchanged a serious and decisive nod before getting to back to him. K charged up some magic on his hands making them glow slightly blue with some gentle orbs orbiting them. Dash and Flutters sighed as they raised their hooves almost as if letting him take control.

"Agreed," They both responded with small smiles. I got a bit closer to see how K would do this odd thing he was going to do. He nodded and got over to Dash first, the aura in his hand glowed a bit brighter as he placed his hand on her head and rustled her mane. He did the same for Flutters and by the end, his hands had lost the glow and Flutters and Dash stared awkwardly at each other.

"What the? I feel the same," Dash responded strangely looking at her hooves and body before looking at K. K face palmed himself as she nodded.

"Well duh! I told you, you need to play the note of one of the songs," he responded moving over to her and getting both the drumsticks from hooves and moving to the drum set. "Come here Dash," K ordered bringing a stool fit for a pony over to the drum set. Dash followed cautiously and took a seat on the stool and K gave her the sticks again.

"With those sticks, hit this one twice and then this one like this, then follow with this," K signaled before using his hands to tap on the targets in rhythm. My head flicked off with the song that he was trying to make her play, it was _Any Way You Want It_ by _Journey_ , an amazing song I might add and among my favorites. "Okay, hold on!" K quickly said sliding out an amplifier and connected his guitar to it with a cord he just randomly pulled out like most of the stuff he's been taking out of the boxes.

"Ben! That's a wireless microphone!" K yelled out indicating the microphone in my hand, I looked at it before bringing it up to my mouth to see if this is what he wanted. "Flex those sing skills," K encouraged. I took a seat on a box that was near them and cleared my throat. I knew I could sing anything from my impressive ability to alter my voice to any voice I want. I sighed as I regained my breath and gained composure to sing a bit.

" _A warm-up wouldn't so bad…_ "

"Alright… _This Romeo is bleedin', but you can't see his blood,_ " I began going soft, slow, and smooth just like the song is supposed to be. I could already hear Bon Jovi roll off my tongue as I put some emotion into the song. Hell, like I said, I'm good at doing voices.

I smiled a bit as I noticed K nod his head in satisfaction and whisper the rest of the lyrics to himself and the two pegasi staring almost in shock they were hearing me.

" _It's nothin' but some feelings, that this old dog…kicked up~_ "

" _It's been raining since you left me, now I'm drowning in the flood~_ "

" _You see I've always been a fighter, but without you…I give up…_ "

I tightened my voice to hit these notes perfectly yet I never mess up on songs that I loved.

" _Now I can't sing a love song, like the way it's meant to be~!"_

I could hear my voice matching the emotion of the song as I became flooded with the lyrics, and my voice got just a bit stronger and tighter.

" _Well, I guess I'm not that good anymore, but baby that's just me~!"_

 _YE-!"_

"STOP!" K shouted at the top of his lungs leaving me letting out a sliver of air when it should have been the words, "YEAH, I!" but that didn't happen. I slowly turned to K. I was just getting to the best part and he just ruined it the experience for me.

"AHHH! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?" Dash and Flutters shouted towards K as they pulled on their manes desperately. "THAT WAS GOING AMAZINGLY AND YOU RUINED IT!" Dash sternly accused K as she smacked her drumsticks on the drum. I felt this wave of motivation circulate in me as Dash aimed her hoof at me, her admiration for the song and my voice was too great for me not to feel it.

"I didn't ruin it, that song is a grantee win! We'll have to save it for last!" K explained back with a huge toothy smile. Dash and Flutters turned to me and almost faithfully as they were anxious to ask.

"So, you'll sing it! Right Ben?" They asked toning it down and begging with their eyes.

I chuckled and aimed a thumb straight up.

"I got ya! but can you play the instruments you two?" I asked them pointing a finger at the piano and drums. Flutters and Dash slowly turned the instruments before staring at each other, they swallowed heavily as they studied their instruments.

"Y-yes, as a matter of fact, I think I can even play that song, does it go like this?" Dash asked as she bit down on her tongue, picked up the sticks, and began beating the drums in rhythm. My ears twitched as she hit the drums with perfect timing and pressure. " _What?_ " I asked myself as I stared blankly at Dash play out a drum solo. The yellow off the corner of my eyes got to me as Flutters flicked a switch on that piano.

"Oh? I think I can too!" Flutters added as she began tapping on the keys on the piano, also hitting each note correctly. Both of them showed their joy with their amazed smiles. " _Woah!_ " My hanging mouth slowly turned into a huge smile as I listened to Bon Jovi's, _Always,_ come out of two ponies that barely knew the song.

"That's…that's…THAT'S COMPLETELY AMAZING, YES THAT'S THE SONG!" I gracefully applauded. They stopped, smiled and laughed among themselves. I laughed with them, there's no way we were not going to get the crowd off their hooves like this. We laughed it up quite a bit before hearing some cheering come from the actual stage that will be ours after a few more performances.

And few hours passed the sun was falling and the night was rising. We were all here laughing it up back here in this stage as I imitated many voices I knew and heard while K tuned his guitar over and over again.

It wasn't long before the plaudits were heard and K sprung up.

We all turned with smiles to the stage and sighed in relief.

"So, we got everything?" I calmly asked, adjusting the guitar of mine on my back; I'll pull it out when it's necessary.

"If Flutters and Dash say yes, then yeah," K responded calmly as well.

Dash and flutters had no argument and let out their own calm joy, "Yes."

I got to work rolling out the drum set and piano to the stage, as K pushed out the amplifier and stools. We entered this behind the curtain area that was dimly lit and organized ourselves. K got Dash and Flutters on spot and he got his guitar hooked up along with Flutter's piano. All that was left was me but all I had was this microphone in my hand that K had already connected to the speakers like the other three microphones he distributed. Everything was ready for show time.

"I was wondering what will we start off with," Dash asked around.

"Hmm…how about we ask the audience?" Flutters inquired making K snap a finger in agreement.

"Yup, all we got to do is wait till we get-"

" _And now! We have a surprise for you all, like we said any could enter the concert and we managed to rack ourselves up a show, without further ado, let's get this show on the road!_ "

Time paused for another few seconds as I let my arms gently drop to my sides and took a deep breath. I stared curiously at the curtain that was in front of me slowly creak open letting in a beam of light that crawled up my face.

The curtains opened and I immediately greeted a bunch of cheering ponies, alicorns, pegasi, unicorns and of course, one changeling elder. I stared at the crowd as I felt adrenaline pump through my veins and a grin overtake my face. I looked around and nodded my head playfully as they cheered and I was getting into the feel. Among the audience were the likes of all my friends and all familiar faces I've met up till now.

I raised the microphone to my mouth and got immediate silence.

"Y'all having a fun night?" I asked. I was immediately replied with a huge amount of cheering. I smiled and nodded before raising my hand up to calm them.

"Alright then, no argument there, so I've got a question to ask the audience," I said making them all quiet again. "I want to know the category of music you'd like to hear, I'll play the first one I hear starting in three, two, one!"

They all yelled out in what sounded like the biggest gibberish I heard but I managed to pull out one logical word from it.

"I heard _fun_!" K shouted from behind me making me chuckle a bit as I nodded.

"Fun is an odd genre but among the best, alright then, we heard your cries and it's time to wipe the floor here in Canterlot!" I exclaimed lowering the microphone from my mouth and turning to the ones behind me.

" _Don't stop me now_! Ya got it?" I informed Dash who nodded as she prepared herself. Flutters immediately smiled as she flicked on the piano and ran her hoof through the keys before nodding toward me. First musical debut and I'm about as excited as the audience, I love it. How would I sound? Just like Mercury. How will it go? Amazingly. And I had no doubts about myself.

I rose up three fingers and began counting down in my head.

 _1…2…_ I took one deep breath as I left only one finger standing… _3_

As soon as I heard Flutters hit that first piano key, I rose the microphone and my voice escaped my mouth smoothly as I let the words roll off my tongue. I was doing it, singing a song to a bunch of ponies who don't even know what the song is, _this is my chance to impress_.

" _Tonight~ I'm gonna have myself a real good time, I feel alive…"_

I first heard the voices of Celestia, Luna cheering before hearing the roar of the crowd give me a boost in confidence before they simmered down to listen.

Flutters was actually giving me the piano play and I was following along with it perfectly with my voice going high and low at the right times. This was going well, very well, Dash, Flutters, and K all joined in on the song when their parts come up and I was able to find my rhythm and begin moving slowly about the stage as I released my vocal superiority.

" _Cause~ I'm havin' a good time! havin' a good time-!_ "

" _I'm a shootin' star, leap through the sky, like a tiger defying the laws of gravity~!_ "

The crowd got upbeat with the sudden change and roared as a plethora of lights shined down on the stage I was thrown into overdrive with this song. Dash and K joined in perfectly and I was now shuffling over from one side of the stage to the other singing my heart out to the cheering crowd.

I was unstoppable when it came to singing I could already see faces of joy, excitement, and looks that were fully lost in the moment. I moved over to another side of the stage as the lights beamed down on the audience who were up and out of their seats. The beam of light passed over a wide array of ponies but only one caught my sight in particular, it was Octavia, sitting there with no expression but her eyes staring up at me either amazed or shocked.

" _I'm sex machine ready to reload, LIKE an atom bomb, about to, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh~ explode!"_ I sang as I playfully passed a wink down to Octavia down in the crowd. She blushed and looked away with a pout leaving me to smile as aimed my finger down at her. The line of the song I just sang, along with the wink were well timed, probably explaining that blush of hers.

" _I'm burnin' through the sky, yeah~ Two-hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr.Fahrenheit!"_

An over-the-top excited pony by her side shook her and aimed his hoof towards me trying to get her to notice that I was indicating her. Octavia turned to me almost frustrated as she shook off the hoof of the stallion next to her. He shrugged and moved along the rhythm as I continued singing, now with a wide smile over my face, Octavia's soggy attitude was numb when all I had in my head were the colors and audience I was picking up. As I moved along, I noticed pegasi and other ponies begin peaking their heads out of the most random of places like; the top of the stage, trash cans and almost any random place I could think of.

I looked off away from Octavia as I turned to Celestia and Luna both amazed and cheering me on. Their sight was a huge thing to admire, I didn't really know why but it was just amazing to see them so happy and cheerful. It felt so quick but the song was nearing its demise, I heard all three of those behind me sing out the last few of their lines in the song as I prepared myself to end it for now.

( _Yes, I'm havin' a good time-)_

 _I don't want to stop at all~ La-da-da-da-daah…"_

The crowds cheering simmered down to just stares of satisfaction as I ended the song traditionally; slow and peacefully. I closed my eyes as I eased out the lyrics slowly and passionately. Dash and K had stopped playing their instruments and only Flutters remained giving me the perfect piano solo this song needed to end perfectly.

"- _Ha-da-da-ha-ha-haaa…"_

 _-Ha-da-daa-ha-da-da-aaa…"_ I smoothly rolled out moving the microphone away from my mouth to add the closure effect to the song. The microphone was about a foot away from me before I finally stopped and licked my top lip. Singing really dries up the lips but it's worth it to express this kind of joy out to the world. It was almost odd how the whole stage I was on lit up with an odd neon glow as I was about to raise the microphone to claim the end of the song.

I looked up to the moon to notice how it was fully gleaming down at me, glimmering its neon light upon me as I smiled. This moon was clearly no ordinary moon, the moon I saw a few days ago was barely a growing crescent moon and now it was a full moon, this was no odd occurrence, it was like this for a reason. I continued staring at the moon as I raised up the microphone to the sky and quickly got the crowds' cheers and applause.

"BEN THAT WAS AMAZING!" I heard as Dash quickly grabbed my neck her hooves and forced me to spin a 360 since she practically came at full speed towards me. I quickly looked down at her with a huge smile as I agreed with her.

"I knew you'd like that one, but the shows just begun!" I returned the excitement back to her with a huge smile. I grabbed her in an embrace and nodded.

"What!? YOU GOT MORE!?" Dash asked with an over-excited smile full of joy and inspiration. I continued my smile as I nodded once more.

"Yes-"

FLASH X100*

I blinked multiple times before realizing what just happened. I looked to the crowd to notice all the cameras aimed towards me and Dash, I would be fine with this if it wasn't how me and Dash looked holding each other like we did right now.

I sighed before chuckling. "And now where are going to be on the press tomorrow…"

Dash blinked out her confusion and sudden daze from all the cameras before staring wide-eyed towards my chest as she let go of my neck and I let go of her. She looked up to me as we both stared back at each other, embarrassed.

"Uh…Sorry, I guess," Dash giggled nervously as she scratched her mane and blushed, ignoring her surprise and shock and keeping it cool. I shrugged as I backed away from her with a shuffle.

"Don't worry about it, come on we got an audience to impress!"

"Right!"

We all got to our positions and I made a spin towards the crowd and aimed the microphone to them, they brightened up as they cheered once more. I brought the microphone to my mouth and grinned.

"Alright, since I'm gonna be in the press tomorrow let's slowly dive into songs that relate to that one we all love," I was cheered on by the crowd as I nodded. Encouraged by the crowd, K walked up to me with his guitar and adjust a microphone next to me on a stand.

"Well now, love makes the world turn, so I'll chose our next song," K proudly stated before turning to over his left and to his right looking over to dash and Flutters giving them the name of the song. I couldn't help but smirk as K turned to me and punched me gently on the shoulder.

"You're lead singer, you start us off," K said adjusting his guitar while Flutters put hooves to piano and Dash readied her sticks. I smiled as I took my microphone and brought it to my face.

"This is for the stallions, griffons, and all males that have that companion they love, myself included," I chuckled getting an instant crowd cheer. I took another deep breath before raising another three fingers. K cleared his throat as he placed his fingers to the guitar and grinned.

 _1…2…3_

" _Any way you want it! That's the way you need it! Any way you want it!"_

 **If you've never heard these songs before, then might I advise you look them up and listen to them, you don't know what you're missing out on. Plus, these songs are not awkward to sing to many ponies compared to some other things.**

 **The featured songs in order:**

 **Bon Jovi – Always**

 **Queen – Don't stop me now**

 **Journey – Any way you want it**


	39. Chapter 39 - A Night To Remember

#39

I went through a two-hour long playlist of music but my spirits were about as high as the crowds' cheers, I couldn't stop and neither could Dash, Flutters or K, especially K. We sang of the likes of Journey, REO Speedwagon, Bon Jovi and other artists. The real crowd pleaser was _Always_ from Bon Jovi, from all the tears, to all the romance going on in the crowd, I was sure to be the best performance of the night. But, alas, all good times come to an end and the helpful trio behind me took their sore and aching hooves/hands to the crowd and watched as I remained on the stage with my guitar and my mind at ease.

I looked out to the crowd and noticed how many satisfied and joyful faces I was seeing, many. I'd be a fool if I didn't notice my friends over the crowd first but at the moment I had my sights set on one friend in particular, AJ. She was looking unlike the rest, her smile reminded me deeply of how I haven't spoken to her or how I haven't said "hi" or even noticed her. Her green eyes just filled me with a saddening feeling. I'd make it up to her, I promise I would.

I adjusted my guitar and lowered a mic to it, leaving a mic for my mouth and one for the guitar. I could feel the confusion in the crowd as they all turned to me, thinking the show was over. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath as I neared my mouth to the mic.

"Uh…I…I just wanted to do one more song, a special song too, it means a lot to me and who I want to sing it to," I nervously explained licking the dryness from my lips. The crowd quickly looked at each other and began asking questions to each other, but they wouldn't find out who it was that easy. I opened my mouth to speak once more and that hushed them up good.

"I've been a bit distant from her, despite her being so close, I just want to say this to her and this song is just for her and her only," I eased out seriously as I crossed one leg over the other and cleared my throat, adjusting the guitar. Of course, I would need to switch some words to make this more suitable for her and so I will. Before I could begin I had to get one more look, AJ was still smiling warmly but I could see it in her eyes that she didn't believe this song was for her maybe to another of the ponies I know, only adding to how depressing her position was.

I placed my fingers where they belonged on the neck of the guitar and cleared my throat, all I needed was my mouth, this guitar, and my feelings to sing this one special song. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply as I strummed the guitar, I keep on forgetting how the guitar somehow paralyzes these ponies with shock, despite that I felt the time come as I opened my mouth and eyes.

" _It's amazing how you…can speak right to my heart~"_

I knew by now AJ had caught on, she lost her smile as she stared at me in almost a " _You remembered…_ " fashion, she was right to know this song was for her: Who else would I sing a country song like this to. I nearly lost track of the song from just her face but I managed through. This song dated back to my youth and how my dad sang this to mom on Saturday nights…this was the song that brought them together in the first place.

" _Without sayin' a word…you can light up the dark~"_ "

" _Try as I may, I could never explain…what I hear when you don't say a thing~_ "

I looked to AJ as I let the words roll right out my mouth and I plucked down a string hard.

" _The smile_ _on your face, lets me know that you need me, there's a truth in your eyes, sayin' you'll never leave me~"_

" _A touch of your hoof says you'll catch me if ever I fall…_ "

I took a breath as I hit the main lyric in this whole song. This song was infamous in my life, a masterpiece by Keith Whitney, this was _When You Say Nothing At All_ …

" _Now you say it best…when you say nothing at all~"_

I looked at AJ once more, she was teared up by now and as so I expected, she probably never considered such a thing from me considering how distant I was treating her. I played a small solo on the guitar to enter the next phase and as I did I had the image of tears flowing like a stream in my mind. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath before returning to the mic.

" _All day long, I can hear, ponies talking out loud…but when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd~_ "

I played it some more on the guitar as I nodded and looked directly at AJ this time, and she stared back at me as I smiled gently behind the mic.

" _Old mister Webster could never define, what's being said between your heart and mine…_ "

All I could do was add to those tears of hers as I took another deep breath and prepared myself for the emotion I was going to show repeating this message to her again.

" _The smile_ _on your face, lets me know that you need me, there's a truth in your eyes, sayin' you'll never leave me~"_

" _A touch of your hoof says you'll catch me if ever I fall…_ "

I made sure to not lose eye contact with her as I slivered out these words, so slowly and emotionally that I was scaring them into her innocent heart.

" _Now you say it best…when you say nothing at all~_ "

I did more solo on the guitar as I repeated the lyrics in the most harmonious way I could, my eyes must have been as watery as the sweat of stress going down my face. I couldn't stress this enough to her but I knew she understood, I just knew.

" _Now you say it best…when you say nothing at all…"_

I played out what was left of the guitar and closed my eyes as I let go of the guitar and let it hit the stage with a huge thud. Everyone gasped as I rubbed out my stress filled face and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I looked back up and grabbed the microphone with both hands and made the stress die away with a single, quiet and fresh intake of air.

"Thank you all…for coming out and supporting this fine festival, this is my first festival and legs are so weak but it was worth it to sing to such an amazing audience…enjoy this wonderful night, remember to not ignore those you care for, see ya…" I dismissed but I just couldn't anymore, I was so weak from running around the stage and my stress just made me wearier. I let myself fall off the box (I sat on to sing) and land almost lifeless on the stage floor, I was so tired.

" _Uh? Are you alright?"_ I looked at the pony who was staring down at me, it was the announcer of this show, I could tell by the voice. I chuckled as I nodded and weakly waved my hand in the air.

" _Alright folks, he's alright! Please dismiss by rows and thank you for attending us here, and I don't think we can do autographs at the moment…enjoy your night folks!"_

I heard the moans and groans of ponies being let down by the autographs as they left but I needed the rest anyways. The stage soon became quiet and I was happy.

I thanked him silently as I rolled my way to the end of the stage and let my feet hang off the edge, looking straight up to the moon in the sky. The moon was inspiring and full of joy as I pretended to grab it with my hand, making the illusion that I was grabbing it; just like I did with the sun that day on the balcony.

" _Oh! But I'll be alright, as long as there's light from a neon moon!_ " I closed my eyes and sang out as I recalled that song by Brooks and Dunn, _Neon Moon_ , this seemed like the perfect time to sing out just that line. As I faced the moon with my eyes closed, it occurred to me that all my friends were still here judging by how I could feel them surrounding me on the stage.

I opened my eyes to find all of them surrounding me and towering over me as well, I was still laying down. K, Chrysalis, and Derpy were to my left and the bunch of the lot of them were to my right. It seems my little show attracted the likes of Cadence, Shining and a baby (As far as I knew, they didn't know it was Chrysalis in disguise right next to them), Octavia, Trixie, Gilda, and an odd-looking tiny baby lizard of sorts.

"Wow! That was amazing all of you!" Luna cheerfully exclaimed making K, Dash, and Flutters yawn out their thanks. I chuckled as I tried to raise a weak hand only to have it land on my chest heavily.

"I've never heard of music like that before! Never so exciting, so emotional, so loving, and so dedicated to somepony!" Luna continued making me smile as I looked at each one of them individually.

"Thank you, Luna, and all of you for being there to support us, we couldn't have done it without you being there," I thanked as I looked around again at everypony/griffon/Changeling/ and last baby lizard. I stopped on him and stared at him curiously before reaching out a finger.

"And who might this be?" I asked poking his stomach, _he sure felt like a lizard_.

He quickly backed away swiftly, "H-hey! Don't do that!" he nervously demanded getting next to Twilight and more or less hiding behind her. "Calm down Spike, I already told you he's friend, he won't hurt you," Twilight calmly reassured him as I lifted my back off the ground to get a better view on this little lizard.

I reached my hand out but as soon as I did so, I noticed how freaking tiny he was! He was just a bit taller than the size of my head and my palm made his tiny four-fingered hand (Or claw? I don't really know) look like the hand of those old toy soldiers I played with when I was little. I quickly retracted my hand when I noticed how terrified he was.

"Spike huh…Now aren't you a cute little guy, why haven't I met you?" I asked going off of trying to greet him with my hand and go about verbally. I noticed Twilight slightly push him forward with her magic before smiling calmly.

"It's okay Spike, if you like his singing, you'll like him as a friend," She motivated him. He looked back at her before looking up at me: despite me still just sitting up he probably thought I was feet up high, I wouldn't blame him when I saw him like a tiny plush toy from this height. He stared at me a good while before waving his little four-fingered hand at me nervously.

"I-I'm Spike…Tw-Twilight's helper," He managed to get out before gulping. I smirked a bit as I waved back.

"I'm Ben, and I've never seen such a…tiny lizard"

My friendly attitude must have done its effect since he smiled a bit at me calling him a "lizard".

"Not quite, Dragon," He corrected finally chuckling, and loosening his shoulders a bit showing his friendliness. I paused and made a funny face as I tried to comprehend what he just said. A dragon was something of prehistoric times and a fearsome creature that would destroy, but here was one with the face as cute as a puppy's. I pushed aside this tiny shocker, it's more surprising that I was even alive so this one little(big) thing slide by easily.

"You're not going to eat me in my sleep, are you now?" I joked. He seemed to get it but shook his tiny head and laughed a bit at my remark.

"Not unless you're made of gems I won't."

I paused again, he just put another tiny shocker into my head. "Oh…gems, which ones are your favorite?" I asked him with nothing but questions in mind about his health, origin, and eating habits. He bobbed his head as he pondered it and quickly lifted one of his four fingers.

"Diamonds!"

I nodded as realistically as I could to show I understood when I didn't. Honestly, eating a diamond sounds like the last thing I would do to save myself, now I worry about his internal organs and how he goes to do his business.

"Diamonds…like the ones on Rarity's flank?" I asked still being a funny guy for the moment. I quickly got Rarity on my case and Spike blushing as he scratched the plates on his head.

"He won't be eating my flank!"

Spike leaned up against me and spoke off the edge of his mouth in a whisper. "That's what she says."

"I HEARD THAT!"

I returned the same speaking off the edge of your mouth talk and whispered back.

"Be careful little man, those diamonds are not so easy to get."

"STOP THAT!"

We both exchanged some silent giggles before he raised his little hand in a fist. I smiled widely as I returned the fist with my own and the magic occurred; I was now this little guy's friend and glad too, he's got a great sense of humor and immaturity I have.

"You're funny, big man," He complimented returning his hand to his side with a smile. I smiled back at the fact he called me "big man" I always wanted to be called a nickname like that. I returned my hand to my hand as I lifted myself off the stage and stood up looking down at the little guy.

"Same to you little man."

"Man?" Everypony/changeling/griffon etc. asked. K nodded as he indicated me. "Yeah, that's what we called a male back on earth."

"Oh yeah! Twilight told me about how you're not from here when she woke me up!"It seems Spike was a bit annoyed being woken up so soon. Twilight giggled as she came up by his side.

"Yeah, sorry about that Spike, I wanted you to see him play, you can go to sleep again if you want to."

"Nah, I'm fine, sleeping for a month is all I need to get going! Anyways what have I missed? Besides the obvious that is," He asked stretching a bit as he looked up to Twilight. I looked at Twilight sigh as she understood all the story time she'll be having to do after today. She smiled either way and nodded as she wrapped him in a glow.

"I'll tell you at home," She stated before turning to us and smiling as she glowed like my little man did. "I'll see you all tomorrow! Loved the show too, I'll never forget it!"

She disappeared with a smile like Spike did waving his hand in goodbye. I sighed as I chuckled. _There goes my little man_.

As soon as I was available for speaking, they all rushed in with the compliments and amazed expressions. Gilda seemed to have simmered down from earlier and forgotten over what was going on with her as she asked about my vocal talent before praising Dash about her talent on the drums.

"Yeah, well you know, I couldn't have done it without K, Ben, and Flutter shy," Dash explained in a blush as she awkwardly responded to Gilda's amazement. Gilda nodded as she noticed K and me, she exchanged some suspicious looks before shaking her head and accepting what she was seeing.

"I've seen crazier things," She giggled as she allowed someone else to speak. This time it was Lyra, Bonbon, Rarity, and Pinkie pie, talk about someone I've been ignoring, Pinkie Pie is probably the one I least have conversation with, probably because of the simple fact she barely conversates with me (or maybe it's me who's not doing the talking). Each one of them had their turn saying something, Lyra and Bonbon both complimenting the songs we played and how it was out of their world. I chuckled, it was out of their world.

Rarity was next with a blush and pretty stern look but still complimenting nonetheless. I smiled as I thanked her for her compliment, she softened up on the spot and smiled, she almost seemed to not want to smile but lost to her feels.

"Fine darling, just because it's hard to look at you and not smile…and other things," She explained nervously with her smile. I liked being complimented by my looks but these other things sound just a bit more interesting, I'll find out later.

Next was Pinkie Pie and she wasn't ecstatic like usual but she wasn't down neither, she was oddly calm and with this smile. This smile of hers was like the smiles Flutters or Celestia would give; Calm and full of hidden emotions. I stared at her curiously as she opened her mouth.

"Just how many voices do you have hidden in that mouth of yours?" She asked slowly and almost criminally, almost as if, trying to interrogate me. I was stunned again, first Spike's shockers and now Pinkie's. This odd since she is usually so insanely rapid in talking and so random but now, she was calm and almost creepy. I almost lost my smile from the curiously but I kept it in check.

"Uh…a lot," I responded trying my best to not lean away from how insanely she began staring at me all of a sudden. I felt a lot of odd fears before, but not a fear like this one. I looked away for a second and came back to see her again and now I was highly disturbed. She changed back to Pinkie Pie, not that she ever changed in the first place but now she seemed to have that Pinkie Pie look of enthusiasm.

"AMAZING! I ALWAYS KNEW YOU WERE A MUSICAL GENIUS FROM THE BEGINNING!"

I nodded insecurely as she backed off with her smile and joined in with the group of those who had spoken. I wouldn't ask how odd that just was because it seemed like no one gave a damn. I took a deep breath as I rid my concerning thoughts, this was a good night and it should remain like that, although I'll probably have to ask sometime in the near future.

"I know this is probably just plain to you by now but, THAT WAS AMAZING!" Shining appeared off my right ear as I quickly turned to the two them.

"YES! WHO KNEW YOU COULD SING ABOUT LOVE LIKE THAT!?" Cadence quickly added with a huge smile and almost as excited as Pinkie was (After her odd act).

I smiled and closed my eyes trying to rest them for a moment.

"Anyone can sing about love, they just need to have the feelings," I wisely commented back opening my eyes. I was sure she understood what I said, being the princess of love and all. They smiled and nodded. "That explains why your voice is so exciting and beautiful, you're probably the rarest things that has happened in Canterlot in a while," Cadence flattered before she flipped the baby she had over onto her back and the little one giggled. I stared at the little one as I nodded back-distracted-to what Cadence said.

"Thanks…" I sighed out.

I use to do the same thing with my little one before destiny turned her into a soul sphere.

"I think I prefer Ben and K's definition of _love_ , you take love to a smooch on smooch level," Chrysalis let out smugly as she flicked a hoof. I froze as Cadence, Shining and almost everyone turned to Chrysalis as she continued chuckling.

"Have we met?" Shining asked. Chrysalis let out a snicker and gave him a look with her eyes reverting back to her original form. "I believe we have…"

Shining and Cadence stared at Chrysalis's eyes, too stunned to speak or even move. Luna and Celestia gave nervous giggles as Luna wrapped K, Chrysalis, Shining, and Cadence in a glow.

"Um…I guess we must take our leave and explain some things, bye Ben and everypony and griffon!" Luna dismissed before Celestia quickly shook her head and objected.

"But-but, but Ben! We need to-"

"In the dream realm Sis!" Luna quickly added as she disappeared before the rest only leaving Celestia behind staring at me.

"Best of luck Ben, your music was beyond expected and…uh…I'll-see-you-later!" She was a nervous wreck at the moment. I smiled and thanked her before she raised her horn and disappeared almost abruptly. _"Uh…okay then."_

Everypony/griffon left, well most did, all that remained were three ponies, and the one I had in front of me wanted to let out something but I suppose her pride didn't let her. I had to sit back down on the stage to be able to have a good conversation with her. We both sat at the edge of the stage as we stared at each other.

"Y-you…" She let out finally but quickly returned to not knowing what to say. Octavia seemed so devoted to conversation before, but it seemed to have drained from back then. She realized how strange she looked just trying to think of a comment and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I can't think right now…" She let out in a frustrated sigh. I guess I couldn't say I would be frustrated too if someone ever stole my spotlight. I smirked and nodded.

"It's alright, I'm sorry for over doing the show," I apologized looking over to Vinyl who was just waiting for Octavia to meet her at the exit; she paced around the exit looking off to an imaginary watch on her hoof. She already gave me my compliments and was just waiting for Octavia to finish hers.

"TAVI! I GOTTA GO SHOWER!"

"Just a minute Vinyl!" Octavia shouted over her shoulder to buy just a bit more time. She turned to me and scoffed with a smile.

"Vinyl's always got me on the move, she's pretty energic despite me being so sober," She expressed with a giggle before sighing and looking at Vinyl pace around some more impatiently.

"I know, but that's what make you two best friends, ever heard the saying _opposites attract_?" I asked looking at Vinyl too. I turned at the right time since I managed to catch her trying to lick her muzzle with her tongue and fail, but that didn't stop her from trying again.

"I have-she giggled a bit at seeing Vinyl nearly lose her balance from trying to lick her muzzle-but she's eccentric at times…kinda like you, a brute with a heart my mother would say."

I felt like she was trying to slip something through those words, a compliment perhaps.

"I don't know about having a heart, I just flatter and do some stupid things at times," I chuckled. I'd be calling myself stupid if I don't admit that I just do stupid things and they always work out for me. All I fear about that is that one day, one of these stupid things will cost me dearly, I don't want that day to arrive anytime soon.

Octavia gave me a shove with her hoof making me lean away slightly. She shook her head as she pushed my guitar closer to me.

"You say that but as a musician, that last song you played, it meant something to somepony, and to you too," She said making me nod in agreement. She was right, and contradicted my words so perfectly. "You're right, I guess sometimes it takes the words of someone you trust to understand yourself," I said closing my eyes and trying to get some rest. I was sleepy and my legs were tired but my spirit still burned: I was eccentric.

"You trust me?" I heard her ask off my right ear. I opened both my eyes slightly, only to the point in which I could barely see the blur of the objects in front of me.

"Why wouldn't I, you haven't wronged me and you seem to understand me well, plus remember something for me," I explained. She looked at me curiously, waiting to hear what I had to say.

"Y-yes?" she asked, allowing me to continue. I curled the edges of my lips into a small smile as I put my hand on her hoof and gripped it.

"Opposites attract," I chuckled letting her hoof go and looking at her. Her blush accompanied by her smile gave me the strength to pat her shoulder and sliver out one more thing.

"I do some stupid things, ignore them if you want."

"No, I-"

"TAVI!"

"ALRIGHT! I'M GOING!" She yelled out before returning her attention to me and smiling again.

"They're not stupid okay, believe me, you have heart and I know you do," She assured me with a smile before hopping down from the stage and moving to Vinyl. She stopped half-way to Vinyl and turned once more with a small hint of red across her cheeks.

"We should get something to eat sometime, bye!" She joyfully inquired before turning around and trotting to her friend and entering conversation with her as they left out the exit.

"I like him Vinyl, he's easy to talk to unlike you at times."

"I know-wait a minute…I AM EASY TO TALK TO TOO!"

"TALK TO THE FLANK VINY!"

"GET THAT OUT OF HERE, I NEED TO SHOWER!"

With that being said they left and now I was alone, although, I didn't want to be alone. I looked up at the moon still shining brightly upon me. I guess I'm never alone if this moon is showering me with light. I closed my eyes again and sighed as I rested there at the edge of the stage, my legs just hanging off the edge.

I nearly went to sleep after a few seconds of inactivity before I heard a hoof-step behind me. I perked my head up slightly but before I could turn I felt my neck get wrapped by two hooves and a head rest over my own.

"Ya sleepy?" AJ asked sleepily. I knew it was her since she was the only one who didn't speak to me before. I wasn't kidding myself when I shivered a bit from her grabbing me like this. Somehow, I could feel she was stretching a small smile across her face.

"Yeah…" I let out in a sleepy yawn but showing some joy in my voice.

"No use stayin' here then, do you think you can take us back to the sleepin' room?" She asked with a sly voice and pressing tighter against my body. My body had no reason to object to the idea nor did my mind. I raised two fingers to my forehead and yawned.

"Sure…"

Zzzpt*

" _Did my teleportation just spazz out?_ "

This wasn't the bedrooms.

"What the-?" We both let out as we appeared in a room that wasn't the bedroom. It took almost a split second for us to realize the laws of gravity were still in play and that we were hovering over a body of water. My body didn't react in time and we both quickly fell into the water; it was oddly warm and crystal clear water.

We quickly surfaced and let the water we collected in our mouth out like fountains. I was wide-awake now, and to all directions, I saw pillars of chiseled marble. I remember this place, this wasn't my first time being here.

"The jacuzzi?" I asked as I looked over to AJ grab her hat from floating away from her reach. She oddly squeezed the water out of it like a sponge and flung it away, to avoid having it get wet again. I never noticed how AJ's mane gets when it was wet, her hair stuck to her body and became slick like hair normally would. I couldn't stop staring at her, everything about her was just way more _emphasized_ when wet; her eyes mostly.

"I didn't ask ya for a cleanin' before bed," She giggled as she used her hooves to throw some water into the air. I laughed a bit as I agreed, but I didn't do this on purpose.

"I think I was too sleepy to concentrate," I theorized with some chuckles. She looked at me and laughed along, her laugh only lasted a bit before it died down to an odd stare into the water.

"Well…I could use a bath I suppose…" She whispered out as she moved her mane from covering her face. I quickly looked at myself and noticed my drenched clothes, I felt heavy in the water but I managed to move to an edge and hold myself up.

"In a jacuzzi?" I asked from the edge. I knew I was nervous and I was showing it but I couldn't do a thing but hope that the thin steam in this room covered for me. She glanced at me and giggled. _Shit, she probably noticed_.

"It has water and were already in it," She pointed out. I nodded but I couldn't stop thinking of a way to get out of here without coming off nervous towards her. She proceeded to undo a band at the end of her mane and let it all just free up completely.

I was staring again before I noticed her giving me the confused " _why are you staring at me like that?_ " look. I quickly looked away and apologized, to which she just became more confused.

"Ain't ya gonna take all that off?"

I had to give myself a reality check (ironic) to ensure myself she just asked that. I looked at my arms and down my torso, I didn't like the idea of taking off my clothes in front of her at the moment but I don't really have a choice. I placed my hands under the water and placed my hands under the shirt.

"Alright," I whispered out in a gulp as I lifted the shirt off but it was a struggle when it was heavy with water. The warm water lowered the feeling of insecurity but AJ's eyes being glued onto me nullified that feeling. I placed the shirt on the edge of the jacuzzi and settled in with the warmth of the water but that was short lived as I couldn't find AJ anywhere anymore.

I rapidly searched around with my eyes before bubbled emerged from the water in front of me. " _NANI!?_ "

"SURPRISE!"

I stared at AJ appear before me, I couldn't react or move, this was just so unexpected I couldn't do a thing.

"AJ?" I whispered in shock.

I wasn't mentally prepared for what she was going to do next. She got closer to me and pressed her body against mine before letting her slippery tongue slide up my chest. I shivered immensely, but that didn't stop me from asking her what she was going. She looked up at me almost as if she had ignored what I just asked and how I was feeling, and smiled.

"Would ya rather wash me instead?" She asked as she turned with her back facing me now and closed in. I wanted to suck back in any thoughts of doing such a thing to her but I didn't really like her washing me that way she did. I couldn't say I didn't want to do this anymore since I didn't want to kill the mood, but this was something beyond me. I might enjoy this type of tease but right now, in front of her, I didn't know exactly how to feel but overwhelmed.

She made contact with me, rubbing her back against me. We both shivered. I knew she knew and she knew I knew.

"Yer very…warm ya know?" She shivered out. Observant she was, but it didn't take a genius to know I was boiling up with embarrassment. Although, she was also equally speaking for me; she was also boiling up with heat.

"I would say the same for you," I let out in a slight pant. The water around us was becoming increasingly warm and the tensions were rising.

"Well…I did say I needed a wash…mind helpin' out?" She asked me going off the fact we were nearly evaporating the water around us. I looked at my hands and back at her.

"Wash…you?" I asked slowly. She turned to me with those green eyes of hers and smiled in embarrassment.

"Any way you want to…"

If that wasn't an invitation to make a move, I don't know what was. I grabbed her by the chest and gripped tightly but carefully. She locked up a bit and only made slight jerky movements as I moved my arms down her body. She was curvy for sure but warm to the touch as well, her body was tempting. I reached her flank before running my hands back up to her torso, she let out a sliver of air as she turned her head, looking at me off the corner of her eye.

"Ya can go…as low as ya want…I won't be mad…" She reassured me. Even if I did expect her to say that, hearing her say it just tugged at heartstrings. I sighed as a smile printed itself across my face, I might have been embarrassed still but slowly, that feeling of insecurity was fading. Like she said, I could go low, so I did. I followed my hands down her curves and reached the nether. Neither of us could see what was happening down below the water but we could sure feel it, especially AJ when I rubbed her gently down low and blushed brightly through the steamy vapors.

"This low?" I chuckled. She nodded her head slowly as she took quicker choppy breaths. I've had more than enough lewd experiences already but there was a good reason for it, if I recalled what Cadence said, this was all the ponies' time of the year. It was odd that I would die and appear here at around this time, other than that, I couldn't say I was disappointed.

"You've done this to…you know…Dashie and Fluttershy right?" She asked trying to not ruin it the moment but at the same time show some concern. I paused for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, I…I'm sorry."

"Don't be, ya got a lot of everything that everypony wants, you're special to us all," She praised making me lighten up. I ran a finger slightly into her and teased over the slit of her nether region. She pulled off a slight squeak as she continued her staggered breathing.

It was starting to look and sound like whenever these ponies are in the moment of lust, they seem to know exactly what to say.

"Thanks…" I whispered as I grabbed the edge of her vaginal wall and tugged on it. She closed her eyes tightly as she held back her squeals. I smiled at the sight. She drooled a bit after that last move and clenched her teeth.

"You know, a few days ago, you told me you couldn't deal with all this love and stress, with Vinyl remember?" I reminded her as I continued to play around with her with my hand underwater. She gulped and nodded, lewdly beginning to moan. Her moans were cute, and this being the first time I hear them, I won't forget them.

"Y-yeah, but sometimes, feelings get the better of ya," She admitted as she pressed her back against my torso some more. I guess I understood that well, I would be lying if I said I didn't love the lot of these ponies to this point I was in with AJ.

"Right…" I whispered before pausing and feeling something I haven't felt since last night. A brave idea hit me. I had enough encouragement to pull off a funny move on her, yet still try to get somewhere with this. I let go of her trap and gripped onto her sides before submerging her slightly into the water.

"What are…" She couldn't finish asking, her eyes were diverted to staring at the water and imagining what was under it although she had a pretty good idea of what I just placed between her thighs. She shivered as she reached a hoof down into the water and touched my erect shaft. Her eyes widened as she brought her hoof back up.

"Y-yer p-pretty big…down there…" She gulped staring into the water.

I chuckled as I neared her ear. I already got enough clue from everypony I've been asleep with that I'm abnormally huge, _except for Celestia of course_.

"And you're pretty small down there." I teased as I allowed her to think about it. She turned to me nervously and placed a hoof on my chest. I studied her look as she blushed heavily.

"Yes?"

"Can we? Ya know…try?" She asked doing her best to not look me eye to eye. I let out a sigh and pecked her kiss on the forehead. I knew this probably going to be the night it goes down and I knew somehow this was going to get around but I loved this build up between us.

"Alright then, come on," I said pulling myself out the jacuzzi before giving AJ a hand on getting out. I took a seat and leaned against the wall of the jacuzzi. I needed a moment to catch my breath after all that occurred in there.

Once that died down, I reach over to get my soggy shirt but was quickly distracted by AJ on my lap and with my erection right in front of her face. She stared at it curiously at it before pushing it to a side with her hoof then to the other side. Each time letting it go and watching it bounce back up to its straight up arrow position.

"Can we do it here?" She asked as she neared her face to my member. I guess I had no choice, I was impatient as well. I undid the button and the zipper practically undid itself as my erection just sprung out. She twitched her face away for a second before coming back. She realized the last piece of clothes that covered me and used her teeth to actually pull my pants off, which I didn't mind but it was odd how she just pulled them clean off without a struggle.

She positioned herself between my legs before smiling nervously at the sight. I guess this is where I come in. I placed my hand on the boxer's edge and slid them off making my rod bobble as it regained its straight position. It was funny, I could never even think of having sex just a few days ago and now I was into it, something changed, me or the ponies, I didn't know. All I knew was that these ponies seemed like innocent creatures when I first got here but that was when I got here, I can only wonder what life was like before my arrival, probably peaceful and innocent. I lost my train of thought as I felt 'him' twitch down low, it was AJ who was near with her muzzle sniffing at my erection that caused the sudden alert. She trembled as she stared at it almost hypnotized for the moment before blinking away her daze and looking up at me.

"Ya won't get mad if I don't know how to do it?" She asked as she took another whiff. I had no problem with it, I was still no expert in this but I had a clear picture of how it would go. I smiled as I moved aside some of her wet mane that was covering half of her face. "Why would I get mad? I'm the one who should be thankful right now that you actually allow me to do this," I explained with my smile. It took me a moment to realize I was actually blushing by now, I could feel it. AJ turned to me and giggled.

"I think it's the other way around Sugarcube," She eased out in a new tone of voice that was different from the one she started off with. I looked down at her eyeing my shaft lusciously before I felt her head sink low with her tongue hanging out, dripping saliva as she went low, balls low.

I felt her tongue begin from under my jewels and make its way to the tip of my shaft where she parted her tongue from it. Never in the past few days, has any pony began under the ball sack and worked their way up only to do it again, but the feeling was immensely better than the other times. I shivered slightly as she licked her lips and giggled, my erection throbbing as it waited for more.

"I haven't eaten since noon maybe you could help with that?"

I let out a breath that carried a few chuckles as I nodded. "You can drink but you can't eat."

I must have confused her for her to actually think about it before resuming her lustful act. "I'll take that as a yes," She giggled as she grabbed my throbbing member and lowered it, aiming the tip towards her mouth. She blushed a bit stronger as she looked up at me once more before staring back down at the tip looking at her and finally opening her mouth. She accidentally let out some drool as she finally connected the tip with her mouth but she didn't start off like most would, only taking the tip to tease around, she took the tip into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it on the inside of her mouth.

She let her eyes remain slightly open so she could admire what was happening. The ends of her lips were curved into smiles as she let out a few giggled with the cock in her mouth. I chuckled along to her giggling, not intentionally but the feeling of getting teased was just overwhelming.

"What's so funny?" I asked her in a grunt as she wiped her tongue across the entire surface of the head. She didn't answer with words but she did answer with emotion. She was crying, not full waterworks, but she was crying. Despite that I couldn't stop smiling, these weren't tears from depression or other things like that, from how she accelerated her tongue movements to how she actually smiled a bit wider as she took me in just a few centimeters deeper, these seemed more like tears of joy than melancholy. I reached my hand out to her face and wiped away her tears making her smile just a bit wider as she scooted up further up my legs. As soon as she positioned herself comfortably and slowly slid down my shaft, taking it deeper, she took it up to halfway before sliding back up and repeating it again.

"WOW! I KNEW YOU HAD IT YOU CHRYSALIS!"

"SHUT UP!" Chrysalis yelled back embarrassed by how Luna just exploited her to Cadence, the last pony she wanted to know. Chrysalis eyed Luna with an evil glare to which she just shrugged with a childish attitude. "Sorry," Luna chuckled nervously as she tried to not make eye contact with Chrysalis.

"What do you think about ice cream Shining?" K asked turning to him. He'd been eyeing Chrysalis ever since she reverted back to her original form. He, of course, was protective and insecure and asked an abundance of questions over what she was doing to which he got the answer that led to Cadences sudden outburst and Chrysalis exclamation. He turned to K suspiciously and glared at him.

"You really are a demon…"

"Was it really that obvious?" K chuckled as he winked at him and gave him his cliché grin. Shining sighed it off, frustrated by how K wasn't taking it seriously and didn't understand it from his view. K returned Shining's sigh with his own sigh, imitating him.

"Don't mock me," Shining growled looking at him over his shoulder. K became serious and he leaned his back against a wall looking at Chrysalis, Cadence and the two main princesses argue something out feet away from him.

"Do you have a problem with me?" K asked staring at the arguing four. Shining paused and turned to him, at first, he would have lashed out at him for mocking him but K's serious look reverted him to a more civil approach.

"…I just care for the safety of my loved ones," He explained turning to look away from him.

K nodded in agreement as he turned to his side to spot the little one, the one that belonged to Shining and Cadence. He stared at her curiously as she stared back up at him with a smile. She seemed friendly enough to pick up, was what was on K's mind as he knelt down and reached out both hands. The little on almost immediately hopped onto his hands and giggled as K lifted her into the air.

"I guess I can admire that, Ben has a similar goal and I guess I do too in a way," K explained, as he used his hand to play with the little filly. He would near his hand before quickly moving it away causing her to laugh uncontrollably, he repeated it to the point he was just laughing along with the little one. All the while, Shining was just staring at what the hell was happening in front of him.

"Gotcha!" K exclaimed making the baby laugh again. Shining looked away for a moment to adjust his thoughts clearly on what he was witnessing.

"Didn't know demons were so playful," Shining pointed out making K stop and look over to him before looking back at the baby. He smirked and laughed a bit as he placed her back down to the floor, which obviously disappointed her but she remained calm on the floor.

"Yeah, demons don't usually have good reputations, I know that well," K acknowledged as he knelt down at patted the baby's head making her smile cutely as she laughed a bit. "If you know that, then why are you acting like this?" Shining asked back curious about it. K stood up and smirked as he snapped his fingers.

"That's easy!"

"Well?" Shining waited for his answer. K nodded as he turned to him, smirk and all.

"As you may know, a demon reaps on the living and is devious, but I'm K, and I do things how I want, I can still do the reaping and deviousness but I hold back on it till it's necessary," K explained, a smile printed on his face from beginning to end. Shining was a bit stunned but he managed to get out a lingering question.

"So…you're a rogue?" Shining asked a bit heightened in spirits after hearing K explain himself. K nodded once more and elaborated.

"Basically, I'm to Ben what Nightmare Moon is to Luna, an alter personality that manifests itself alongside his/her owner," K explained further. Shining looked over to Luna now oddly laughing her flank off as they seemed to get on Chrysalis about something that made her blush. Shining looked back and smirked.

"Just less set on plunging the world into darkness," He smirked. K looked at Luna and at Shining as he shook his head.

"Luna, was feared by many and was forced to believe lies of society, she hated that, from that hate and jealousy, a Nightmare was born, just as I was born from the hatred and sorrow inside Ben," K replied almost feeling the pain of saying such a truth. Shining quickly nodded and apologized as he realized what K was referring to: _He's judged both K and Nightmare Moon, without knowing the back story_.

"No worries, Celestia was pretty hostile against me too, I don't mind," K assured him as he sat down on the floor and rested. Shining chuckled as he also took a seat staring off at the three, still mocking Chrysalis.

"You're awfully easy to get along with, probably explains why Chrysalis was so into you, still though, how in Celestia's name did you manage her?" He asked sounding fascinated compared to before. K wafted his hand as he explained.

"She's been through a lot from what I know, she just needed someone to be around and comfort her."

As simple as that was, Shining was immediately thrown into a massive mental reboot. He looked at Chrysalis before looking down to the floor and at his little one before finally reaching K again.

"I…never thought about it like that, do you think this could solve our problems with her?" He asked perking up in some excitement. K smiled and shrugged before lifting a confident finger.

"Oh, she'll still have her ways, but I wouldn't worry too much," He admitted but ultimately gave off the peaceful calm vibe that calmed Shining down immensely.

"Thanks, I see where you're coming from, and honestly, you're not as bad as I wrongly judged you to be."

"Gee, thanks, come on let's go to the pretty ones before they cause any more drama," K chuckled as he got up and began moving over to the three princesses and Changeling.

"Right behind you, come on sweetie," Shining agreed, calling up his little one before lifting her onto his back. K hid his smirk as he walked straight ahead to the group of drama.

I felt a bit of an urge begin to increase inside me as I felt my erection throb as it slid down her throat. I couldn't control my movements, my hand grabbed AJ from behind the head and actually forced her down a bit deeper, not completely, but deeper. Her throat walls wrapped tighter around me as I felt her gag for some air but despite that, she wouldn't return back up even when I let my hand loose enough for her to push back.

"AJ?" I asked with a grunt as I saw her close her eyes tighter. She wasn't trying to get off, on the contrary, she was actually pushing herself further despite already have taken almost three-fourths already. I groaned a bit louder as I placed my hand behind her head again and smirked with difficulty.

"Alright AJ…if that's what you want, you can have it," I grunted loudly as I gripped the back of her head and shoved everything I had into her mouth. Neither of us was prepared for what was about to happen. I felt as if I had just gone into a different area inside of AJ's throat as I felt the walls squeeze me unlike never before. My dick throbbed insanely as I held AJ down with both hands, forcing her deep, I had no explanation as to how my other hand got involved but it was there now. AJ's eyes remained closed shut as she teared up again and wrapped her hoofs around my belly and embraced me, almost in an attempt to take me further deeper. I was on the verge of breaking, and AJ knew it. She slid up just a few inches before forcing her head on again.

I slightly closed my eyes in pleasure I arched my body and pushed my hips forward as I felt my dick explode inside her throat. AJ's eyes widened as she tried to take as much as she could but within seconds, her cheeks became swollen with cum as she closed her eyes and rapidly pulled out, leaving me to just shower her with my semen. I was right to call it a shower of semen, since I practically just stained her whole body with it, _she didn't look half bad covered with my essence_. I felt just a few more spurts pump out as I managed the to sit up and stare at AJ huffing out heavily as her mouth dripped white syrup. She took another deep breath before closing her mouth and forcing herself to swallow everything in her mouth before returning to huffing out her weariness.

"AJ…sorry about that…" I chuckled in pants. She looked over at me and laughed weakly as she wiped her mouth with her hoof licked it.

"I didn't actually expect anything to come out…" She giggled as she crawled her way up to me. She sat between me and my erection, making it twitch a few more spurts out as she slid it between the crevasse her flank. She giggled a few more as she looked behind herself at the puddle of semen I had created.

"Still going I see, well…maybe we shouldn't just waste it on the floor…"

I chuckled as I found the strength to grab her form the hips and lift her. She paused almost immediately and stared at me, worryingly waving her hooves in a panic.

"WAIT UP!"

"Huh?" I stopped and looked at her confused, didn't she want this? I tilted my head curiously as I waited to hear her out. She blushed and she turned away, shivering as she tried to look at me off the corner of her eye.

"Won't it hurt? You know…" She queried glancing at me from the corner of her eye.

I didn't really give much thought into that, but I knew the answer to it. She was new to this and first-timers are expected to feel some pain as far as I know. Even if it would hurt, she was actually turned on greatly. I had her hovering over my dick at the moment but both of us could see her juices from her snatch coming out already and dripping onto my member. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, it should hurt a bit, if you don't want to-"

"NO! I do, but can we just…" She struggled to find the words as she looked under herself, at my spear right under her seal. "Go slow?" I filled in for her with a smile. She looked up at me and nodded embarrassed by me saying it like that.

"Alright then, how about we start like this?" I chuckled as I lowered her hips and managed to get the head of my dick to touch the lips of her snatch. She let out a yelp as she covered her mouth with her hooves and stared aimlessly at the jacuzzi behind us. I caressed her pussy lips with my erection, teasing her into releasing more of her juices. After about a minute of tease, I managed to get her to slightly beg as she whimpered out.

"S-stop that…just do it…please…"

I looked at her with a smile, it felt good when they actually ask you to do what you want to do.

"Alright AJ, I'll make sure you feel pleasure to," I reassured her before leaning in and pressing my mouth against hers. Being already in the heat of the moment, she didn't mind the kiss, in fact, she inserted her tongue into my mouth before I could, _not that it mattered in the end_. I returned the courtesy with my tongue as I proceeded to slowly lower her onto me. I wasn't lying when I said she was small down there, she was pretty damn small. It was a tight squeeze getting the tip in, but it managed to get in, she moaned a bit more as I gripped her hips tighter, I too felt the tight squeeze of her trap. Now I had to proceed to the rest.

I could feel the difference between the mouth and the pussy, the pussy was obviously my number one pick, the feeling of her weight on my hands and the soft, warm walls was something almost from a dream. I felt her slide in beyond the head of the shaft and that was when I noticed a change in her rhythm. She pressed tighter against my mouth as I continued lowering her. Every second of me lowering her deeper into me, was her whimpering and having tears run down her face. She cried but that didn't stop me from continuing. I finally made it to about halfway when I felt something, almost like a wall, it felt fragile and easy to tear up. I looked at AJ give me the painful okay to go beyond and I did.

I forced her down with a quick sudden maneuver and this time she let out a cry as she embraced me and clung on, shivering out her pain. I could feel her tears going down my chest as she pressed her head against it and gritted her teeth.

"I can stop if you want…" I reminded her in a shutter of air, she was awfully tight and twitchy down there. I was a bit worried after that last cry but I was still serious about continuing. She let out a heavy pant as she looked up at me tears going down her face like a stream, I felt that feeling of sorrow that one gets from causing pain to another.

"I'm fine…it just hurt…"

I looked down my torso and at my dick covered with blood as it was engraved in her but a bit more than halfway into her hole. I looked back up at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead and wiped her tears away despite a few more coming out. She looked down curiously as she sucked back up the tears and trembled at the sight below her.

"Why am I b-bleedin'?" She asked with a shivering breath, her eyes widened just a bit in shock. I smiled as I looked down there, seeing the bloody connection between us.

"As far as I know, this means you've taken the next step in being a mare…" I chuckled breathlessly as I tried to contain myself from losing it from her tight squeeze.

She looked up at me with a teary smile and gulped back all her fears before catching on to what would happen next, considering there was still a bit more to go. She began putting weight on her body. I loosened my grip on her hips as I felt her easily and steadily slide down my pole, one moan leading to another moan from her. I took it slowly but it was upon hitting a point that she squeezed the tightest and wettest that I experienced the _twitch_.

I grabbed AJ's hips tightly and clenched my teeth as I laid my back on the ground. She widened her eyes in sudden shock as I used all the force in my hands to force her all the way I could, which was the whole thing. I let out some of my saliva through my teeth as I couldn't with the tightness of her pony-pussy, this was literally the best feeling since…in all honesty, I don't know. I looked down my torso and at AJ who had fallen over me from the quick complete insertion. She whimpered out in pain as she kept her eyes closed in pain and pleasure. She cried out a few more tears through her tightly shut eyes.

I didn't want to do anything after that last move, I was a bit ashamed for dishonoring her word to move slowly. I let my head rest on the hard floor, here in the jacuzzi room as I waited for AJ to calm down from her sudden shot of pain, although, it seemed she was already rehabilitated. I felt my dick slowly slide out of AJ, forcing me to cringe as I looked down my body again. AJ was still there but her crying stopped, her eyes remained closed and it seemed she had already eased the pain down there. Her bottom was slightly raised explaining why I felt like I was sliding out of her but in reality, AJ was just preparing herself. She buried her face into my chest as she forced her hips down quickly, she muffled her yelp into my chest as she raised her hips again and repeated it, squealing again. I was smiling while feeling worried and pleased, I knew this was hard for her but she seemed to have no problem in going with it.

"Does it still…hurt?" I asked with a grunt as lifted my back off the floor into a sitting up position with my legs crossed, allowing her to easily slide in deeper. She accelerated a bit and placed her hooves on my chest for balance and moved deeper. "A l-little, _ha_ …" She moaned. I smirked the best I could but it looked more like I was showing early signs of a stroke.

"Alright…how about this then," I chuckled as I grabbed her flank and assumed direct control of her body. I forced her deep everytime I swung her down onto me and made sure to move her flank in a pendulum-like way to hit every spot inside her. She changed after I got her in my hands, she smiled as she drooled about on me and let her body rest on mine as I moved her flank up and down.

"Well?" I asked her. She was still blushing as she laughed out a bit in lust and did her best to look at me ignoring the fact her body was trembling madly. She wrapped her hooves around my neck and licked my mouth to the nose almost dog-like. It was odd but just cute coming from her, I couldn't do much but chuckle.

"Oh, maybe a bit faster-"

Right when I was about to inquire she immediately stopped me with a kiss that, of course, I couldn't leave her hanging. She parted from me with all the saliva our tongues combined hanging between us as we panted out our long breath.

"Please…" AJ begged in a whisper as she looked down. I looked at her confused as she swallowed her coagulated saliva.

"Huh?"

She clenched her teeth before finally just losing her mind. She stared at me almost as if she would cry.

"I'm already yours…go faster, please!" She begged in a whimper as she wanted more. I sighed and chuckled as I gripped her tighter than before and raised her all the way to the point she was nearly about to let the head slip out. She released a whole bunch of her love juices on my dick as she whimpered some more before I slammed her back down onto me and picked up the pace.

"YES! MESS ME UP! PLEASE!"

"Alright…"

" _Holy shit, this is becoming my favorite night!"_

" _YES! MESS ME UP! PLEASE!"_

Dash continued moving her hoof up and down her slit as she focused in on what she was seeing through her sphere screen. When will it be my turn? Was all Dash could ponder as she imagined herself in the position of her dear friend. She hadn't stopped rubbing herself ever since she started watching Ben shag AJ, she was there to see the buildup that led to this event and she knew this was going to happen the moment she saw them land in the jacuzzi.

"Come on Ben, just a bit faster, just how Dashie likes it-"

"DASHIE!?" Fluttershy quickly exclaimed swinging the dorm's door wide open, startling Dash. Dash quickly whacked the sphere in front of her turning it off and covering herself up with a blanket as she blushed uncontrollably.

"F-Fluttershy!? Uh…What are you doing here?" She asked trying to derail the stare she was getting from Fluttershy. She was taking Fluttershy for an idiot, and unfortunately for her, she wasn't. Flutters scratched her head curiously before smiling calmly and trotting over to Dash's bedside.

"I wanted to know if you've seen my brush…but it looks like you're busy…" Flutters giggled as she hopped up on the bed. Dash stared at Flutters as she whacked the sphere making it turn on and revealing quite the erotic show. Dash rapidly hid under the covers and trembled in embarrassment as she covered her ears to not hear the moans and groans of those in the sphere. Flutters blushed a bit as she covered her mouth with her hoof in a slight shock.

"Oh my…"

"It's not what you think, I was just searching for something and that popped up!" Dash explained doing her best to cover up for what was going on. Flutters looked back at Dash and at the Sphere Surveillance-which a new innovation to check out what's happening with every single individual around Equestria-and smiled.

"Need a hoof?"

"What!?" Dash asked as she blushed stronger. Flutters crawled up to Dash deviously and almost cat-like as she giggled. "Fluttershy?" Dash asked as she allowed Flutters to go over and lay down on her, both blushing but one stronger than the other. Flutters gave Dash a lick on her muzzle just to add the blush factor.

"Our turn will come, for now, how about we enjoy the night maybe tomorrow we can hang out with Ben or K,"

"But…this is embarrassing…" Dash remarked as she looked away to the sphere and watching AJ and Ben continue their fun.

"And fun too, just think, Ben will release all his warm milk inside her tummy any minute now," Flutters motivated but she confused Dash when mentioning some odd words.

"Milk? I'm pretty sure what Ben gives isn't milk," Dash countered before Flutters giggled and nodded.

"Yeah, but I love it when he shoves it inside my…" Flutters quickly paused before looking at Dash staring up at her shocked and surprised. Flutters giggled nervously as she blushed a bit brighter.

"I mean, it feels good, that's all…"

Dash blushed along with Flutters as she tried to also sneak by a few words of erotic proportions.

"I guess so…it…tastes good too…" Dash eased out making Flutters smile and give her a kiss on the muzzle making it twitch.

Flutters comforted herself on top of Dash aligning her trap with hers and shivering as their clitorises rubbed on one another. Dash let out a shivered breath and Flutters licked her neck and slightly nibbled on it.

"Fluttershy…" Dash whimpered out as her hooves made their way around Flutters head and pressed her against her neck. Flutters quickly pulled back making Dash retract her hooves and stare at her as she thought about something.

"Come on Fluttershy, I'll get cold down there…" Dash whimpered being impatient. Flutters quickly smiled and flipped herself around giving Dash a good view of her flank and all the embarrassing bits, both now in a 69 position.

"I got an idea! Why don't you lick me there and I'll do it from here!?" Flutters excitedly brought up. Dash looked directly at the pink slit of Flutter's before quickly ravaging it with her mouth and tongue, she'd been impatient long enough and she really wanted this. Flutters yelped a bit as she trembled from the warm tongue that was eating her insides.

"O-okay Dashie…no biting…okay?" Flutters asked as she looked behind herself at Dash. She paused for a moment before rolling her eyes and smiling a toothy smile.

Intense bite to the Clitoris!*

"DASHIE!"

"HA! Come on Ben! Fill my tummy with all your gooey milk!"

 _Oh man, why do they call it that!?_

I couldn't anymore this was insane, madness I'd say, I felt like my arms were going to fall off at the rapid pace I'm going. The feeling of almost finishing was the only thing keeping me going and along with AJ's tightness and her cuteness. I hunched a bit as I accelerated my hips and bit down on my tongue as I was on the brink of already going all out. AJ was still riding me like before except this time she was full on lust and just desired the best part of all this, the ejaculation.

"Damn it! I can't hold back any longer…" I groaned as I let out quick breaths.

"Me neither! I feel like I'm gonna explode…" AJ exclaimed back, not laughing like the manic that has been riding me for the majority of this time but she was actually trembling as she closed her eyes and embraced me. I felt it coming up, and my hand movements rapidly accelerated, it was that last second acceleration and strength you get when you're about to just bust. I felt AJ embrace me tighter as she began calling out my name repeatedly as I rapidly plunged her insides with my cock.

"Ben-BEN-BEN-BEN!"

The faster I got, the faster she said my name until I finally got the final stage.

"YES! FILL ME UP, MY PONY BITS HAVE BEEN HUNGRY FOR YA!"

I erupted like never before, never have I felt just an urge to keep on going and never stop until I was empty. She was full inside in less than a second and now everything was flying everywhere since I didn't know where to stop. I continued moving her up and down relentlessly as I made sure to get everything inside me, inside her. I quickly abandoned the pussy hole in exchange for another hole, the one right above. I lowered her onto it but was quickly met with fear and a pony trying her best to stop me, despite that I was slowly entering and she wasn't going to stop my rampage on her body.

"NO BEN! IT WON'T F-"

I can make anything fit if I have the determination for it, and at this moment, I did. Once I managed to get the head of my dick into her the rest was up to how greased up with love juice my rod was. She stopped breathing for almost a few seconds before letting out the loudest cry and teared up as I rammed her up and down my still throbbing erection. I felt like crying as well from how good this was feeling, I could have easily said I would die happily right here but I wasn't done with AJ yet. I continued pounding her and releasing as much of my semen into her small hole, I'd already destroyed (in terms) her throat and pussy, all that was left was this one and it was in the process.

"IT'S TOO BIG-IT'S TOO BIG-YOU'RE…You're…"

I slowed down to a stop; destruction complete. I felt my dick limp down inside her and I easily slid it out leaving AJ to just let semen pour out from both her holes. It was the proudest sight I'd seen if I'd ever seen one, it was like a waterfall just with semen and anal and pussy, _what the fuck is wrong with me_? AJ gave up on her body and just let it fall onto me, I grabbed her and chuckled as I rested from the exhaustion. "I guess…I'm done for a while now…"

AJ let out a mumble as she tried to get up but just fell onto my lap and resting her head there.

"Sorry about the other hole…I kinda just wanted to try it out last minute," I chuckled scratching the back of my head. AJ mumbled out a bit more before her words began making sense.

"Ben?" She called getting my attention.

"Yes?" I asked awaiting an answer that I was hoping to be good. She mumbled a bit more before sighing and smiling a smile just barely noticeable.

"…I love you…"

I smiled back and nodded.

"Me too AJ…"

After a few minutes of just resting, it was clear that I needed to find a place to get my clothes in exchange for these wet ones. I put on the wet rags to avoid finding myself in an awkward moment, should I teleport to another location and appear naked before someone. I carried AJ all sleepy and no sign of waking up till tomorrow, the hardest part of the last few minutes was actually having to wash her in the Jacuzzi before she fell asleep along with my own bath. AJ was right about the Jacuzzi doubling as a tub to wash.

The hardest part of the task was getting the cum around her fur off and all the cum that kept on leaking out of her pours. In the end, it was mission accomplished but still one hell of a hard thing to do.

I raised my finger to my head and aimed my concentration to the dorms, if I recall correctly Flutters had actually packed some clothes for me before the trip to Canterlot.

" _What a night to remember!"_

POOF*

Dash and Flutters both stared at the Sphere in shock.

"That…was so much…" Flutters let out completely flabbergasted by what she just witnessed.

"And he put it in the…is that even allowed?" Dash asked looking back at Flutters flank, speaking to it as if it were Flutters.

"He was so big…and he made it fit…what if he does it to us?" Flutters continued gulping down as she looked down at Dash's pussy, speaking to it as if it were Dash.

"Applejack's butt was always bigger than the rest of ours, and did you see how she cried, it must have hurt…" Dash gulped down as well as she noticed Flutters nether begin dripping again.

"Maybe it feels good too…she was smiling and begging for him to…you know," Flutters added looking at Dash's pony-hole begin dripping juice too.

"Yeah, it is a big and juicy…" Dash lustfully eased out as she sank her mouth back into Flutters and murmering the rest inside her pony walls. Flutters giggled as she sank her mouth into Dash's pony-hole too and enjoyed herself.

 _"What if two big and juicy ones at the same time…maybe Ben and K…one in my mouth and the other in my-"_

"Fluttershy, are going to lick me or what!?" Dash asked as she waited for Flutters to begin playing with her. Flutters snapped out of her thoughts and began licking but not before her lustful imagination returned.

 _"My little body should be good enough for both of them, oh my, I'm gonna probably be sore for days…_

" _…I can't wait!"_


	40. Chapter 40 - The Action Commences

#40

I popped up somewhere else again, the corridor that led to the dorm, even if I was close to where I wanted to be, I thought I would have made it in the room. I sighed at the small fail but shrugged it off looking down at AJ resting cutely in my arms.

"HEY! BEN!" K's voice emerged from behind me. A smile managed its way onto my face as I turned to him. To my surprise, he wasn't alone, Shining accompanied him along with the lot of princesses, the baby alicorn, and the one cute changeling. I fully turned to them exposing a sleepy AJ.

"Hey! What's up?" I greeted waving my hand as they approached me. K was the first to notice AJ sleeping and how I was dripping water from my clothes. He lifted an eyebrow and placed his hand on his chin, studying me a bit further. "Uh…maybe you should get something dryer before sleeping tonight," he chuckled grabbing the sleeve of my shirt and squeezed it making it drip water onto the floor. No shit, I thought as I nodded.

"Oh, I got that!" I heard Celestia joyfully claim as she trotted up ahead of K with her horn glowing.

Warmth surrounded me instantly drying off my clothes. Slightly impressed, I looked down curiously at my body as I noticed I was glowing golden yellow: this yellow circled around me as it evaporated the water from my clothes. I lifted my free hand to study the glow better, strangely, it seemed to wrap around me and almost embrace me. I got this tingly sensation as I looked at Celestia blush as she smiled widely.

I looked back to my hand and at how this glow was getting a bit too personal as I felt it slightly focus on my lips. I tightly closed my hand on the glow and unexpectedly, the glow suddenly quickly was absorbed into my hand. I stared at my hand as everyone in the corridor stared at me as I kept my hand closed but the rays of the of the energy slipped between my fingers. Odd, I've never been able to do something like this before.

"What? Ben, how are you doing that?" Celestia asked me as she glared at my hand almost threatened by it. I looked at each one of them except K, give me that glare of feeling threatened. I looked down at my hand and opened it. They all gasped. I would would've done the same.

"What have you done!?" Celestia asked as she studied my hand closer.

I quickly began looking to my hand and up at them repeatedly. The glow, that I supposedly trapped to stop the questionable actions, had changed color it wasn't yellow anymore, it was dimly glowing of a dark-purple orb almost as if it was a blackhole on the palm of my hand. I quickly closed my hand with all the stress that was building up, I wanted to end all this sudden madness.

This was clearly a wrong move and I should have expected such. My body quickly got surrounded by the new dark glow and slowly, it flowed into me from everywhere. Now even K was a bit impressed, as for the rest, they all gave me looks of _Explain yourself_! I slowly took a step back defensively.

"I…uh…this is awkward," I chuckled nervously as I looked down at my hand. Celestia approached me, with her horn glowing and a floating yellow sphere floating between us. "Touch it," She bluntly ordered. She was serious about it too. She wanted me to touch this orb she just spawned up, it was bound to be suspicious.

I looked at her and at the company behind her before looking at the sphere in front of me. A bit hesitant but I lifted my free hand and wiggled the fingers anxiously before placing my hand over the orb. I floated my hand over it before taking a deep breath and grabbing it. A slight breeze of air appeared. "What?" Celestia exhaled under her breath as I she gave the sphere a suspicious look. I as well was confused, the orb wasn't dark or evil looking, it was blue now, my aura type blue.

I gulped a bit as the orb evaporated into nothing by Celestia's doing. Celestia backed away from me as she nodded to something she was thinking. Luna was next to approach me with a lifted eyebrow and looking between her sister and me.

"You get a more interesting every time we meet," Celestia giggled as she sighed almost in relief and turned around to join the group of ponies. I rapidly questioned it, there was no way I was going to let this slide by, this was too personal.

"HEY! What was that!? I just turned your magic into a dark magic of sorts and then I make a blue one with no control of it, and you just turn away!? I exclaimed making AJ shift in my arms. I quickly looked down at her, she opened her eyes just a bit before closing them and going back to sleep. I sighed in relief but that relief was short as Celestia turned to me with smile.

"It's alright Ben-"

I felt wrong for this but I had to get out what I wanted to say.

"It isn't…you've lied to me again!" I seriously exclaimed giving her my evil glare, I don't give many this glare since I knew it would refer to hostility, Celestia proving my point. She backed up a bit as she shook her head. Maybe I was over reacting a bit, but I've got so many unanswered questions from her I wanted to know now.

"No, I haven't!" She defended herself, but she only fueled my urge for answers. I tightened my free hand by my side into a fist as I shook my head against her words.

"First, you place me in a position to fight you without my consent, and you tell me it was a test to see who's stronger, and that it wasn't a big deal," I explained, my fist shaking from how tightly I was squeezing it. I closed my eyes tightly and gritted my teeth before opening my eyes again but with a fury in them.

"And it shouldn't be a big deal, but you…you never fight unless it's for protecting your ponies! And if that's so-I lifted my fist and aimed it at her violently-THEN AM I A DANGER TO YOUR PONIES!?" I exclaimed quickly jolting AJ awake. AJ looked around herself multiple times but I wasn't about to let that distract me from the reason I brought this up. Celestia must have had a quickly realized I was on to something since she shook her head rapidly and denied it, closing her eyes and talking another step back. I knew I was hurting her yet I knew something was amidst here, this might just reveal something important about me. I stepped up closer to her as my urge for an answer grew.

"I LOST MY MIND IN THAT SIMULATION! YOU KNOW THAT I COULD'VE KILLED YOU IF THAT WASN'T A SIMULATION!"

"BEN, STOP IT!" She yelled at me desperately as she backed up to Shining who quickly rushed ahead of her in her defense. Cadence and Luna joined Celestia's side to defend her, unlike K who just remained neutral in the middle with Chrysalis. AJ quickly looked around again before looing up to me, worried of course, as she should be. I frowned a bit as I took another step forward despite the barrier of bodies they formed. They secured themselves by putting up a shield of various colors, indicating that they were all putting up this shield together. _Hmmm?_

I stepped up to the shield and stared at them through it before I felt a shuffle in my arms as AJ jumped out of my arms joining K and Chrysalis.

"WHAT'S GOIN' ON!?" I heard her ask.

I took a deep breath before to calm down but the stress was too much to handle. Quickly, I punched a hole in the shield. The shield shattered like glass as it disappeared and I slowly retracted my hand to my side, they stared at their shield become nothing and their fear rise.

"C-calm down…please," I heard Luna beg as I took another step forward. I ignored it as I moved to Celestia. I could feel magic acting on me, but like other offensive magic they've done on me, I was able to just shrug it off. I made it to Celestia at last. The rest gave up and stared almost in shock at what they've just allowed to approach their princess.

I stared at Celestia as she stared back at me, fear reigning in her eyes.

"Don't make me Ben…please…I have good reason…" I heard her sliver out with tears as she was backed to a wall. I felt a load fall off as she now revealed she had a reason to not tell me but that didn't stop me from asking. Although, now that I knew she had a reason I could drop my evil gaze and trade it for worry.

"I won't yell or do that again…I'm sorry, but I need to know something…at least tell me the reason," I begged of her. She closed her eyes and shook her head as she let out a few more tears.

"I…I…" She struggled looking to the floor, wanting to cry horribly. She took a shuttered breath and used her magic to wipe the tears away.

"I like you Ben, you're not just a friend okay, you're the best thing that has happened to me in all my centuries…" She whimpered feeling so heartbroken I could feel the same pain. This was her weak point, all her emotion was the path to the answer. I knelt down just a bit to get eye to eye and rubbed her cheek with my hand, as gently as possible.

"Celestia…tell me…what's going on?"

She held back her tears again but a few leaked through. She looked off to the right to recollect her thoughts and looked back at me.

"That time I forced you into a battle-her tears instantly began flowing down her face-it wasn't to test your strength, it was to…"

She finally let it all out her tears as she embraced me and cried into my shoulder. I was fully thrown into confusion as I waited for an answer. I wanted to hug back but I couldn't when I was so lost.

What could be so bad that this was necessary? I thought as I was frozen into place. Never have I seen her so emotional to say anything. She brought her head off my shoulder aiming her emotion my way as she readied herself. I braced myself for the worst as I gulped down my worries.

"I did that test…to see if it was possible to kill you…" She let out as more tears flooded her. I looked at her broken by what just said. Everyone behind me heard as well, explaining why they yelled out my question for me. I would have burst out in out rage but the simple fact she was crying her heart out in reget meant something.

"WHAT!?" Everyone yelled for me.

I wasn't surprised. I prepared myself for this beforehand, the worst I expected was her dying. I've been wanted dead before so no big deal, but this time, I had to ask why, I haven't had someone cry while telling me I should die besides Luna.

"Why?" I asked her, being calm and easy on her. She looked at me and nodded as she sniffed back the tears but still struggled to contain herself.

"Your magic…it's made of Pure Light, magic never used before by anypony or being but mother…" She explained before wiping another set of tears away via her magic. "Pure light Magic, is magic forbidden to even us alicorns, yet you wield that magic like it's nothing…truth is, light envelops darkness and darkness envelopes light…"

That sounded about correct to me but there was more meaning to this than just logic. It always has a different meaning. I pondered it for a few seconds before getting the conclusion.

"Wait a minute…are you saying I'm gonna have to destroy darkness with my magic?" I asked. She nodded and sniffed some more, she was calmer than before, she had stop gushing out tears and pleas.

"Yes, and the Pure Dark Magic wielder will have to destroy light…" She let out slowly, gulping down her heavy feelings. "Destroy me in other words? Who wields dark magic?" I asked her. She looked around the corridor before looking back at me and giving me a small frown, I knew that frown wasn't because of me, it was from her frustration.

"Why ask me, if he's a part of you," She said looking off to someone behind me. I turned with one guy in mind, K. And as I expected, he was there, behind me and staring down at Celestia with a smirk, clearly not taking it as serious as Celestia. "So-I thought about it for a second-I'll have to kill K or he'll have to kill me?" I asked, still not giving into a tantrum.

Celestia shook her head and let out a shaky breath.

"No…not K, the other darkness that is in this world…" She explained not finishing, but leaving me to find it out. I didn't need anything else to know she was indicating Luna. Now I was worried, I said I don't mind hurting myself, but when it comes to others, I was strict on that. I looked back at Luna give off her completely terrified look. I turned back to Celestia before thinking back to K and how apparently _darkness envelops light_.

"If that's so…does that mean, you're the light that K's darkness will envelope?"

She nodded as she looked up at K, "Or, my light envolpes his darkness."

I turned to K hoping to see him have a plan or something, yet he was still smiling like he just didn't hear he was meant to kill the princess of the sun. Celestia frowned as she noticed K give off a faint laugher through his closed mouth. "What's so funny!? Don't you get it that your part of a prophecy!?"

"Honestly Celestia, I would have had no problem killing any of you when I first met y'all," K chuckled as he crossed his arms and smiled a grin. Celestia tightened her frown as she quickly trotted up to K, offended by what she heard she lashed out at him. I quickly rolled out of the way to avoid getting trampled.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU FOUND SO FUNNY!?"

K bobbed his head trying to play with her but in the end, he shook his head with a smirk.

"No," He chuckled. Celestia immediately clenched her teeth in anger as asked again.

"THEN WHAT!?

K smiled wider and chuckled some more.

"Even if I felt like that before, I'd fight you for the fun of it but to kill you…I'd be better off killing myself…" K let out with warm smiled, leaving Celestia to just wander about everything he said in her thoughts. _Smooth moves K,_ I stood up from the ground and chuckled a bit as I stood up, K was right, there is no way I'd ever kill any of them, I said I'd protect them not hurt them. "Damn straight," I proudly confirmed it with a smile. "There's no way I'm ever going to hurt my princesses! I got a habit for fighting but never will I ever attack my friends to hurt them!"

Celestia looked so hurt by now, she wanted to believe us but it hurt her more every time she thought about it.

"Why…WHY MUST YOU ACT THIS WAY!? YOU CAN'T CHANGE DESTINY!" She exclaimed wanting to tear up again. I smiled along with K, I knew he had the same ideology I had. K stepped forward violently.

"SCREW THAT DESTINY! I MAKE MY OWN!" K laughed maniacally before making fist with one hand. Celestia stared at us almost lost of words as she let one set of tears roll out. I smiled at this and balled my own fist.

"Exactly, Destiny is nothing compared to us!"

"Please…just stop…" Celestia pleaded shaking her head. K lifted an eyebrow as turned to me. I stared at him the same way before looking at Celestia, she was really lost in the belief that this was going to happen. I moved up to her and knelt down, picking her head up with my hand.

"Hey…why don't you believe me?"

"I love you and your ways Ben, but, what your saying is beyond stupidity," She whimpered. I looked at her differently this time. She understood me, but she still couldn't accept it, she really was hooked onto this prophecy. _What could be so well explained that it was just believable by heart?_

"Celestia, what is this prophecy, apart from us trying to kill you?" I asked derailing myself and going into listening and not trying to encourage her to feel better. This time she used magic, her horned glowed before an open book appeared in front of me. I reached my hands out and let the book fall onto my hands. _What the-?_

I knew this book, and I was wondering when I would see it again. This was that book Twilight was hiding from us that day. I read and skimmed through the pages, reading only the important details. I got everypony/changeling behind me and reading over my shoulder as I flipped through the pages picking up important details. I was right about one thing, this is book was explaining me and K in such a similar fashion that it basically a biography, one character depicted in the book was basically me; tragic background, powerful magic, rage induced, friendly. Even K was so well described in here; born in the pony inside the story, wield of dark magic, knowledge comes from the owner, it even included a fondness to sweets. I could hear a few quick breaths behind me as I turned page after page and the story of these two became darker and gorier. The two protagonists went from having friends, to being betrayed by them, to having a child with them, to slaughtering the empire of Equestria over a magical dispute, Etc.

I continued reading it, this story was amazingly well written and captivating as an adventure story yet this book is titled "History of the Equestrian Empire," so I guess I should take it seriously. I finally came to a page that spoke of a prophecy, it went as follows: _The Fighters and Demons died out, there success stealing a portion of Pure Light Magic from the Queen lead to them unleashing evil Gods and beasts throughout Equestria, plunging Equestria into an apocalyptic era. As written, the Queen was able to use to use her remaining light to end the era but at the cost of her losing the ability to use it ever again. Even if this is so, the Queen has forbidden the resurrection of any Fighter or Demon, for a countdown to a doomsday begins and the gods and beasts are released._

I read on flipping the page to reveal a horrifying image to which I would have scarred now scarred into my head. Death everywhere, blood everywhere, demons and gods fighting, and in the middle two blood covered ponies. The caption read of the image read: _The Fighter and Demon, depicted from the Queen's last encounter with them._

I looked to the right at the next segment of literature.

 _Yet, it is said, a Fighter and Demon could arise at any given day, from another world or even another timeline. Violent the Fighter should be and Mad should the Demon be, as they always are. According to the Queen, if this should ever occur, show no mercy and eliminate on spot, the 35 divine beasts will be unleashed the moment they exist again, gods will be unleased on random occasions. No entity no matter how strong, will never be able to kill a god, the immortal beings that hide in plain sight are evil, they might have helped the Equestrians but they ended up feasting on them._

 _If not handled, the Fighter will become a puppet to the gods, in which they'll be forced into executing the bringer of darkness (Offspring #2). The Demon will become unbound to his owner and to which he'll proceed to do his own liking, they too will be forced executing bringer of light by the gods(Offspring #1)._

It ended there abruptly, and now it made sense. Celestia worries because I won't be able to control it's inevitable apparently, never had I expected such a diffrent scenario. I looked up at Celestia putting down the book, I didn't know how to respond, or find a way to calm her down from almost crying again. I looked behind myself to see all the faces of mixed feelings before going back to Celestia and listening to the voices in the background.

"Woah, that's…some deep information," Shining commented before Cadence agreed. "Yes, it seems this is destined to occur, maybe explaining why ponyville was attacked a few days ago…"

"That's…wrong, that can't be, can it?" Luna asked desperate to hear something from Celestia. Celestia looked up at her before looking at me as I pondered, still thinking this through.

Never have I ever seen or thought about there being gods, I was Christian, but that god was for that old world. I felt that menacing head ache want to come back as I pondered myself being manipulated by the power of someone stronger than me; I hated the idea, just the thought was enough to make me want to puke out. I swallowed the sour feeling in my mouth as I wondered how this could be prevented, yet it was too early to even think about such.

My head traveled back to my first encounter with some beings that were considered powerful, that being this Strike and Nameless Filly. Those two were powerful as far as I knew but I couldn't judge them as gods considering they weren't immortal and they were easy to get on my good side. Conversation continued behind me, except for K and AJ, they remained silent.

"K?" I called him over as I randomly over looks some words in the book.

"What's up?" He asked calm and chill about the situation, as expected from him. I flipped to the page that spoke about the gods and divine beasts.

"Strike and the baby unicorn, what were they?" I asked keeping my eyes on the book and skimming over it. He snapped his finger excitedly and shifted in his spot.

"Ah, right, they are considered beasts, or apprentices of the gods in other words, but they aren't the Divine one's that the book describes." He explained before the rush of yells came his way, yet I ignored them as I got a spark to light up an oil spill of ideas. He must have caused an outrage between everyone except AJ and Chrysalis.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" They yelled at him. He nodded as he casually explained the encounter and how I handled them. He explained how I fostered the baby one and how I nearly killed the other- _my bad_ -each time he explained a new thing. He went on and on until he got to the part of how what he had to do to the baby one, which got an immediate reaction from Celestia.

"Wait a minute, so if she began reverting back to being evil then where is she now!?"

I was sure K turned to me, I knew it, because I could feel the stares of everyone on me. I sighed as I closed the book and stood up from my kneeling position and stared at them.

"YOU KILLED HER!?" Luna quickly asked.

I rapidly responded to this, there is no way I would want to come out as a killer of a baby.

"What!? NO! I didn't kill her!" I defended myself before K cut in being calm about it.

"No, I just did what I did with Strike, I moved her soul into his!"

He answered so proud of himself, it was relaxing a bit. Yet that didn't help out on this problem over gods and playing puppet with me. I nodded with K before receiving Celestia's condolences.

"Sorry that didn't work out, between the baby and you," She pittied before getting this look of curiosity as she turned to K. K lifted an eyebrow as she looked away from the group that were asking him questions.

"If those two were beasts then why were they so…friendly?" She asked him. K turned to her completely and nodded as he lifted one finger with a smirk.

"Well, I assume, Strike and the baby were recently made by the gods, thus explaining how they weren't fully aware of the situation, this proved good since they could easily be turned to a different path, although…" K left a cliffhanger as he put his hand on his chin and wondered.

"What?" They all asked intrigued. K put his hand down and became serious.

"The gods don't take kindly to mortals manipulating their creations…this could actually be a huge problem…oh fuck…" K cursed under his breath before turning to me, curious and pondering. Everyone in the room looked at each other, thinking over what he just explained and cursed.

"So, what are ya sayin'" AJ asked making K looked down to her. He sighed as she scratched his head. Everyone listened in closely, I did too, I had to know more despite it arousing my head ache. He became serious as he crossed his arms.

"I'm saying, we could actually have angered a god, this meaning we might actually be being observed at this very moment, meaning we just might have a bigger problem on our hands and hooves than this prophecy, in theory…" K explained seriously. He froze everyone in their places, his words, seriousness, and look were enough to put us all in a mental panic. I turned to him slowly as I dropped the book in my shock, the thought of being watched as I speak and that I angered a god was just a big permission to lose it.

 _"I angered a god…?"_

The candles that lit the corridor suddenly flickered making it slightly dimmer. A breeze flowed through the room and shivers went down my spine. K paused for a brief moment and took in a quick breath of air before staring off to the pitch-black darkness at the end of the corridor.

Something was horribly wrong.

I felt my insides twist as I looked at around to notice almost everyone was looking at the end of the corridor, I followed their eyes with fear as I looked to the corridor. I couldn't see anything, but I could feel the presence. K gulped heavily as he conjured up some magic, just a small ball of light, and flicked it like a marble. The ball glided down the corridor lighting up everything in its way.

It was sudden that the marble sized energy sphere rapidly shot back. K instantly flinched but by then, he already had a huge cut on his cheek. He trembled as he placed his hand on his face and felt the blood. Everyone turned to K and let out gasps of air as he bled out quickly.

I looked at him and back at the corridor, whatever shot K back his small magical sphere must have to be a broken mad man, for the ball to appear almost invisible as it shot back. Chrysalis was rapidly on K as she focused her magic on his face, healing it I suppose.

"Are you alright!?" She asked him, worried and trembling. K nodded silently just staring at the corridor, he was for the first time, shocked into silence.

Shining pulled up next to me and stared along with me.

"This is bad…" He whispered to me. I nodded seriously as I retracted my hand to my side. My hand bumped against something as I reached it to my side. My sword was there. I gripped it firmly before pulling it out and flicking it around my hand, getting Shining on my case.

"Great, what good will that do?" He commented smugly.

"If we're in luck, I'll get some blood on it," I replied never losing sight of the darkness of this corridor. I heard Chrysalis ask K again if he was alright, and this time he did answer her.

"Are you alright!? Come on! Say something!"

"I'm fine-he looked away from her and to the corridor-but it seems that I was right, they were listening. Oh, damn it…"

I sighed as I prepared myself to ask something pretty stupid but it got the point across.

"Hey! Is there by any chance a god or divine beast at the end of this corridor!?" I asked comedically to tone down some aggression if there was some at the end of this corridor. Shining scoffed as he turned to me.

"Wow! Amazing work! That will surely-"

"Foolish mortal…speaking to me that way will be the end of your kind-" A voice emerged, it was deep and raspy but I wasn't afraid of this, I was more afraid of him being hidden from my sight. I had to go on and pull off a wrong move, my cockiness got the better of me.

"I am the only one of my kind," I cut him off, cocky but with a serious tone, as I waited for him to reveal himself. He growled a bit before chuckling from the end of the corridor but he still didn't appear. I looked behind myself off the corner of my eyes noticing how everyone was just staring at me, outraged by how I was treating our so called uninvited guest. I looked back as he chuckled a bit more.

"What the hell did I expect? Ben, my faithful but ignorant pawn, the son I never had,"

 _What the fuck?_ I couldn't think that through, he called me by my name and not only that, he mentioned me as faithful but ignorant, and as the son he never had. I felt stares from behind me as I tightened a fist.

"I'm no one's pawn, and how am I faithful to you!? And how the hell do you know my name!?" I asked him as I raised the sword a bit. I heard him chuckle again as he took a step forward, still concealed by the darkness. The sound of the step wasn't hoof-like, it was foot-like. I didn't flinch but I did stare into the darkness a bit more seriously. Shining took a step back and hid behind me.

"Why wouldn't I know your name? I brought you to this world, I forged the link between your world and this world and forced your body into this one, sadly you didn't turn into a pony as I intended," he explained in the most fucked up way I could have heard it. I heard gasps from behind and K get beside me and frown.

" _He brought me here…"_

I stared at the floor in shock, how could I not? I was just told the secret to how I made it here to this world, so suddenly and calmly. I trembled a bit now. I wasn't dead thanks to this whoever but I was going to gush out any thanks at the moment. I swallowed heavily as I tried to put it together.

K's hand made its way to my shoulder and lifted me up to stare at the corridor. I looked over to him and took a calmer breath.

"Don't be discouraged just yet, we still have a long way to go before I let you go down alone," He conforted, despite the crazy situation. I thanked him as I hardened a fist and looked back to the corridor.

"Oh, and you're the demon companion, what a cute sight to behold, demons aren't usually so fond of their masters," He treased.

K frowned as he looked at the corridor and tightened his fists.

"You say Ben is your pawn, what do you mean by that?" K asked as he glared suspiciously at the dark corridor. I knew he was able to see past the darkness of the corridor, sadly despite my ability to see in to the dark well, it wasn't enough. He chuckled again, annoyingly I was waiting for him to answer.

"I can do with Ben what I want, I can even make him kill who ever I want, I own him, hell, I can show you!"

My eyes widened as a dark-purple beam shot out of the darkness at a blinding speed. I couldn't react but I felt my mind go instantly numb, the same as those times K takes over my body. Last thing I felt was my sword colliding with the ground.

Ben slolwy staggered to stay on his feet, he wobbled left and right before letting out a grunt and become loose. K rapidly reached his arms and caught him, quickly checking on him and panicking.

"BEN! AH FUCK! BEN, YOU STILL THERE!?" K stared in horror as he grabbed Ben, shaking him violently.

"WHAT'S THIS!?" The hidden figure asked, outraged by what was going on. K looked at the corridor before looking at Ben to noticed his eyes weren't their hazel color, but two different colors, blue and rose. Ben struggled to open his eyes, it was almost as if he'd just awoken from deep sleep.

"Ben?" K asked before everypony and changeling moved over to him to see Ben.

"IS HE ALRIGHT!?" Luna asked before everyone asked variations of the same question. K took a heavy breath as he stared into Ben's new eyes, pondering if what was happening. Ben gave a look around before suddenly growing a grin. "What?" K whispered as he let go of Ben and backed away carefully along with everyone.

"Ben…you still with us?" K asked before Luna came out the side asking the same.

He grinned wider as he stared down the hall and snapped his fingers before chuckling.

"You won't be taking my _Killer's_ soul that easily."

It didn't take any split seconds for K to rapidly get it. But the shock of seeing thus was keeping him at an idle position, like everypony and changeling watching in shock.

"STRIKE! YOU FIEND! YOU OBEY ME REMEMBER!?" The deep voice yelled out threating and way too demonic for a god. Strike looked at him frowing, but quicky lost it as she squeezed her hand together.

"How did Ben say it to me?" Strike asked herself before chuckling and raising a hand towards him. She lifted one finger in particular and smiled widely.

"Oh yeah, I remember, FUCK YOU!" Strike exclaimed, flicking him off making K slightly grow a slight impressed smile. He knew who it was but he just wanted to confirm the assumption.

K quickly jumped in to quickly embrace Ben, or Strike in this case, to which he actually managed to do so with great joy. Strike stared at K as he lifted her off the ground in tight hug before putting her down.

"STRIKE! IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH TO SHOW UP AGAIN!"

Strike fixed her clothes before dusting them off.

"Sorry, that little one gives a good fight, I've been training a bit," She chuckled before looking to the group of ponies and the changeling. She smiled as she noticed Celestia and Luna, both looking lost and thankful.

"Hey princesses, remember me?" She asked them, to which they replied with uneasy nods. She smiled before turning to the corridor and staring off to it.

A muffled footstep was heard as the hidden figure chuckled, the muffle of his feet becoming softer.

"I shouldn't worry, it more fun to destroy your creations than to use them…" He ended giving an uneasy vibe around the corridor as his voice faded along with his footsteps. After a few seconds, K was the first to sigh in relief as he flicked the corridor off before getting down on his knees and breathing out the stress he'd gathered up. Everyone turned to him as he wiped a bead of sweat from his eyebrow and let out a shaky breath. He was terrified, anyone could see it. Chrysalis approached K from the side to check on him.

"Odd, I don't remember you being so worried about anything, are you alright?" She tried to calm him down from his fidgety state. K gulped as he nodded even when inside he was mentally having a struggle between planning a defense or offense. Shining and Cadence also surrounded him assuring his well-being.

AJ closed in on Strike in Ben's body, pondering who this new character was, her mind was stuck between the kind of relationship Ben had this these beings in his body and how they affected him in general. Strike looked away from the fingers she was fidgeting with (learning to used them) and looked down at AJ before chuckling a bit. AJ had a heighted suspicion as she neared her.

"So yer Strike, never thought Ben had two ponies inside him…er, I mean beasts," AJ corrected herself, giving Strike her a curious gaze. Strike thought about it to follow along and nodded as she knelt down to AJ.

"Right, and you must be who Ben refers to as AJ," Strike mentioned back making AJ nod back, slightly nervous. Strike chuckled as she petted her head, reassuring her everything was fine. "Yeah, I'm Rapid Strike as Yuson refers to me as, the god at the end of the hall, pain in my flank he was," She chuckled making AJ nod.

K's head jerked slightly. " _Yuson…_ " He pondered before gulping as he remembered hearing it the first time. The little pony, she mentioned it before, but that was days ago…

"So, Yuson is his name, what does he do?" AJ asked nervously, worrying about the well-being of Ben and her friends. Strike became a bit serious as she agreed with the look AJ put on.

"He's a god, evil one too, makes things and destroys them the first day," Strike commented. AJ nodded understanding well from what she'd heard this Yuson say before he disappeared. Strike sighed as she continued.

"I guess I owe it to my _killer_ that I was saved from his destruction, I was supposed to bring the baby unicorn back to Yuson so he could fully give her instructions, she escaped and he assigned me to fetch her, I ran into Ben and you know the rest," Strike finished silently sending her thanks through that statement as she stood back up.

"I guess it worked out for you two then, I can't imagine the horrors he's performed on you," Luna consoled with her sister by her side. "Yes, we're sorry about the hardships you've been through," Celestia added with a compassionate smile.

The princesses smiled slightly wider as Strike smirked and thanked them through a simple nod.

"Thanks, but no need to be sorry though, it seems I found myself a new home," She kindly added putting her hand over her heart, oddly knowing exactly where it was despite the new anatomy. AJ couldn't help but smile a bit, just knowing Ben has done some good was enough to being joy to almost anyone, the princesses shared equal thoughts.

As the moment proceeded, Celestia became a bit anxious as she leaned in closer to Strike. Strike looked at her before asking curiously "What was the matter?" Celestia nodded as she firmed up and took a deep breath.

"We all thank you for what you've done, but it's burning inside of us all, is Ben alright?" She asked almost dramatically as she prayed mentally for him to be safe and sound. Strike smiled widely exposing the answer right off the bat, all three of the listeners lit up with joy.

"Yes, he's probably having some alone time with the baby pony probably," She giggled before sighing from how crazy it all was. All three of them smiled as they all embraced her awkwardly but with emotion.

Strike stared at all three of them with some fear as she'd never been embraced before and never with feelings involved. "Thank you," Celestia whispered out before the other Luna and AJ added along with, "Yeah…"

Strike let out a small choppy breath of air as she embraced back gently and softly before they backed off. "No problem…"

"Daddy has been having too much fun with the ponies!"

" _Shit, who would've thought they'd be watching_ " I thought as this conversation just went up hill so quickly. She smiled at me as she embraced me once more for the second time, I didn't mind it, I've nearly forgotten how special it was to look upon her tiny cute face.

"Strike says it looks like fun too! She said you're very fun to watch from every aspect!"

What kind of shit is this!? I didn't feel comfortable with the idea that Strike could see me through the soul realm, and now she was giving me flattery through a baby. It's not that bad I'll tell you that. I blushed a bit already, I was becoming softer by the minute.

"So…uh, how is it in here?" I asked as I looked around. I'll be the first to say it looked amazing in here, it seems that the same concept from Flutter's soul was here too. I wasn't in Equestria, I was in my soul, it looked quite nice considering I've been a very broken soul for years. I was in this two-story home, made of cool-dark colors that gave it that outdoors feeling and nice polished furniture everywhere. Out the window, the sun was setting over a field of grass and hills, like the nostalgic field of endlessness in movies or imagination.

"It's nice! Look! We got this weird thing!" She joyously exclaimed trotting over to TV set, stting over a neatly organized stand. I didn't see it when I got here but now that I did, I was amazed to notice it was actually functional as she turned it on. Although, all the little one stared at was static as she turned to me happily.

"It seems to only do this!" She cluelessly exclaimed. I let out some laughter as I noticed the piles of movies that were next to the TV and the DVD player under the TV. I knelt down as I popped open a DVD box and randomly pulled out a movie, this one being called "Saw". I quickly noticed the name rushed it back inside the box before pulling out another one, _not the best movie to show a little one_. This new one was "Black hawk down." I stared at this one for a bit before sending back into the pile of movies, _good movie but horribly relatable_.

"How about this one!?"

I turned to her as she held up in her hoofs "Forrest Gump". I smiled as I quickly got the movie and nodded.

"You wanna see this one?" I asked her and she quickly replied with a nod and clapping her hooves in excitement. "Alright then!" I excitedly answered slipping the disk in to the player and letting the disk slide into the DVD. The little one quickly jumped on a huge recliner that aimed directly at the TV, I quickly agreed with the idea and threw myself on it as I sat back and watched at the FBI warnings and copyright shit pop up. Odd, every movie I just pulled out of the boxes were movies I've seen in the past as a child, that's probably why these movies where here in the first place.

I felt like watching this film was enough to ease me, especially since Strike just assured Celestia, Luna and AJ I was fine, _I was listening, hard not to._ I leaned back as the little pony just stared at the TV amazed by the pictures appearing before it.

" _I guess I can spend some time_ …"

"Hey, daddy…" The little one called.

"Hmm?" I hummed.

"That evil monster, Yuson, he can't die , what will you do?" She asked, worried look and melancholy eyes. I liked the use of _that_ word-monster-in her sentence. I nodded and smiked a bit.

"I have my ways, but for sure, I'll make sure he doesn't hurt anyone."

By now K had assured everyone he was fine and was still slightly scared from the deep wound on the side of his face. Chrysalis, of course being the most concerned of all, before Cadence and Shining. Strike had joined in as well with the other tree by her side as they listened on K, give a blunt plan.

"Alright…this god-"

"His name's Yuson," Strike filled in. K nodded.

"Yuson…we'll have to do something about him fast, he knows where onto him and he's onto us," K explained before scratching his head. "We need to find a way to get rid of him."

Everyone in the room murmured out some agreement before Strike spoke up.

"He's the god of Despair, immortal like any other god," She clued in before K nodded. Celestia and Luna looked back at her and agreed with her information.

"If this is so, and he's immortal…how do we end him?" Luna asked. Strike shook her head, she had no answer for that one.

"I don't know, it would take a power beyond the gods to stop him although I don't know anything with that much power."

"What about Ben?" K asked curiously and almost getting some hopes up. Shining and Cadence agreed before Chrysalis gave her own opinion.

"Yeah, he's strong!" Shining and Cadence cheered.

"As far as I know, both Ben and K are powerful beings of immense power," Chrysalis added seriously and with a slight smirk.

Strike paused for a moment and thought about it. Hand on chin and eyes closed.

"You're right…he does hold amazing power for sure, but as far as I know, he's only got about a hundred thousandth of the power a god has…" Strike noted making K think deeper about it while everyone gasped at the margin of that number.

"That much!?" Celestia asked before Luna nodded agreeing with her sister's question. Strike nodded with a sigh.

"Yes, Yuson is no laughing matter, I don't think anyone is stupid enough to challenge him, _killer_ probably knows that,"

K frowned a bit as he turned to her.

"You're wrong," He let out seriously. Strike turned to him confused as K punched her shoulder a bit.

"Ben will always accept a challenge when it's to protect someone, no matter the opponent."

Strike closed her eyes and nodded.

"If that's so, I bid him good luck, he'll need it," Strike said as she stepped over to the door of the dorms and placed her hand on the knob.

"Uh…aren't you going to give Ben his body back?" Celestia asked. Strike smiled as she nodded.

"Yeah, but it seems he's busy at the moment with the little one."

AJ quickly trotted up to Strike and followed her lead with a smile.

"I'll come with ya, kinda don't like sleepin' alone, Rarity and Pinkie have gone on and returned back, and Dashie and Fluttershy are somewhere to be found," AJ offered before turning to K and the group.

"Y'all should get some rest too, who knows what might happen, gotta be ready for anything!" She motivated before they all looked at each other and nodded nervously.

"We should but what about that monster?" Shining asked. K couldn't have agreed more, just like the rest of the group. AJ nodded in agreement as well before turning to Strike. She looked at them before sighing.

"Best thing to do is not sleep alone, get a partner and sleep with them, try to not cause panic by telling everypony, but above all, I'd say we should be fine for tonight, he isn't the type to just comeback after a few hours and kill you in your sleep, he's more about torture and stuff like that," Strike added making it known that they should be fine. Chrysalis smiled a bit a she nodded.

"I guess we all have some partner to sleep with," She giggled. K nodded and smiled slightly as he looked around himself at the rest give nods.

"Alright then, watch yourself," K dismissed.

The all disappeared in glows of pink, white, purple, and rainbowish colors. Luna would sleep with her sister, Shining with his mare and daughter, and K with Chrysalis. K looked at Chrysalis as she opened the door to the room, which was right next to the dorms, they entered and closed the door behind them.

"Leaves us, come on," Strike called as she opened the door to the dorms.

"Right!" AJ answered as she followed.

As they stepped into the room they couldn't help but notice how the lights were on and in front of them, on a bed, laid two pegasi making out with some slow but intense tongue action. Strike froze for a bit as she looked down at AJ. They remained quiet for a few seconds, listening to the slippery tongues.

"I don't think we should interrupt this…" Strike whispered to AJ observing what was going down.

"Me neither…but we need to sleep and we ain't gonna get no sleep with the lights on," AJ as she slowly trotted up to Dash and Flutters have tongue to tongue action with their eyes passionately closed. AJ wiped some sweat from her head before clearing her throat. That was all it took to make them slowly opened their eyes and noticed the situation they were in before widening their eyes.

"Uh…would y'all mind if I…uh…turn off the lights?" AJ asked nervously before Strike moved up and nodded. "You can finish what you were doing, we're just trying to sleep."

Both of them nodded slowly and silently making Strike and AJ smile back nervously.

"Okay…night!" Strike exclaimed moving over and hitting the lights before moving over to a bed and plopping down on it. AJ followed as she comforted herself on the same bed as Strike. " _Oh?_ " Strike was slightly uncomfortable for the moment but founding it quite relaxing to have AJ by her side. She turned to AJ while it was dark in the room and called her over.

"Psst…Hey AJ," She called her with a whisper.

"What is it?"

"Do your friends do that often?"

"I…uh, don't know, I think it has somethin' to do with Ben,"

"Oh right, he also did it with them, although, unlike them, he gave his innocence away to you, and you gave it to him…" Strike mentioned making AJ blush a bit as she was reminded of what actually occurred a few minutes ago before the madness.

"Yeah…"

"Did it…you know…feel good?" Strike asked curiously, blushing a bit as well. AJ smiled a bit as she recalled having him inside her, it was a wild dream come true.

"Yeah, it did," AJ responded blushing a bit more. Strike smiled a bit as she noticed some conversation begin to form.

"Uh…where did you like it the best?"

AJ lifted an eyebrow before blushing a bit more at the realization.

"What do you mean?" AJ asked knowing well what she meant. Strike nodded before blushing a bit more as well.

"Well you know, he went into your mouth, your cave, and your…"

"Uh…I liked them all I guess, they all hurt though, although the last one hurt the most," AJ expressed fidgeting with her hooves. Strike was slightly confused over that one, if it was painful then why let him?

"Then why did you let him?" She asked. AJ blushed a whole lot more she began feeling warm down below again at the thought of it.

"I like him, and after a while, it starts feeling really good, ya know?" AJ added before swallowing heavily. "Umm…can we go to sleep?" AJ asked not trying to be rude or anything.

"Yeah, you must still be really tired after all that…" Strike giggled before closing her eyes leaving AJ to smile slightly as she closed her eyes as well.

"Right…"

On another bed separate from AJ's and Strike, Dash and Flutters had their small listen in on AJ conversation but what was on their mind right now was Ben's eyes and how they were off.

"Flutters, Ben's eyes are different colors."

"I know, I think we should sleep before we end up seeing hallucinations."

"Agreed, uh…" Dash couldn't find the words to ask Flutters quick enough. Flutter's ear twitched as she turned over to Dash and stared at her eyes.

"What is it?"

Dash chuckled nervously as she caressed her mane.

"I…uh, do you think we could so the same thing Applejack did?"

Flutters smiled slightly before yawning. "I'm sure we can…"

Dash smiled back as she let her eyes close, "Thank…night Fluttershy…"

"Night…"

 **Next time on MLP…First victim of the godly distortion, K's call for redemption, and Ben's call to action** , **Derpy' significance. Next time in MLP TTBIAL.**


	41. Ch41 Broken Wings and Broken Feelings

#41

It was way past midnight, but still, ponies were active, going about their lives without fear. Although, with them living in a fearless world at the moment, they'll never release how real pain can be when it strikes.

Derpy sat alone on the outdoor dining table outside a fancy bakery on the outskirts of Canterlot, staring blankly at a muffin she found hard to finish after thinking too deeply on a few things, which was an odd thing considering Derpy isn't the one to take things with too much thought.

The outskirts of Canterlot were quiet compared to the center of the rich infested area, a perfect place to relax from the noise pollution. She was especially isolated from the noise pollution since there was no pony in the area where she was, just her and her muffin.

She rested her head on the table as she stared at the muffin, wondering the many things that were important to her, those being; How to get home and how she would get all the missed mail out, but she saved that for later, at the moment, the most important thing she was wondering was how she should approach K when they next met. It troubled her deeply, making her leave her muffin alone to stale and become tasteless, and sigh every few minutes.

After another sigh, Derpy turned to look up at the muffin, lifting her head up off the table.

"Bad muffin," She whispered as she gave the muffin a slight punch making it tip over and roll of the table. She quickly got off the chair and looked around the table, searching for the abused muffin, she never intended to lose it, just relive some stress. "Come on, where did you go?" She asked out loud as she went under the table and chairs, and even over the bakery building if by any strange chance it got there.

She continued searching but after almost five minutes she gave up on it and whimpered a bit as she realized she had lost it. She didn't bother getting back up on the chair she was on before, she just plopped herself on the ground and stared at the stone pavement with an urge to burst out in tears. Others deal with stress in ways, not Derpy, the biggest effort she tried to get rid of stress was punching that muffin off the table but that just ended up worsening the situation.

She whimpered some more before her ears suddenly twitched at the sound of footsteps in front of her and looked up.

"Hello there," A mysterious dark shadow spoke from the darkness, voice deep and raspy.

Derpy squinted her eyes a bit to get a clearer image, she could easily see the things around her as clear as day with the moonlight, but this figure was the direct representation of a shadow, completely dark. Derpy picked herself up joyfully, even if it was ominous, Derpy had a kind heart for anyone. She moved up to about five feet from the mystery figure with a smile, realizing she wasn't alone and she now had someone to talk to.

"Hi!" She greeted kindly waving a hoof with her eyes closed in joy, just showing how she trusted anyone. The mystery figure chuckled before shifting a bit in place, not responding to the salutation making Derpy open her eyes. "You're not going to say hello?" She asked cocking her head to the side in curiosity and waiting for an answer.

The mystery shadow chuckled a bit more before grinning, his grin was easily seen through the darkness, the white of his teeth didn't go unnoticed. Derpy perked up happily as she smiled back and giggled. "A smile is as good as a hello!" She exclaimed before her joy slowly died down, she didn't notice when the shadow somehow spawned in front of her.

"You're perfect…" The figure eased out maliciously as it neared on Derpy. Derpy back tracked a step slowly as she noticed him close in almost to the point of trampling her. He slowly continued nearing Derpy and Derpy constantly continued jumping away from his feet. After a few seconds of the figure persevering, Derpy leaped into the air and flew a few feet away, hovering in mid-air. She stared at him curiously wondering why he was trying to trample her.

"Uh, mister, I'm just trying to-"

Derpy paused as quickly as the figure raised his hand towards her. His hand wasn't a shadow like the rest of his body, it was clearly visible and looked exactly like a human's hand. Derpy remained hovering as she stared at his hand in fear now, she knew if that hand resembled K's and Ben's, and it was in this position, the outcome was going to be horrid. Derpy launched her hooves forward as she backed up quickly.

"Mister! Don't!" She pleaded. The figure glared his sadistic grin at her and charged an energy that Derpy didn't recognize, it was a beautiful light-violet. Derpy panicked as she plead more but that was useless when she found herself a split second from having her whole body engulfed by a violent beam of violet light.

Off in the distance a royal guard was going about his usual guarding agenda, which was basically circling Canterlot about five times before sleep, then another guard would take his place. Going on his fourth run, he paused out of bore and looked towards the ground to find anything worth his while. Sometimes if he's lucky he'd find a lucky _bit_ , giving him the confidence to do anything daring and life-risking, _not that there was any_. He chuckled to himself as he smacked his hoof down and flipped his lucky bit into the air before shifting his body allowing for the bit to fall perfectly into a pouch he carried.

"About time," He smiled as he continued on his path to ending his routine, the train station was the checkpoint which meant he could have a break before resuming again, but a break was just what he need for the moment. As he neared his temporary break, something caught him off guard, it was as if the world had just become the quietest it has ever been. He looked around himself slowly observing everything around, fortunately he was safe where he was.

Just as soon as he was about to let out his breath in relief, the sky to the right of his face brightened immensely and the sound of thunderous explosions erupted. He whipped his body around to look at the violet light that pierced the heavens while lighting up the world with purple and stared, his body feeling horribly weak and his eyes trembling. "No way…" He whispered under his breath as the beam thinned out and disappeared, the world dimmed down to just the light of the moon lighting the area up.

He clenched his teeth in frustration as he withdrew the bit from his pouch and stared at it sternly before launching it as far as he could. He didn't need a bad charm on his hooves. There was no time to waste, he rapidly took off in the direction of the bright malicious looking beam, praying he wasn't going to find a horror show. "What's was that?" he panted to himself as he galloped his way to the source of the light.

Derpy was paralyzed in fear and pain as she fell to the ground with a thud, her body twitching every second and her hooves were completely useless. She stared at the shadow figure, as he glared his grin at her. She couldn't hold back anymore; her tears began rolling out as she tried to fan out her wings but only to receive a jolt of pain forcing her to let her wings loosely spread across the ground, her wings were crippled. She whimpered as she watched him walk closer.

"W-why…WHY!?" she exclaimed as she closed her eyes to not see him anymore. She never raised her voice to anyone so distressed, and hearing herself raise her voice was enough to force out all her emotions in her tears. _Why_? was the question in her head, why would anypony do this to another!?

The figure walked up close to her and laughed manically as she cried out frustrated with herself. He looked down at her flimsy wing still twitching as if trying to fan out and lifted his foot, bringing it down on her wing mercilessly, forcing out a cry from her. She felt the pain surge from her wing to her hooves as she instantly began crying for mercy. "IT HURTS, STOP PLEASE!" She begged but it only fueled his thirst for pain, he smothered her wing under his foot making her let out pleas of agony while the sound of bones getting ground up to bits filled the air.

He lifted his foot off her wing to stare at his doing. Her wing was broken, broken down the middle making an obtuse angle of her wings. He stared at her for a few seconds before smiling and turning away. As he walked away casually, no remorse just satisfaction, he paused to pull something out. He smiled at the object and chuckled, it was the muffin Derpy searched for so constantly, he threw it over his shoulder hitting Derpy on the face.

"If you find Ben, tell him I'm always watching," He chuckled before disappearing into a vortex of violet light. He was gone.

Derpy cried her agony and emotions out, wondering why she was so stupid as to not have realized anything. She hated herself more than she hated the pain she was feeling. " _WHY WAS I SO STUPID_!?" She wondered as she cried out the infinite tears.

Her breathing stiffened as the pain began dying off and her consciousness began fading away. The pauses between her breaths lengthened with every breath and her eyes struggled to stay open.

"HEY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" A voice appeared form behind Derpy. The royal guard quickly braked to a sudden stop in front of her and witnessed the horror before him. His eyes widened and he quickly began rummaging through the contents in his pouch, pulling out a small device that was only given to him for a one time use by the princesses. It was a small marble-like ball, made of glass and only had one use, teleportation. "Dang it, hold on, I'm taking you to the princesses!" The guard exclaimed as he raised his hoof with the glass ball to the sky and sending it straight into the pavement, breaking it and quickly wrapping him and Derpy in a bright white glow.

"You'll make it, I promise," he reassured her making her open an eye weakly.

"A-ask for Ben-she recoiled her body in pain and let out a cry in pain-and K, please…" Derpy whimpered before letting her head hit the pavement and black out from the pain. The guard quickly reached out a hoof and hovered it over her muzzle to see if there was breathing. He sighed in relief and nodded, _faint but_ _still alive_.

"I'll get them, don't worry."

 **This was a short chapter but I needed it to be so this story flows. I'll start naming all my chapters for the sake of not being too stale too.**

 **Next chapter:** _ **TRIGGERING THE DEMON, THE CASUALTIES RISE, WHAT HAPPENED TO PONYVILLE!?**_

 _ **NEXT TIME ON MLP:**_ TTBLAIA


	42. Chapter 42 - Rude Awakening

#42

I fell asleep hard during that movie, I answered so many questions the little pony had and wiped her tears at the end of the movie. Last thing I remember was feeling a blanket cover me from the neck down; she tucked me into bed. I appreciated the gesture of course, and I could have sworn she also pecked me a kiss on the forehead, although that's all foggy.

Despite having such a good rest, I could feel a strong pressure in my conscious, something wasn't right. I already knew I was going to wake up funny but just who knows what I was going to find. I wasn't on the recliner anymore I was laying down on my back on a soft mattress, so I must be in the real world now, I knew I was from how conscious and in control I felt.

Being as in control as I thought, when I tried to lift my hand to rub my face, I found it quite difficult to lift it. It felt like there was a strapped weight to my arm. I opened my eyes to find it was still dark out, the room was dark and I was seeing blurry to the first few seconds. I used my other hand to rub out the blur before slowly turning to my heavy arm. There was something there, a cute something too.

"Oh…" I yawned as AJ held onto my arm with her hooves, _that explains it_. I blinked my eyes a few more times before picking my back off the bed and looking around. If there was something I knew about waking up in the night, it was that you wake up exactly when something has happened or is happening. I looked down at AJ on my arm sleeping soundly with a slight smile and blush going.

I sighed in satisfaction before regretting the thought of getting her off my arm but I wanted to explore a bit. I placed a finger on her muzzle and gave her gentle touches making her muzzle twitch before she finally used her hooves to swipe at my finger. I swiftly moved my arm away to avoid her grabbing me again, but the plan backfired. She became irritated with the feeling of being touched on the muzzle and awoke.

"Wha-Ben?" She asked as she rubbed out her eyes and looked toward me, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," I apologized in a whisper. She yawned and stretched a bit before staring at me carefully and sleepily.

"Wait…are ya Strike or Ben?" She asked. I chuckled a bit as I realized how funny that sounded, normally that was a strange thing to ask but now it was a proper question. "It's Ben," I assured her with a smile before she smiled back and gave me a small embrace.

"Good mor-…uh, it's still night out, whatcha doin' awake?" She asked me letting me go and sitting up on the bed like me. I looked around and laughed a bit, at how strange it might sound if I explained such a thing to her.

I was going to tell her anyways.

"Uh-I chuckled a bit-whenever I wake up while it's night out, there's a reason for it," I explained. AJ giggled as she nodded her head.

"Yer not alone on that one, although I always wake up when I drank a belly full…"

She paused and blushed a bit at how strange she directed the conversation. I laughed obviously, making her blush a bit more, she glared at me annoyed by my laughter. "Like ya never drink too much," She pushed back embarrassed. I looked at her with a gleaming white smile and nodded.

"True-I held back some laughter-but the last thing I remember you drinking was-"

"SSSSHHHH!" She shushed me loudly, placing her hoof on my mouth. I smiled as I grabbed her hoof and put it down. She was blushing and I was happy, _I woke up perfectly_.

I chuckled a bit more before hearing some bedsprings squeak off the left my ear, I could easily see in the room from how the moonlight was gleaming and at the far end of the room, two familiar pegasi were in view. Dash and Flutters were both up and looking over at us with smiles as well as thin blushes. "Aww, come on! We wanted to hear it!" Dash teased from her side of the room. AJ blushed a bit stronger as she shrunk herself into the bed.

"Uh…it's just…"

"Yeah, he filled your belly up in more than one way! From here, there, and the mouth!" Flutters giggled excitedly before Dash joined the giggle fest.

I paused and blushed a bit now, not only did the baby pony and Strike watch this event, but it turns out these two did as well. AJ quickly sprung up and looked across the room at Dash and Flutters. "YA DARN WATCHED!?" She exclaimed completely embarrassed by the situation.

"WE DARN DID!" They both replied loudly and imitating her accent.

AJ withdrew her exclamation and buried her head into the mattress of the bed to hide her shame. I chuckled and stroked AJ's hair making her lift her head slightly and look over to me with an embarrassed smile.

"Geez, look at what ya gone on and done now," She giggled. I looked down at her and smirked at the humor.

Dash and Flutters came up to the bed we were on and joined in with smiles and cute blushes. AJ wasn't annoyed or mad, just a bit embarrassed by them knowing what we did, yet she coped with it. It was fun getting along nicely despite the awkward conversations, they began with how we ended up in the jacuzzi before entering the obvious lewd direction. We spoke all spoke well over a few minutes before rapid and heavy knocks appeared at the door.

"At this time?" Flutters asked looking around at us.

"And this important?" Dash asked judging by the density of the knocks before AJ added her question.

"What's goin' on?"

I turned to them and shrugged as I rolled off the bed and made my way to the door, they followed behind.

"This is an emergency, is there a Ben or K in there!?" A troubled male voice asked from the other side. I quickly opened the door and replied quickly, worried about the situation. "Yeah, what's wrong!?" I asked, he took a moment to catch his breath, I could see he was messed up by how he was staring up at me and breathing the last slivers of air in his lungs.

"Lookin' mighty tired there, ya need to relax-" AJ tried to explain but she was quickly cut off by him shaking his head quickly.

"NO TIME!"

"Woah! For real, take a breather!" Dash quickly appearing from behind me getting next to my side. The guard shook his head again, and clenched his teeth together, frustrated by how we didn't get his motive. Flutters moved ahead of me to comfort the stressed guard, of course she would. She patted his head comfortably.

"What's the matter?" Flutters asked quietly. The guard nodded to her this time, _no surprise_ , and took a shaky breath of air.

"I need Ben or K, screw it, I need both immediately!" The guard exclaimed almost pleading this time. The seriousness in his tone and the way my hand was trembling slightly were both indications I needed to be serious and so I was.

There was no surprise when I heard a door open and the familiar brute stepped out almost as if ready for anything, he seemed to have just finished putting on a shirt before brushing his hair from his face with his hand.

"I'm here too, what's the problem?" K asked as he walked up to us, a serious look on his face. Chrysalis also followed behind him in her pony-form curious over what was going on as well. The guard quickly turned to look at us both before nodding and spilling it to us.

"A friend of yours has requested me to find you, she's in dire condition," He explained trying to not raise his voice too high, to keep us calm. K uncrossed his arms as he looked at the guard demandingly. I did the same as K except I tightened my fists while K asked away.

"Who!?" He asked in a deep and serious voice. We all looked at K before turning to the guard, he backed a step as he noticed K's glare, K's glare would frighten anyone who's new to it. "The pegasus with the blond mane and gray fur…crossed-eyed," The guard rapidly spat out making K widen his eyes a bit.

"What happened, you said she's in a dire situation, explain!" I demanded. The guard backed from me too, I expected such. He paused to inhale some air to prepare an explanation, he struggled to let out the air he took in, it must have been the stress.

"She's…"

Whatever it was it must have been dire for him to not be able to explain it straight up.

"Listen, she's…hurt, I've never seen something so horrible-"

"WHAT!?" K asked as he quickly ran his fingers to his head and zapped his way out of the corridor without warning. I stared at where he left behind his empty presence, something must have been wrong for him to just leave Chrysalis behind as well. "What…what's going on!?" Chrysalis asked as she turned to the guard, the guard quickly closed his eyes in all the stress that he felt and swallowed heavily.

"Just go to her! She told me to find both Ben and K…GO!" he exclaimed aiming his hoof down the corridor. I stared at him seriously before nodding and running my hands to my head. He looked at me and glared at me this look of anger, I squinted my eyes a bit more seriously toward him.

"Aren't you worried about your friend!?" He asked, irritated by how serious I was. I closed my eyes and nodded once more, I was worried about her but I couldn't say I was going to just give into my trauma, I needed to keep myself in check. "I am, sorry if I don't show it," I replied not changing a bit of my expression making him frown and look away.

"Thank you," I thanked him out the blue, for telling me about this, he perked up a bit and stared at me as I got the lot of ponies and Chrysalis to touch a certain part of my body for teleportation. He sighed and nodded before rushing up to me and touching me with his hoof.

"I'm coming too," He said seriously. I wasn't going to say no, it's only right for the messenger to claim his deed is done.

"Alright."

"Ya sure? Ya seem way too stressed?" AJ asked him, he turned to her and nodded.

"I'm sure."

I closed my eyes and did my thing.

I did the honor of teleporting to the weakest signal of life I had ever felt ever since I started teleporting. If this was Derpy, then this was far too near to death. I closed my eyes and expected the worse, apart from death. _This is bad_. I instantly let my teleportation do its thing, she was in the castle from how close her life force was, despite it being a dying signal.

The change in atmosphere didn't go unnoticed, even if my eyes were closed, there was a pressure in the room I was now in, a pressure so strong my insides were feeling like they'd just become melted organs. I broke a sweat as I knew that directly in front of me, I would find something I didn't want to see, but I can't go through fear with my eyes closed. I opened my eyes but before I could feast my eyes upon anything, I heard everypony gasp and gag, and let out "Oh…Celestia" as an expression. I regretted opening my eyes, but I was going to regret it, even more, when I looked down.

My eyes widened at the sight, my heart did a double pump and my body was paralyzed. What the actual fuck was I seeing? I was looking at the most tear-jerking scene in all history of me living.

"No fucking way…" I whispered under my breath as knelt down next the pony who seemed to have barely awakened from a blackout. She was still crying, 'still' being the right word since it seems she was crying long before this. I stared at how crooked her wings were, a wing broken like a twig and the other just completely useless from what it looked like, she looked like a bird that was just shot out the sky. _I had fond memories of hunting doves with dad but now it seems that I should rethink that, Derpy resembled a dove so perfectly; gray…naive…and so innocent._

I looked around myself quickly to see what crowd I was dealing with. Opposite of me, on Derpy's other side, Cadence, Luna, and Celestia were working their magic to their best while doing their best to stop their flowing tears. Behind me everyone was shocked like AJ, Shining, and Chrysalis, some crying like Flutters and Dash, and the guard just looking away from the dreadful scene. I actually expected Dash to be more on the shocked side, but I guess she put herself in Derpy's place and found it hard no not cry.

I turned back to Derpy to find K by my side, I didn't notice he was so close. He looked like he was about to give the biggest mental breakdown, he stared down at Derpy with his eyes just completely glued on and with a fire in them, literally too, one of them was black while the other was just standard. He clenched his teeth together as he stared at her face and at her tears going down.

"This-he paused and let out his yearn to yell in a grunt-this is…fucking wrong!" He exclaimed beginning in a thin voice almost as if his voice was about to crack and then let out the loudest heart dropping cry ever. He hovered his shaking hand over Derpy's head and tried to wipe away some of the tears but as he did his hand shook to dramatically he couldn't even manage to touch her cheek.

I've never seen this side of his, he has many things he hides but this was something else, he couldn't deal with seeing others suffer. I couldn't see others like this either but I had some background experience with this so I managed to keep myself from losing it. I wanted to reach out to him and calm him down but he seemed so wrapped up with emotion. It appears, he isn't entirely just like me as I thought, he has a different mindset and I knew so, but this was not something I expected from him.

"I know…I know…" Celestia whimpered out as she used her healing magic on Derpy. I looked down at Derpy, it seemed almost as if their magic wasn't doing a damn thing to benefit her. Derpy was still hurt, had a broken wing, a dead wing, and a useless body. What was I to do?

I reached down my hand to Derpy and went for the wing that looked like a snapped twig and placed my hand under it, not shaking or thinking it over. Carefully, I lifted my hand only hear the gasps of everyone, the broken bit of the wing hanged as if it was completely detached from the actual wing. "What the fuck man…" K let out in a whimper as I stared at the wing, observing it in every way I could.

I placed the section of the broken wing between my thumb and index finger, softly rubbing it between my fingers. I didn't like the feeling of ground bones between my fingers. "Looks like someone went on and smothered the wing, the bones between the fracture are ground up nearly to dust," I explained seriously as I let her wing go and got the other one.

"And it seems the other wing is completely dead," I explained further. They all looked at me as I let her wing go and moved the bit of hair covering her face out of the way to see her tears better. I hated the sight, just as much as K, I wanted to get head first with whoever did this and cut his head off but I knew that if whoever did this was whoever was in the corridor last night, I needed to consider some things.

"Ben…we can't heal her…what's going on!?" Celestia asked as Luna and Cadence persevered. I looked at her and back down at Derpy, as untrained in healing magic as I was, I knew why they couldn't do anything, the only logical thing I could say was that this was too grave of an injury to be fixed by just magic. "This type of wound might be too much for your magic," I sighed as I retracted my hand back to my side.

Celestia ended her magic on Derpy but Luna and Cadence continued hoping there was a chance they could do something.

"What should we do then!? I've never dealt with such a horrible situation!" She asked, distraught and in tears. I sighed as I looked at K trying to contain himself. I had an idea on what to do in this situation but there was more to her being injured with a broken wing, a simple note was how her whole body was completely inactive as if she'd been attacked with a mass wave of energy that paralyzed her.

"Well, just make sure she doesn't die from stress, low blood pressure, or a neurotic collapse," I explained but this seemed to only stress her out, at this rate she was more in danger of dying from stress than Derpy was. "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?"

She didn't major in a medical field that's for sure.

"Calm down, it just means you need to need to make sure she calm-"

"HOW!?" She interrupted me. I wasn't annoyed with her, I felt her pain and she was right to feel this way, I did know her to be the type to be overprotective of her ponies. I turned to K and reached down to tap his shoulder. He turned to me quickly, and slowly he revealed how his other eye was slightly becoming black like the other eye. I stared at him for a second, noticing how he looked a lot worse than before.

"K…" I eased his name out. He looked at me almost as if he'd not recognized me for a second there, but he managed to revert his right eye back to its normal white. I didn't know what that was but it appeared almost evil as I stared into it, still, his left eye gives me the chills with how it was black remained. He was still looking disturbed and hurt and I didn't blame him for it.

"Sorry Ben, but for fuck's sake-he got up and took a step back from Derpy-I won't let him…hurt anyone else!"

I nodded but it seemed Celestia was onto K over what half his face was looking like as he spoke. Easily noticeable was how his left eye was completely black, his left canine was slightly longer than the right, and basically, the left side of his entire body was completely different.

"K…you're…changing," Celestia said under her breath making K look down at Derpy and at his left hand to notice how it was still shaking. "What's happening to you?" She asked worried over him. He looked up at her and glared seriously at her.

"I won't speak about it, we need to help her first," He explained making Celestia look down at Derpy and wipe some tears as she agreed. I looked around the room at all the speechless ponies and how I was going to deal with this issue of a god targeting my friends. I turned back to K and stared at him, he caught on quickly to my stare and questioned it.

"What!?" He asked irritated.

"How do we kill a god?" I asked him, I wanted to know. Celestia leaned in curiously as K stared at me.

He remained silent before closed his eyes to take the breather.

"W-"

K couldn't get anything out his mouth, a bright light flashed and purple alicorn fell to the ground and hurtled herself over to us almost tripping over her two forehooves as she repeated Celestia's name dramatically. Celestia turned to her worried by how crazy Twilight was looking and the fear shown on her face.

"What is it!?" Celestia asked her quickly as soon as Twilight came up. Me and K stared at her as she caught her breath and trembled. "Celestia…it's Ponyville…" Twilight whimpered before taking in another huge breath.

"What!? What happened!?" Celestia asked hurrying her up. Me and K were all ears and so where the crowd of ponies behind us as they got closer up. Cadence and Luna quickly listened in on her too but remained doing their magic on Derpy, they hadn't lost hope.

"It's gone…Ponyville…I managed to get some ponies out but the rest-she let out tears adding to the crying fest in here already-he did something to them!" Twilight cried. K looked down at her before tightening his frown. Luna and Cadence stopped their magic and looked at Twilight, they were stunned to silence. Celestia paused, she couldn't hear Twilight's cried nor could she react, the only thing that happened was a tear rolling down her face as she backed a step.

"I'm sorry…he was too strong…I got pinkie to safety along with almost half of Ponyville, I couldn't find the other half, Rarity included," Twilight whimpered as she looked down and quickly noticed how she was nearly over Derpy. She jumped at the sight and looked up at us and around the room, before taking a step back.

"What is…WHAT IS THIS!?"

I looked down at Derpy and closed my eyes.

"This is what he's doing to them," I let out as I reopened my eyes to find no one was believing anything that was going on. I was coming off horribly serious at the moment but I was slowly melting on the inside, I didn't want to break out in emotion but at this rate, I might just experience a few twitches of it. I kept a cold look on as I looked at Twilight take a step back from Derpy.

"No…please no!"

"Let's go," K quickly said moving his hand to his head. Twilight looked at K along with everyone else giving K the look of worry, I couldn't give off that look right now, I still needed to get the things through.

"Ben…come on!" K yelled at me, he noticed I wasn't at all moved by the events. He frowned as I shook my head and told him to go ahead but he wasn't taking that.

"Ben, I'd kick your ass to Ponyville if I have to, SO COME ON!" He threatened pushing a fist to my face although I wasn't taking that. I looked at him seriously as I lifted my fist up and tightened it tightly in his face.

"I said you could go, I thought you said you wouldn't let him hurt anyone else?" I reminded him. I knew I struck a nerve there but he accepted it and glared at me as he ran his hand to his head and disappeared quickly, he had created a breeze that made my clothes flap for a few seconds. I lowered my fist and stared at the empty space he left.

I hated to think I basically just sent him to his death, but I had something I needed to do. I looked at Celestia and then at everyone give me looks of hate, I wouldn't blame them for it though, anyone would get the wrong idea by this point. Twilight disappeared before Shining followed her worried via teleportation.

"Are you just going to send him like that, he's afraid of him you know!?" Chrysalis was the first to question my actions. After that, it became clear that I was going to get a lot of shit for this, but I needed to make sure of something. Everyone took turns questioning my actions, some shouting at me and others being gentle about it, and others just remaining quiet. I looked up at Celestia, she was the last one to question me, and she did so in a desperate way.

"SO MANY HAVE DIED IN FRONT OF YOU AND YOU HAVE KILLED SO MANY IN YOUR PAST, SO WHY IS IT THAT YOU'RE JUST STANDING THERE!?"

I tightened my frown and my fists.

"If their your ponies and you care for them, then why is it that you're just standing there?" I asked making her shut up on the spot, everyone felt the magnitude of the question as I aimed a finger down at Derpy. "Fear restrains us from doing what's right Celestia, but anger makes us move and do rash things, I know that well and so do you," I told her wisely as I shoved a hand into my pocket and whipped out the gloves I shoved in there earlier. She stared at me as I placed a glove on, one each hand and clapped them only once before stretching my arms out and taking a deep breath.

"I don't know how to take down a god-I got down and patted my pants off before adjusting my sword on my waist-but it's always good to learn something new."

Celestia looked at me as I loosened my body up and bounced on my feet a bit.

"I-I'm sorry…it's just-"

"They're your ponies, I know…"

"But Ben, you're just as mortal as any of us, you…you can die…" Luna spoke up coming up my side as I looked at my hands and made some fists. I looked over to her and smiled as I rustled her mane, _it's a hobby as far as I know; to rustle a mane to calm myself_. Luna had probably forgotten by now, but I'm always happy to remind someone of my words.

"Luna, did you forget already?" I asked her. She looked up at me curiously, her tears had stopped but they could come back any moment. "W-what?" She asked, getting closed and trembling a bit. I gave her a playful wink as I aimed a thumb at myself.

"I don't die so easily!" I laughed before seeing her break down in tears. _Geez, so much for joy_. I lifted an eyebrow and placed my hands to my sides as she shook her head.

"How can I believe that when you could die today if you go out there!?" She cried almost as if she was the one dying her. I smiled as I nodded, she was right but I was optimistic for a reason and it always works out.

"Just remember me and I'll be happy!" I chuckled but that wasn't a good move, it was actually a very stupid move indeed.

"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!? DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT! I CAN'T JUST REMEMBER SOMEONE LIKE YOU AND SAY I LIVED THE TIME OF MY LIFE, I REFUSED TO BELIEVE THAT!" Luna shouted making me lean away with an astonished smile going on. I was amazed by the dedication of her trying to not let me die verbally, I thank her for that.

I leaned back in and nodded before backing a step and sighing deeply.

"It's true, you can't remember the happy times without truly saying you knew someone fully, for that I'll do my best to not die," I said as I took another deep breath and let my body loosen up from the tension. I was going to add on to her comfort but it seemed that the audience behind me wanted some say in it too. Dash appeared hovering by my head and with hoof pressed against my shoulder

"Ben will not die! He's got that awesome Kaio-ken thingy that makes him stronger remember!?" Dash quickly reminded everyone. I could feel the hope in them rise up dramatically but there was a limit to the Kaio-ken technique. "Right! It's that multiplier for your strength! So, all you need to do is take it beyond the gods level!" Celestia quickly asserted with great joy and hope, before the rest joined in with agreement. I shook my head and waved my finger in a "no".

"I'm sorry to rid the hope, but doing the kaio-ken is both helpful and harmful, while it does multiply my power, it also takes a toll on my body, using it in an extreme situation would be devastating to my body, maybe even fatal," I explained with a new smile appearing over my face as they all replied with disappointed expressions.

"But there is one move, I might just be able to rip out of fiction again…" I said getting the hopes up again. They turned to me and were quick to ask what it was. I lifted my hand and smiled. I looked at Luna, in particular, she was the main one who helped me find out I had magical capabilities back at that fighting arena, for that I'll always be thankful for.

"There are other Dragon Ball techniques and attacks-I folded back my fingers as I counted the attack-I've already got a Kamehameha wave down along with the Kaio-ken, thus leaving a special attack, that just might work…just maybe…"

There was a huge problem in Ponyville, there were no ponies, all the houses were abandoned and there was an unnerving silence roaming that suffocated. The town was deserted and nothing but wind swirled, making the new ghost town even more ghastly.

"Oh, would you look at that? Seems I've got company."

"Why would you hurt her!? Why would you hurt anyone who hasn't wronged you!?" K asked, looking up to the sky at the floating figure who still resembled a shadow in the night. Twilight was a safe distance away from K along with Shining by her side, they decided to keep about five feet away since gazing into his eyes and reacting defensively.

The shadow-like figure quickly laughed maniacally before simmering down and looking down at them all.

"You are a rare demonic entity I'll give you that, almost like that lowlife princess of yours, what was her name…" He disrespected. K tightened the grip on his fists and glared his rabid teeth at him.

"You think you have the right to call others lowlifes when you're the one hurting innocents!?" K exclaimed as he pilled his anger upon more anger. Twilight could feel some of the same anger and so could Shining, to insult their princesses was something that was taken heavily.

"Oh, hush up! Why would you care anyway, you're a demon, you're supposed to kill off the living not protect them!?" Yuson asked of K. K shook his head as he tightened his fists some more. "That may be so, but I chose my own way, and my way involves taking care of these ponies by Ben's side!"

"Yet you can't contain your emotions, do you know how dangerous that is?" He quickly countered looking down at K.

K became distressed after that last remark. It was true without a doubt, but the fact that he was telling him made the situation worse. One of his eyes was still black while the other had become almost engulfed by the color but still remained partly white. By now, K was on edge and ready to just throw a punch in the hope this Yuson's head would explode.

"S-SHUT IT!" He yelled.

"Oh…and also, I won't forget what you did to your shy friend, Fluttershy…"

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT IT!" He yelled again, becoming more agitated by his consistency.

"Giving her part of your soul, she's practically another demon now, imagine how much fun it would be when she starts killing her own friends because of you-"

K quickly appeared before the cloaked god, both staring at each other face to face, even if Yuson's was covered by the robe. K glared at him his hands in fists and his temper on a high, his breaking point was nearing. K wouldn't accept anyone telling him he made a mistake for what he did, especially when it means so much to him.

"Flutters…She will never do that! She knows right from wrong and she values her morals," He assured, his fists shaking from the pent-up anger. Yuson laughed his ass off before quickly sending a quick swing towards K. K greeted the incoming fist with his own hand stopping the attack and making their presence known to the night.

"She just needs some motivation, that's all, for her to forget her morals and become what you made her!"

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST SHUT UP!?" K yelled exchanging his punch for his leg, but it was quickly met with the absence of the enemy. "What the?" K asked himself before quickly feeling the danger behind him, and teleporting himself behind the presence that appeared behind him with his hand out to meet the backside of his target. K let out a huge wave of energy before quickly backing away a few feet in the air, and staring at the burned hole into the robe of Yuson. K stared ominously as the skin color of the back of this god, similar to a human's, then again, this character was about six-foot with a full human anatomy.

"Looks like you can teleport…I forgot…" Yuson chuckled as he turned around to face K, he had no injuries or even burns from that last attack.

"Wow, K seems to be good at combat," Shining complemented. Twilight stepped up beside her brother and stared into the sky at K and Yuson stare each other out.

"He'd work better with Ben, it seems both can do coordinated attacks together," She commented, seriously wondering why Ben was so serious about fighting Yuson, and why he wasn't here. "He said he wouldn't mind getting blood on that sword of his, I wouldn't worry about Ben's ideals," Shining reassured Twilight before looking up at the face off.

"I'll place my hope in Ben, but for now, let's provide any assistance to the one on our frontline," Shining said staring at the two beings overhead.

"Right! Ben will be here, thanks," Twilight thanked for the assurance.

They both turned to look up at K just having used his arm to block another punch that sent him scooting a few feet. " _Damn it_!"He thought as he looked up and noticed Yuson charging in. Without a second to react he rapidly shot a blast of energy towards the ground and one towards Yuson as he approached. Yuson easily dodged the one coming for him but he was forced to a stop by the one that bounced off the ground and towards him.

"Damn demon-"

"YOU'RE MINE!" K yelled as his leg quickly swung across the god's face from behind and sending him spiraling towards the distance before he stopping himself. K aimed his hand out and shot another energy blast only to have it returned at the same speed as the first time he through something towards this god, but this time K had remembered this tactic and quickly swung his arm across his body shooting back the energy towards Yuson at twice the speed Yuson shot at him.

Even if Yuson could have just shot it back at K, his hands quickly became bound by a blue and violet magic and he took the attack directly. He grunted in pain before ridding the smoke screen that had gathered around him from the explosion of energy. K turned to the ground and looked at Twilight and Shining, wondering what they were doing. Twilight and Shining smiled as they looked up at K.

"We're here for you!" Twilight claimed before Shining nodded. "You can't go into this alone!"

K was slightly baffled by this and managed to pull off a slight smirk before losing it to Yuson as he seemed to have lost the cloak, it burned off after that last attack. Despite K's sudden struggle and offense, he still managed to keep his anger in check only releasing a bit of it when it was necessary, simply shown by his eyes which remained the same color as from when they began combat, completely dark on one and a mix on the other.

K froze for a second as he studied the physical appearance of this god. There was something completely off about it, besides the fact that he was now emitting even more energy than before, he seemed to have an actual human body. K backed up a bit before positioning himself in a defensive stance.

"Fucking demon-he stretched his body out a bit and flexed his strength by popping his neck either ways-you know, I brought Ben here so he could kill off everypony, yet someone was always in my way," Yuson frowned as he looked directly at K. K frowned right back as he popped his knuckles and then his neck.

"I guess that was me huh?" K asked cocky and smart.

"Ben was here…to kill us?" Twilight asked Shining, confused and slightly worried about it. Shining smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, apparently this god, Yuson, brought Ben here to kill us all but it was a failure and Ben is now who he is," Shining answered with a smirk, laughing inwardly at the god's failure. Twilight quickly looked down at the ground before looking up at Shining _, it did explain how he ended up randomly in her world_.

"That's…madness…" She whispered out, not finding the breath to speak louder than a whisper. Shining smiled as he aimed a hoof up at Yuson and nodded.

"Yes, but the real madness is that he tried to turn Ben into a pony too, but that ended in failure too, imagine that! Ben as a pony!" He chuckled making Twilight choke up and swallow heavily.

"A PONY!?" She asked before looking to the ground and blushing slightly. "Well…that would have made it easier to breed with him…"

"Uh…yes…it would I guess…" Shining chuckled a bit and scratched his head in his sister awkwardness. Twilight paused quickly and giggled back nervously as she waved a hoof in defense.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean to say that out loud!"

K quickly tried to dodge but he received a kick to his side jolting him with pain and sending him raging towards the ground.

Yuson approached the small crater he'd created and stared at it with a grin as K seemed to roll onto his back and grab his side in an aching pain. K looked up at Yuson, his breath slowly catching up, he couldn't believe the speed at which he'd just been put up against, it was almost as if a third leg came out of nowhere. Yuson raised his hand to the sky causing a mass eruption of violet thunder to come out and reach the heavens.

"The key to controlling Ben is killing you…"

Twilight, Shining, and K all caught on to that sliver of information. K quickly struggled to get himself onto his feet and managed to get there, yet his posture was messed up, the pulsing pain that came out of his spleen was massive forcing him to hunch over his side. He fell on a knee and reached out a hand to catch himself.

"It…fucking hurts…" K let out in a quick breath as he ran his fingers to his head but before his hand reached his head a violent violet thunderbolt stuck his hand making him gag in the sudden pain, his hand was chard at worst and dead but luckily still there. "K!" Twilight yelled as she rushed down the crater to help him, but K was already in shock from how crisp his hand looked. He quickly looked at Twilight and up at Yuson holding an evil smile as Shining also appeared inside the crater with K.

"EXCELLENT, NOW YOU ALL DIE!" Yuson yelled and made the ground shake.

K looked over to Twilight next to him and at Shining farther from him, he could only save one in this situation with Yuson slowly closing his fist, the slow-motion K felt was the adrenaline inside him. He rushed his clean hand to his head and grabbed onto Twilight fast and disappeared, leaving Shining to freeze in place as he stared at the absence of his sister and his new friend.

" _What!?_ " He wondered before he stared up and widened his expression at the sight of Yuson's hand halfway close, he was frozen in place at the realization he was at the end.

The moonlight up brightly even brighter than before as Yuson closed the hand he had in the air sending a barrage of violet beams colliding within the crater. K froze in place with his hand almost touching his forehead as he stared at the violent beams ravaging the crater and the surroundings. The insane laughter of Yuson in the background quickly forced K into a locked stare as the beams where endless.

"N-no…" K whispered out as he tried to take a step ahead but his legs were as well locked in place. "SHINING!" Twilight desperately cried for her brother, there was no time for tears in the split second that would soon turn to the longest moments for the both of them.

It seemed as if hope was just derived from K as he noticed how he couldn't save another one, and more importantly, he forced the move that ended Shining. K shook his head as he backed a step before falling onto his rear and staring at the beams that still haven't died out and where just becoming more violent by the second. Twilight must have become exhausted after yelling her brother's name so many times it hurt her throat to just say anything else.

"Shiny…no…" Twilight whispered as she teared up after all that time. It seemed all hope was lost but after a minute of this going on, her tears became stale as she noticed along with K, an odd occurrence in the violet beams erupting.

It seemed sudden but a white beam of light shot out of the violet, and another followed before another came out.

"S-Shining?" Twilight asked as she neared at the mass of energies mixing. K remained speechless as she stared at what was happening.

Suddenly, as the pace of the white beams of light escaped, a huge aura of transparent white engulfed the violet beams and swallowed them causing the rampaging beams to end and leave only the smoke of the explosions the energy collision to conceal whatever had happened. A sudden deep shout was heard before the smoke separated from the aura leaving only a sight to truly behold that brought hopeful smiles to both K and Twilight and only fury to Yuson.

Ben had come at last, his palm was aimed to the sky while Shining stared up at him by his side, Ben's face had all the representation of a man on a mission, his face was the same from back at the castle: serious. He lowered his hand and looked down at the Shining, before growing a smile.

"Hey ya!" I greeted him. He let out enough signs to show his thanks before he laughed at how close he was close getting obliterated there. "What took you!?" He asked me as he punched me with his hoof to my knee playfully and probably trying to hurt me for my close timing. I chuckled before smacking a fist into a palm.

"I had to clear my mind a bit before coming, then I had to check on Derpy once more, no worries though cause I'm here to kick some ass!" I exclaimed looking up at the human-like figure in the sky before aiming a finger gun at him and fired air. "Boom, you're dead…" I eased out lowering my hand and becoming playfully serious, he snarled before growing a smile and calling me out.

"Ben, we meet again, do you really intend on fighting me?" He asked smugly but I was stubborn headed to the point I was already nodding before he finished. "Of course," I answered before I was met with an off-guard blast of energy with was no problem for the tip of my sword, I swung my arm across my body without moving anything else and slashed the blast into two.

The smoke cleared and I smirked at his annoyed sight.

"You know, I forgot to thank you for bringing me to this world, but I'll give you my thanks if you manage to beat me, what do ya say?" I gambled with him. He lifted an eyebrow before flying down to me and meeting me face-to-face, although his six-foot height was making it more like a face-to-chest conversation.

"Thanks? Does that involve you officially becoming my puppet?" he asked making me enhance the smirk on my face and nod. He laughed it up pretty well but quickly lowered it as he noticed my pretty smug look and glared at me seriously.

"So, what's the catch?"

I sighed and became slightly serious as I readied my own request.

"If I defeat you, you'll return Ponyville back with everypony and everything like it was before you screwed it up, and you'll fix Derpy up, got it?" I asked him looking him eye to eye. He glared at me and smiled a toothy smile before sending a punch my way but that was nothing when I was master of catching hands and hooves. He paused for a moment to study how I had his hand caught with a grin across my face before he tried to pull back but I held on firmly.

"Do we have a deal? I asked sending a punch low to which he dodged but he didn't dodge the energy shot I aimed at him in rapid succession, but he tanked it pretty well. He laughed as he nodded and tightened his hands into fists before erupting in an aura of some out of this world proportions. "Ben, he's strong, but you can take it, right!? Shining asked as from my side. I looked at him and shrugged.

"I don't know, but I promise to try my best!" I assured him childishly. He chuckled nervously as he nodded. "Geez, you're a lot more optimistic than Pinkie!"

"I wouldn't say that-"

I quickly grabbed Shining and jumped out of the way of an energy blast, and landing outside this crater. I looked down at the crater, he wasn't there anymore he'd moved and now I was playing Prey.

"Oh great, he's gone now!"

"Wrong! HE'S ABOVE US!" I yelled out rushing a hand up to the sky and shooting out a rapid attack towards the feeling of the presence before sending my sword rocketing randomly to my left, that felt like the right place to launch my sword. And right it was, it shot directly at Yuson before I found myself behind him and with a high leg about to clobber his brains. He stopped the sword but he couldn't stop the kick that sent him hurtling towards the ground and making a small crater of his own in the pavement, yet I wasn't done, I shot down a huge blast of energy towards him before landing on the ground and picking up my sword. I backed up to Shining and met him there, he seemed rather impressed by my display of speed.

"By Cadence's big sex drive, you're a fast strike!" He complimented. I smiled at his expression and bent a leg to correct my ready stance. I'll agree with him any day over that, despite barely having learned how to do fly, teleport, and use energy a few days ago, I was already a skillful fighter, it just seems to come naturally.

"I need to be and I'll always be, I won't let this plague spread any more than it already has," I said before the large smoke cloud disappeared and Yuson was back on his feet. He seemed well over angered as he adjusted his jaw with his hand, snapping it back to position.

Shining backed up a bit. "Uh…do you know how to deal with that?"

I backed up a bit too with an excited smile, it seems I was really in for it now. "I have something in mind, but I'll see what I can do with just what I have at the moment."

He charged at us and we both quickly got to moving.

"Damn…" K cursed as he looked off to what was happening in the distance, it seemed Ben and Shining where holding Yuson off for the moment. "Don't move so much," Twilight said as she worked her magic on K's hand and ribs, she'd managed to get K's hand to look recognizable and active again and rid the pain in his side. K let out a deep breath as looked at Twilight sitting next to him and eyeing his hand carefully.

"Thanks…I think I'm good now," K claimed as he got up and tested out his slightly burned hand, it was working but came along with small jolts of tingles. "You sure, it seems you were in sizable amount pain back there?" Twilight asked, trying to find a way to get K to just allow her to finish healing him.

"I'm fine, just disappointed," K lamented looking to the explosions occurring off in the distance, Twilight had managed to securely move him to a safer location not far from the scene of action. Twilight lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head curiously, "Why?"

K looked down at her to reveal his eyes had reverted back to their normal state, something Twilight hadn't noticed while healing him. She looked up at him and gave a depressed look as K turned and gazed dishearteningly at the blazing battle, not a minute away from him.

"Yuson's right about me not being able to contain emotions, it took me damn long enough to get it," K admitted tightening his hands again before sighing away his piling anger. Twilight shook her head and moved up next to K, and both began staring off to the combinations of lights colliding.

"It's good to have feelings you can't control, it means you actually have feelings and that you care," Twilight explained with a warming smile. K's jerked back a bit as the words managed to navigate deep into his head and scar into it, there was nothing he could say to oppose what she said. He looked down at Twilight, looking to the ground, before looking up at the lights. A few seconds past with no response from K, and Twilight had become convinced he was just not going to respond positively.

"Alright then, you don't have to-"

She paused quick to the sound of K chuckling and quickly looked up at him, he was grinning like he did before and was emitting a glowing aura around him, slightly darker than his usual aura that she'd seen before. Twilight backed up a bit and looked at K, making sure she was seeing right. K looked down at her and smiled before tightening a fist and flourishing true dark pulsing aura which created a strong gust of wind that spiraled around himself, moving away debris from his path. He took Twilight by surprise and frightened her for the moment before he smirked and glared his red glowing eyes towards the action.

"I agree with you Twi, don't think I didn't listen, you're a good mare and I want you to stay that way," K complimented making her slightly blush and smile equally. He looked at her off the corner of his eyes and couldn't help but let out a relieving breath as he thanked her.

"Thank you."

Twilight flustered a bit inwardly but managed to get herself together enough to respond.

"Y-you're welcome and thank you…for saying that…"

"No problem, now come on, let's see how Shining and Ben are doing!" K exclaimed jumping to the air before Twilight joined in, "Right!"

"Okay…so when has there ever been two of you?" The guard from before asked Dash, exchanging his sight between the two Dash's in the room; one next to Derpy, observing what was going on in the sphere of magic Luna had in front of herself to observe Ben's and K's whereabouts, and the other next to Fluttershy trying to distract her from looking at Derpy.

"What now?" Dash asked as she stopped caressing Flutter's fur and turned to the guard. The guard used his eyes to indicate the other Dash that was on the other side of the room.

Dash turned over and squinted her eyes a bit before widening them and pausing awkwardly.

"That's…uh-Dash cleared her throat and turned her whole body to face the other Dash-Hey! Dashie number two!"

The other Dash picked her head up and looked behind herself at Dash calling her out, she scratched her mane before getting up and trotting up in front of them.

"What is it?"

The guard moved ahead and spoke up. "Uh…you do realize there's two of you…or two of her?"

Dashie number two caught on quickly and giggled as she shook her head. "Oh, I was just playing around," Chrysalis giggled reverting back to her original Changeling form making the guard jump back immediately and become defensive, his sudden defensive action amused Chrysalis.

"C-Chrysalis!? When did you-"

Luna quickly appeared beside Chrysalis and smiled kindly, she had been listening since the guard asked the question of why there were two of them. The guard slowed himself down at the sight of Luna smiling and Chrysalis smirking.

"What is…what is this?" The guard asked firming his hooves on the floor and moving his head side to side, trying to observe them from different angles. He looked over to Celestia next to AJ, both focused on the magical sphere, before he turned back to the two powerful ones in front of him and giving them _explain this now_ look.

They looked at each other and giggled a bit.

"I guess you can say Chrysalis is on a vacation of sorts," Luna giggled. The guard gave some suspicious looks around the room before ending up on Chrysalis's face.

"Va…cation?" He asked, it seemed too good to be true and these scenarios almost always end up being too good to be true.

Chrysalis showed her teeth slightly with her smile as she turned away and returned to Derpy's side of the room. Once she got to Derpy, she laid down on the ground next to her and checked over her, she had grown some interest in learning more about this new cross-eyed pony. Chrysalis looked over to the guard and gave a smile, that made all four of them (Luna, Dash, Flutters, and the guard) stare a bit stunned by the sight of such a beautiful smile.

"I might just be on Vacation," Chrysalis giggled before turning to Derpy and using her magic to study her wings and injuries. Chrysalis lost her smile as she used her magic to lift up a wing and caused pain to Derpy, she let go of the wing and stared at the look agony on the pony's face.

The guard looked at Luna and both Dash and Flutters, baffled by what he'd just witnessed.

"Is this real?"

"Yes!" They all assured him with miniature smiles. He glared at them and over to Chrysalis before sighing out the stress and scratching his mane.

"Well, if that's so, does that also explain the cutie mark, I don't recall her having one?" He asked aiming his hoof Chrysalis way.

Luna, Dash, Flutters, AJ, Cadence, and Celestia quickly paused, it seemed they all heard the question despite being distracted. They all turned to face Chrysalis as she manipulated Derpy's body with her magic shifting to a more comfortable position.

"Oh…I completely forgot about that," Luna said as she made her way to Chrysalis and stopped next to her. Luna's shadow alerted Chrysalis of her presence, she looked up at her curious about why she was so near.

"Yes?"

"Umm…I've been meaning to ask you something…" Luna nervously giggled making Chrysalis tilt her head over to one side curiously.

"What?"

Luna giggled a bit more before she finally got the strength to ask, Chrysalis became a bit annoyed by her struggle to ask. Luna cleared her throat and smiled as she quickly asked.

"What does your cutie mark represent?"

Chrysalis made a funny face as she wondered what she was just asked.

"Excuse me-she paused almost immediately as she felt something smooth rub up against her flank-HEY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?

It was Flutters holding a hoof to her flank indicating her cutie mark.

"Look, you have a cutie mark," Flutters shyly expressed as she removed her hoof leaving Chrysalis to stare at her flank awkwardly.

There was moment of silence as Chrysalis stared at her flank with no response before she turned to look at everypony in the room. Everyone swallowed heavily as she got up and looked at her hind, she as well swallowed as she wiggled her flank a bit to see if it was real.

"This can't be real-she looked around before laughing a bit-okay, now tell me, who drew this onto me?" Chrysalis asked looking at everyone. Everypony looked at each other nervously and hoped one of them would claim having drawn something onto her behind. Chrysalis become a bit irritated by their looks and looked back at her behind before looking at them again.

"Are you serious?" She asked still not believing what was happening. Luna looked around herself once more before stepping up and giving her a serious look.

"We didn't do anything, we promise, we noticed you had a cutie mark that day you first appeared with K," Luna explained.

Chrysalis jumped a bit in the shock of hearing that, last time she knew she didn't have a cutie mark was before now and now she knew that she's been having it since she appeared with K that morning. She slowly came to a theory but she didn't want to believe it.

"Chrysalis? Are you alright?" Celestia asked stepping up.

Chrysalis turned to Celestia and tried to give her a smile to stop the questions and end the topic there but it was extremely easy to see through her. Celestia stepped up to Chrysalis making her feel a bit trapped and claustrophobic with Luna already face to face with her.

"Chrysalis, don't hide anything, we can probably help you if you tell us," Celestia urged only disturbing Chrysalis as she tried to back away from her. Luna glared suspiciously at Chrysalis as Celestia pressured her by forcing her to back up to a wall.

"I'd rather not, can we just get back to focusing on what's happening out there?" Chrysalis chuckled nervously trying to convince Celestia to back off but she persisted. Luna tightened her stare on nervous Chrysalis trying to burn a gateway into her mind, _literally_.

"We will, once you tell us. Come on, what are you hiding?"

"Nothing-" Chrysalis almost pleaded but Celestia quickly cut in. "How can it be nothing when you have a cutie mark on your flank! A changeling is not supposed to have a cutie mark!"

Luna's eyes quickly shot wide as she blushed incredibly and froze in place, she finally breached the Chrysalis's mind.

"IT JUST HAPPENED! I DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED!" Chrysalis exclaimed pressing up against the wall, out of areas to run away to. Celestia frowned as she lifted a hoof and gave her a slight shove. "DID YOU DO ANYTHING OR WHAT DID K DO TO YOU!?"

"HE DID NOTHING!"

"AH-HA IT WAS HIM! WHAT DID HE DO!?"

"Sister, leave her alone!" Luna yelled from behind her sister. Celestia turned to look at Luna and quickly questioned her. "I had a lead! Why would you stop me there, I thought you wanted to know too!?" Celestia asked giving her sister her outrage but Luna was not taking that.

Luna returned a serious glare at her sister.

"I do, but if that involves violating her privacy then I don't want to be a part of that, you wouldn't anyone violating your privacy, would you now?" Luna defended Chrysalis. Celestia backed up a bit and nodded slowly as she accepted defeat. "Okay sis-she switched to Chrysalis-dearest apologies Chrysalis, I forgot about respecting your privacy-she turned to the floating televised orb-…I'll be over there if you need me."

Luna and Chrysalis stared at Celestia as she moved over to the orb and plopped down to stare at it with a pout.

"Thank you, Luna," Chrysalis thanked her before sighing in relief. Luna perked up with a smile as she turned to Chrysalis and giggled.

"You're welcome, although sooner or later you're gonna have to tell us about what you did with K, that is if you want to know about that cutie mark on your flank-Luna leaned into whispering range and giggled-Although, I didn't expect you to have bonded with him already." Luna stated turning away to get back onto watching Ben and K's performance on the field which she was anxious to watch after Ben's quick save of Shining. Chrysalis quickly used her magic to poke Luna on the side.

"Yes?" Luna asked.

"How did you know?" Chrysalis asked baffled and simply just wanting to know how. Luna giggled a bit as she winked at her. "You might say I'm a physic."

Luna turned back to her sister and joined her, cuddling with her to make her feel better after that telling off, Celestia couldn't fight back her sister's way and laughed with her cuteness. Chrysalis stared at Luna speechless as she remembered K saying the exact same thing to her before that concert a few hours ago and now Luna was saying it to her. Chrysalis twitched a smile onto her face before laughing a bit to herself, Luna suddenly seemed more likable and safe to be around.

"Thanks…" Chrysalis whispered before moving up to Derpy once more and getting down next to her, brushing her mane from her face, she was still out. Chrysalis stared at her saddened at the sight of her again, _And I thought I was evil._

Dash, Flutters, AJ, and the guard looked at each other completely lost.

"Wow, probably the most exciting and devastating thing that has happened in a year now, for me that is, I bet y'all go on amazing adventures," The guard said sitting on the floor and staring towards at the three in front of him. The three of them smiled and shrugged.

"We do have some adventures every now and then, but not as crazy as Ben and K arrival here," Dash commented as she assumed a fighting posture. "He's got the moves of a ninja-she sent a punch into the air and withdrew an imaginary sword-WITH A SWORD!"

The three of them laughed at Dash, making her laugh along as well. The guard laughed it up a bit before turning to the princesses.

"Yeah, by the way, how are they doing out there?" The guard asked making the group stop laughing and turn to the princesses. It seemed that Cadence was the only one who wasn't at all motivated to look away from the orb, she remained staring at it ever since Ben appeared to save her partner.

"Hey! How's Ben and K doing out there?" Dash asked making Luna, Celestia, and Chrysalis turn to them before Cadence cleared her throat while fixed onto the televised orb.

"Uh…how strong is Ben?"

"Very…" Dash replied nodding her head, confident with her answer. Cadence looked at Dash and back to the orb, she was amazed by what she was seeing, never has she seen violence like this before, not with blood or gods for that matter.

"That seems so, and what about K?"

"Very…" Chrysalis replied this time with a smirk, she knew from personal witness the heights his power. Cadence nodded and bobbed her head in agreement before looking at the sphere one more.

"Why are ya asking this?" AJ asked nearing Cadence and looking at what she was looking at. She instantly became hooked on what she was now seeing, it seemed that Ben was on a new level of power along with K. "Well, I'll be…" AJ whispered as she stared at Ben and K tag team it out against Yuson.

"I've never seen Ben and K in action, it's exhilarating how strong they are!" Cadence enthusiastically expressed before AJ shook her head.

"Yeah, and I've never seen them this strong! Take a look," AJ claimed calling over everyone in the room to look. Everyone got up to see. Chrysalis looked down at Derpy and whispered to her comfortably. "I'll be back."

Everyone neared the orb and quickly, without a thought over it gasped at the sight, it seemed AJ wasn't kidding when she mentioned she's never seen them this strong. Everyone stared vigilantly as Ben and K threw down with this god but it seemed the Ben was the one dominating at the moment without any use of extra things besides his common abilities while K was always the one hitting the ones Ben didn't hit.

"How's is he not hurt yet?" Celestia asked as she stared at Ben pull off endless consecutive attacks without a stutter or mistake, he seemed to not be having any problems. Luna lifted an eyebrow as she stared at the orb, she knew as well as everyone that something wasn't right and there was more to a god than just this.

"This god, he might be holding back something tremendous for him to not have entered his full power by now," Luna hypothesized before Chrysalis agreed. "Exactly, a god is a legendary being of unimaginable power, he's probably not taking this seriously."

Celestia nodded as she turned away from the orb and took a breather, Luna caught on quickly and had to ask.

"Everything alright sis?"

"No sister, there's just so much happening, we got Ben and K fighting a god, a prophecy that I have no idea what to do with, cutie mark problems, an injured pegasi, and half of Ponyville missing, everything is not alright," Celestia said in a defeated tone as she sat down on the floor and thought too intensely on what to do.

"Oh…you can sleep if you need it, I'll induce it if you want," Luna offered making Celestia smile at the kind gesture but she couldn't sleep at such a time of despair, the kindness of her sister was unmatchable. "Thank you for the offer but I need to watch this, maybe if Ben and K managed to defeat this god, there might just be a hope that we'll be able to live with Ben and K in peace and not under the influence of a prophecy," Celestia replied with a smile but at the same time showing how stressed she was through the way she stretched out some words.

"But I still want that offer about the dream though…remember?" Celestia chuckled with a hint of humor showing. Luna nodded and smiled. "Of course, I'll always keep my sister happy!"

"Thanks, Luna."

As Flutters stared into the orb screen, she couldn't help but notice the slight twitches happening to her hooves, almost as if they became slightly more active. Flutters quickly used her other hoof to stop that one from moving but it only resulted in some strange desire to build up.

" _What is happening to me?_ "

 **NEXT TIME: THE FULL RELEASE OF GOD AURA! THE TRUE MEANING BEHIND PURE-LIGHT MAGIC AND PURE-DARK MAGIC! FLUTTER'S REVELATION AND POWER!**

 **Next Time on MLP: TTBLAIA**


	43. Ch:43 - A Godly Mess, A Mortal's Mission

**#43**

It seemed more obvious now that we were fighting a tank, the harder we punch him the harder he is to damage. Apart from some successful kicks and punches to his sides along with blasts to his open body, he really didn't look at all damaged. He shrugged off our latest dual attack, which we hoped would have done something but he still stood tall and with a grin.

"Well damn, are going to actually start hurting him instead of tickling him?" K asked as he laid on the hard ground with his eyes staring straight up at the sky probably thinking _WHAT THE FUCK_!? "Hell, he was taking damage before, it looks like he just became stronger," I replied standing next to him and watching for any sneak attacks from Yuson, he really was something else.

"No shit," K chuckled as he picked his back off the ground and looked ahead at Yuson slowly walking towards us from a distance, he shook his head before flipping onto his feet and flexing a bit.

"If he's just getting stronger, then we must do the same!" K responded and grinned as he positioned himself in a position ready to receive any attack. I looked at him and his aura already bursting out with shades of dark energy fuming out of him, he seemed to already be in full power, but then again, he's always full of surprises. I turned to Yuson and positioned symmetrically to K as I thought of a tactic to bring this tough bastard down.

"Any ideas?" K asked.

"Nope," I answered him humorously while still analyzing my situation. Yuson was about a mile away from us and he looked pretty damn buff now that I noticed. At the moment, it seemed I was out of ideas.

"Okay Twi, do you have any ideas?" Shining asked looking at his sister's bewildered expression. Twilight opened her mouth to say something but exchanged it for a simple head motion.

"No…" She answered him in a near whisper as she stared at Ben and K before looking up at Yuson, he only appeared to be becoming stronger by the second. Both Shining and Twilight decided that remaining about twenty feet away from the action would suit them better than being in the middle, Twilight knew well being caught in the middle wasn't a good idea.

"Oh dear, it looks like he's becoming stronger by the second," Luna worried as she stared at Yuson glow with a light-violet aura.

"Don't any of you all find it odd that he actually looks like the same species as Ben?" Cadence asked before looking around to see if anyone agreed with her question, it seemed they all did. "Oh dear, you're right…how come we didn't notice that?" Celestia asked looking around the room. Everyone shrugged, they wouldn't know considering Celestia is supposed to be the one with the knowledge.

"Hmm…all the gods from history are ponies, why is this one different?" Celestia asked herself as she rubbed her chin with the tips of her feathers on her wing. They all stared at Celestia rub the feather on her chin, awaiting an answer, well, all except Fluttershy, who seemed to be attracted to the screen that showed Ben and K in their attack positions. AJ had also taken her leave to handle her _business_.

Dash looked away from Celestia as she heard Flutters take a cut short breath and stare at the screen fully mind-controlled by it. Dash glanced suspicion towards her as she carefully moved up behind her, but that wasn't a good move, Flutters was all ears and as Dash approached, Flutters reacted unconsciously. She quickly found herself behind Dash. "WHAT THE-?" Dash squeaked a bit as she quickly turned around to look at Flutters.

"What the heck was that Fluttershy!?" Dash asked lowering her wings from the sudden spook but still remaining on the edge of reacting to the slightest movement. Flutters lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head to one side in confusion, she had no idea what her friends was asking.

"What was what?" Flutters asked sounding convincingly innocent of anything but it'll take more than that to convince the Sherlock of this place. Dash moved up to Flutters with a frown before lifting a hoof up and trying to touch Flutters muzzle to make her annoyance clear, but she just fell muzzle-first onto the floor. Flutters looked at her; worried about why she just did something like that. Dash rolled on the floor as she rubbed the pain out her muzzle.

"Dashie, don't do that, you'll hurt your muzzle!" Flutters advised being completely unaware of what she just did. Dash growled a bit as she quickly got off the floor and aimed a hoof at Flutters while rubbing her muzzle with the other one.

"YOU STOP DOING WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING!" Dash exclaimed sternly with a few tears from the pain of having her muzzle banged up against the floor. Flutters felt that deeply, she backed up and shivered a bit from Dash's sudden voice raise.

"Why are you yelling at me-she sniffled a bit and wiped some tears from her eyes-you're the one hurting yourself!?" Flutters whimpered as she stared at Dash wipe a few tears away.

Dash got back down on her four hooves and looked at her in disbelief, to which Flutters eyed carefully back in tears. Dash continued staring and circling her, curious, as she tried to find anything out of the ordinary, she found nothing but her odd way of dodging her hoof.

"Odd…you look normal…" Dash noted before Flutters quickly nodded her head.

"That's because I am, I'm normal!"

Dash wasn't taking that for a second, and so the idea hit her, why not test out this thing out? She quickly got up on her hind hooves and spread out her hooves leaving herself an open target, but that was just what she wanted. Flutters gave Dash the curiously worried look before wiping one last set of tears. Dash took a deep breath as she let her body relax and comfort a bit before she cleared her throat.

"Alright, Fluttershy-she took a deep breath-hit me."

Flutters quickly flinched away from her.

"W-WHAT!? NO!" She refused instantly of course, why would she hurt one of her best friends?

Despite Flutters thinking that, Dash was not going easy on this, never had she seen Flutters pull off moves like the one she did. Her curiosity was spiked.

Yuson still seemed far and we still seemed soundly safe, but I've got to remember my own rules of battle; never let your opponent see you drop your guard. Although, it seemed I need to preach it more. K unexpectedly dropped his shoulders by just a centimeter and anyone with a fighting instinct could feel it, Yuson sure did. The ground shook as Yuson catapulted himself towards us and I quickly placed my hand on my holstered sword, tensing it up. He was coming in fast and with the roaring sound of the wind around him being abused by his power.

K stepped back a bit and growled.

"Oh no!" He exclaimed before I felt my hand tense up to the point it would strain. I looked straight ahead as I got a mad but slightly smart idea.

"Step aside K, I'm taking this," I told him, sharpening my eyes and fasting them onto Yuson coming in bullet speed. K looked at me quickly and teleported away leaving me to face Yuson's wrath, I'm glad he trusts me in just drastic situations.

I closed my eyes for a split second and quickly opened to find Yuson a foot away from me with his hand out to punch my head clean off, but he was slowed down and I had only myself to thank for this sudden slowing down of time. I glared a grin as my hand felt began shaking from how tensely I was focusing all my weight, focus, and strength into my grip.

"That's his-" Luna observed with amazement shown throughout her face.

"It is-" Celestia added completely distracted by the sight.

"What is-?" Chrysalis partly asked before seeing Ben on the screen and went silent.

"Why's he-?" Cadence paused as she quickly noticed Ben quickly bent his leg back and forward his other leg.

"DO IT!" Dash yelled still exposing her body as an open target to Flutters.

"STOP IT DASHIE!" Flutters objected and covered her face with her hooves in all the stress.

I had Yuson in my hands now, he was just about to clobber my head with his fist but he didn't foresee this one.

"Kaio-Ken," I chuckled making Yuson's eyes widen but that was all he could do when I had the red aura and a tense hand. I quickly slid out the sword or it's holster and quickly swung it towards him with all the strength I could put into that swipe across my body. It felt almost as if I didn't cut anything but I was positive I was just tricking myself, I knew it hit, who could deny when blood as raining down on me?

I was still in my position from having swung my sword as I let out my breath. I got up and looked up to the night sky before looking at my hands and at my stained clothes. I looked like I was just caught in the aftermath of a red-paint explosion.

K stared in amazement next to Twilight and Shining who had arguable feelings. Twilight was gaging at the sight of the blood raining down on Ben, and Shining was all for it as he smiled with enthusiasm.

"ALRIGHT! THAT WAS AWESOME!" Shining yelled out before Twilight gave him a shove.

"His head has been completely removed from his body-Twilight gaged some more almost puking with that last gag-how is that awesome!?"

"I'VE NEVER SEEM ANYPONY DO SUCH A THING, IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL, SO CLEAN, SO WELL ORCHESTRATED!" Shining exclaimed almost in tears by all the emotion.

"Oh geez," Twilight rolled her eyes before gaging some more.

K gripped a fist tightly and chuckled.

"Seems you still have a few tricks up your sleeves."

"EEK HIS HEAD IS GONE!" Cadence screeched as she looked away quickly and tried to catch her breath. Chrysalis and Luna stared speechlessly as Ben wiped the blood off this sword with his shirt before holstering it. Celestia stared a bit terrified at the brutality of such an attack, and how it just occurred in such a short amount of time.

"That's just…something else…" Luna quietly expressed. Chrysalis shifted a bit from the slight tense feeling she obtained from just watching.

"Yeah…you don't see such…" She eased out not finding the words to describe such a thing but it seemed Celestia did.

"Brutality," She added.

"That's it," Chrysalis agreed.

There was awkward silence apart from the two arguing ponies in the background that they paid no heed to. Chrysalis stepped up a bit to the sphere and stared at Ben looking off with a serious glare.

"So…that's the Kaio-ken?" Chrysalis asked knowing the answer but she was highly intrigued by the strength being immitted. "Yes, it's an incredibly useful technique," Celestia answered staring at the orb waiting to see what happens next.

Chrysalis backed up a bit and looked over at Celestia with a burning question. Celestia noticed and asked, keeping her sight on the orb.

"Yes?"

"If he used this against you, then how didn't you die?" Chrysalis asked, her face showing all her confusion. Cadence opened her eyes and turned to Celestia before agreeing, "Yeah, how didn't you die if this is the strength of the Kaio-ken?"

Celestia smirked a bit as she looked to both of them.

"I placed us both in a simulation to see how powerful he truly was, remember?"

Chrysalis and Cadence exchanged a puzzled look before getting to another burning question.

"Ben said you would have died if it wasn't a simulation, what did he do that was that dangerous?" Cadence asked before Luna looked up a bit in shock. Chrysalis quickly caught onto Luna's look and looked over to Celestia, who was also equally in a small trance.

Celestia gulped a bit as she stared at the orb and widened her eyes at the multiple realizations going off in her mind.

"He…lost control of his power…" She whispered before Chrysalis looked to Luna.

"But he'll be fine now? Right?" Chrysalis asked not showing much worry at the moment. Luna and Celestia looked at each other before Celestia focused aimlessly at the orb and Luna thought quietly to herself.

Celestia studied the scenario in at rapid speed before stopping at a sudden conclusion, Ben will suffer damage at any point now. Quickly picking her head up and backing a bit from the orb she glanced to the three before her with bad news written all over her.

"No! He won't be fine! He'll have two choices to make!" She quickly stated, getting Chrysalis's attention the most, followed by Cadence and Luna.

"Which are?" Chrysalis asked, not showing the same level of stress as Celestia. Celestia glanced once more at the orb to make sure everything was still the same before getting back to the three of them.

"To either power up to a stronger level of this Kaio-ken technique or suffer physical harm once he deactivates it!"

As much as Celestia and Luna recognized this as a huge danger, Cadence and Chrysalis refused to acknowledge it since it looked like Yuson was no more.

"Why would he need to become stronger? Isn't Yuson already…you know…gone?" Cadence asked stepping forwards to Celestia and Luna. Chrysalis followed the lead from behind with a nod.

Celestia quickly shot them down with her instant response.

"No, a god doesn't just die having his/her head severed from their body."

Cadence and Chrysalis looked down to the floor in a bit of embarrassment for not thinking that far ahead.

"Oh…"

Luna then stepped up aiming her hoof to the orb.

"So now what? We can't let Ben just hurt himself or rampage again!" She asked calling up one of them to take action. They all glared at each other before Luna sat on the floor trying to come up with anything useful.

"Why not just watch?" Chrysalis asked out of the blue and quickly getting the horde of confusion.

"WATCH!?" They all yelled making Chrysalis lean away before wiping her face from the verbal debris.

"Yes, I have a sort of intuition on combat, and Ben seems like a skillful being, he's the pawn that does what the queen does on the board," Chrysalis cleverly phrased leaving them speechless for a moment before they turned to the orb and took a deep breath.

They stared at Ben turn to face Yuson's idle body on the floor and sigh. "I guess you're right to some extent," Celestia agreed, calming Cadence in the process. As they watched, Luna, having overheard the odd words of wisdom from earlier, looked behind herself to Chrysalis.

"A pawn that does what a queen does…that isn't like you Chrysalis," Luna noted looking back at her followed by Celestia and Cadence. Chrysalis glared seriously at the orb and nodded.

"I'm not a queen anymore, I believe I have some right so saying such a thing," Chrysalis replied, seriously as she continued to stare into the orb, either feeling pain or regret, yet Luna was too afraid to perform another mind read. Luna looked at Celestia and Cadence before turning to the orb and having time to process that.

" _Poor Chrysi, maybe…maybe she was better off with a throne._ "

Over to the part where no one is clearly paying attention but a guard whose excitement came from Dash just opening herself up for a punch and Flutters refusing to do so.

"FLUTTERSHY!"

"NO!"

"Geez, what's the big problem?" The guard asked finally revealing he was watching them, a look of glum on his face from watching two friends argue it out over a punch. Dash turned to look at the guard before finally losing the balance on her hind hooves and letting herself down on all fours. She quickly aimed a hoof at Flutters and asked.

"YOU SAW HOW SHE MOVED EXTREMELY FAST, RIGHT!?"

The guard moved his eyes over to Flutters before looking back at Dash and shrugging.

"I don't know, I just came here after hearing some shouting."

Dash grunted as she turned back to Flutters.

"You've got to be kidding me…WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE ME FLUTTERSHY!?" Dash asked before Flutters paused and wiped away her tears again like she'd been doing ever since Dash started screaming. Flutters growled as she let Dash have her thoughts.

"YOU COULD HAVE JUST ASKED ME TO BELIEVE YOU INSTEAD OF TRYING TO MAKE ME PUNCH YOU! I WILL NOT HURT ANY OF YOU AND YOU KNOW THAT!" Flutters cried but now there was some regret flowing out of those watching her tear up again. The guard sighed as he got up from his laid down position and trotted away before he got too involved in the madness that was these two.

Dash watched as the guard passed AJ on the way to the orb that Celestia and the rest observed. AJ glanced over at the guard before looking at the two pegasi looking awfully disappointed and trotted over to them.

"Uh…I just got back from the mares' room…is everything alright?" She asked, observing both of them with a raised eyebrow.

Dash sighed as she let herself fall onto the floor with her wings fanned out and a pout on her face. She laid there on her back as she waited for some decent justice to come her way.

"No, I just tried to make Fluttershy punch me and ended up making her cry," She said crossing her hooves and closing her eyes for a few seconds.

AJ looked to Flutters and back to Dash before scratching her head from under her hat. She giggled a bit at the thought of what took place with her absence before looking at Flutters crying and staring at her curiously. Flutters quickly looked away and hid her face from AJ, although, AJ noticed something new. She quickly trotted around Flutters to get a better look at her observation. Flutters stared at AJ before leaning away as AJ neared her face to hers in an exaggerated manner, trying to get a better look at her eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Flutters asked finally deciding to take a step back, leaving AJ with a look of suspicion on her face. AJ quickly backed away as well and nodded her head quickly. Flutters widened her eyes and placed both hooves on her chest in worry.

"What is it?"

AJ gulped as she aimed a hoof at Flutter's face.

"It's your eyes! They ain't normal!"

Dash quickly opened her eyes and shot straight up onto her hooves with her eyes glued to Flutter's eyes. It wasn't even a second before Dash aimed her hoof at Flutters with a look of success on her.

"A-HA! YOU SEE! YOU'RE NOT NORMAL!" Dash yelled with a few chuckles at finally having an alibi and proof that Flutters was different. Flutters jumped back and put up a hoof over her eye before quickly shaking with some odd fear.

"What!? What's wrong with my eyes!?" She asked her voice squealing from how high it went. Dash quickly dashed off to find a mirror while AJ assured and described her eyes to her, though, she had a very unsubtle manner of presenting it.

"THEY'RE RED AND IF I ANI'T MISTAKEN, THEY LOOK AN AWFUL LOT LIKE K'S EYES!" AJ exclaimed forcing Flutters into a momenta shock. AJ grabbed Flutters by the cheeks with her hooves and manipulated it to get multiple angles on the strange thing.

"They do!?" Flutters asked sounding like she was speaking gibberish by how AJ squeezed her cheeks together. AJ quickly nodded as she let her go.

"Ya!"

Dash quickly returned with a mirror in her mouth before switching it to her hoof and aiming the reflective surface towards Flutters. "LOOK!" She demanded as she shoved the mirror into her face. Flutters backed up and stared at the mirror before having another momenta shock. She remained stuck like that for well over a few seconds. Dash and AJ looked at each other in a bit of worry as it seemed Flutters was tipping over to one side like a statue.

"…Fluttershy?" Dash asked as Flutters seemed to slowly tip over to one side, but the laws of gravity were not acting on her. She was well at an acute angle with the ground but she wasn't falling, strange thing was that she wasn't using her wings to stay so perfectly balanced, it was as if she was just levitating effortlessly.

AJ backed a step as Flutters stopped tipping over and suddenly just spawned in the same place just straight up this time. Dash and AJ looked to each other in fear as Flutters slowly twitched her ears. "Okay, Fluttershy, calm down…" AJ whispered out as she backed up another step. This time Flutters reacted but it wasn't the cheerful calm down, she came to a low level of sanity and glared a grin at them.

"Hey there, it appears I'm needed at the moment," Flutters chuckled in a knew bad-ass Fluttershy accent and pulling off the pony-look alike of K's grin. "So, you wanted to get punched, didn't you?" Flutters asked keeping her grin, her eyes glowing a full-on red as she smacked both hooves together and taunted the two in front of her. Dash and AJ instantly hugged each other in terror as they unleashed their cries for help.

"CELESTIA! SAVE US!"

"You're not dead, are you?" I asked looking down at the severed head. The head quickly shot its eyes open almost startling me, it was so sudden. It glared it's towards me the coldest look I've ever received from anyone, this was a sign. A sign more things are going to be put to the test and on the line. It stared at me a few seconds before its eyes finally began shaking, I couldn't tell if it was from fear or fury from the emotionless look he put on but I had a few good signals I needed to back up. For example, his body in the background standing up.

I backed up, with a bit of pain stinging from my rib. I placed my hand on my rib and tried to sooth the pain out by rubbing it but this was more of an internal problem, the Kaio-Ken was taking effect. It wasn't as bad as the first time I used it but it was annoying and limited me from moving freely. I growled at the pain and glared back at the enemy.

" _Oh man, why now?_ "

Yuson was on his feet again and his head just attached itself like a Lego piece. Worst of all, I was in for it now, Yuson had all evil signs radiating from his look. I felt a jolt of pain, stronger than the sting from before, and I quickly found myself on my knees. I huffed out the pain in curses as I tried to stand up but only greeted the jolts of pain and its siblings along.

"Okay," I huffed out with no breath, my hands preventing me from falling completely to the ground. "I need to move out of here-" I whispered to myself running a hand to my forehead but felt my body crush under a heavy force. The ground cracked as I was having my whole internal bone structure on the edge of breaking.

"I see you like pushing your limits-he chuckled a laugh so deep it was terrifying-so I'll do the same,"

Terrified grunts and muffled cries emerged overhead, yet having my whole body facing the ground with a foot on my back didn't let me look up. Although I knew those muffled cries by heart, I've heard them before and I was not ready to hear them again.

"R-Rarity!?" I grunted as I pushed my hands from the ground trying to go against the force of his foot. I got some strange adrenaline boost from her cries but they were nothing to the gravity of Yuson's foot. "What…are you doing to her!?" I asked in grunts as I continued fighting back but was only able to push myself an inch off the ground before being pressed on by more force.

"I gave up on trying to claim you as mine, instead, I'll make you miserable," He chuckled as he made Rarity gag for air. I tried to get up but the pain accompanied by the pressure on my back was too much for me to handle but it wasn't for the lack of trying. "STOP IT!" I yelled out as I tried to push back once more and only got a stomp on my back that ended my pain for a brief second before a massive body shock followed.

I couldn't move, my body was in shock, what was I going to do!?

"YOU'RE WIDE OPEN!" K exclaimed quickly appearing behind Yuson with his hand well charged up with an attack he'd been charging for a while. Yuson only managed to look at K off the corner of his eye before K placed his charged hand on Yuson's back and let him have it.

I felt the massive rush of energy go above me and the weight slide right off my back. I quickly but painfully looked up at K before lifting my hand off the ground and weakly aiming it towards the direction I felt the blast go.

"K get Rarity! NOW!" I yelled as I tried to pick myself off the ground, I felt like I had been run over by a semi. K gave a nod and went on his way. As he left my presence I felt two more appear off my left.

"Ben are you alright!?" Twilight asked as she helped me roll over to my back before sitting me up with her magic accompanied by Shining's. I glared at them a look of exhaustion before shaking my head.

"No…"

"What happened!? You were doing so well!" Shining asked making me nod before I hunched over and grabbed my side in pain, grunting in pain.

"It's this the Kaio-Ken effect-I huffed out and swallowed-it goes both ways," I grunted as I felt Twilight work her magic on me, although it wasn't very effective. I raised my hand up and stopped her from using her magic, she backed up as I stood up. I wobbled all the way up.

"Ben, you can't continue fighting like this, at least let me heal you!" Twilight offered as I stared at them, although all I really had in my sights were two blurry specs of white and purple. I placed my hand on my head before catching my fall; I was all sorts of fucked up.

"BEN! SIT DOWN AND LET ME HEAL YOU! THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!" Twilight exclaimed sounding more like mom when I didn't get up for school. Oddly, that was a trigger I needed. I let myself sit down on the floor before my body felt the weakness pile up and fell over to my side. I wasn't raising any alarms but I was extremely tired after that horrid back crushing, but maybe just maybe, Twilight might heal me to point I can think straight.

"Okay mom, go ahead," I said closing my eyes hoping to open them to a clear world that I could see clearly. Twilight glanced at Shining and Shining back at Twilight before he shrugged.

"Uh, okay?" Twilight giggled slightly as she began working her magic on me. That one second of healing magic was enough to get me to understand the problem with what I just said.

"Oh, sorry, I, uh, wasn't thinking straight," I chuckled as I kept my eyes closed. Shining chuckled as well as he nudged Twilight. "Guess that makes me uncle now?" Shining laughed it up before Twilight pushed back.

"Oh great, are you not thinking straight either?"

"Oh Twily, keep healing Ben."

"I'm not a baby anymore! Stop calling me that!" Twilight sternly whispered out hoping I wouldn't hear, but I did.

"I'm not one either but you still call me Shiny!"

 _Oh great, I needed to get stuck between these two arguing, although mom did call me Benjy an awful lot too._

"Fluttershy!? What's the meaning of this!?" Celestia asked as she stared at Flutters. Flutters turned to her and shrugged.

"Hey, she was asking for it!" Flutters explained on her behalf before getting met with a look of disapproval from Celestia. Celestia looked over to two highly frightened ponies before returning to Flutters who was staring back in about as serious a look as Flutters face could pull off.

Just off the look, Celestia was already uneasy being in front of Flutters.

"Who are you?" Celestia asked in a civil whisper, everyone in the room caught on and turned to Flutters as they awaited an answer. Flutters glared a confused look at them as she scratched her head.

"Uh…Fluttershy I suppose?" She responded shrugging, not understanding the question. Celestia glared confusion to everyone in the room before looking at Flutters and studying her look, all that seemed different was the eyes and her confusion seemed real.

Celestia continued circling Flutters a bit more before Flutters got a bit creeped out and backed away. Celestia stared for a few more seconds before the idea stuck to her head as it flew by her.

"Is this the effect of K…doing what he did to you?" Celestia asked staring worryingly at Flutters now that she knew something was clearly happening. Flutters placed her hoof to her chin before giggling and nodding.

"Yeah, that sounds about right! Wait up, where are those two?" Flutters asked almost as if she didn't just realize she was under some sort of alternate personality that was an awful lot different than her. Celestia looked at Luna, there wasn't anything Celestia could do anymore, it seemed Flutters was harmless at the moment, yet she looked like she could easily rip the wings off anyone in the room if she gets pissed.

Luna stepped up and looked down at Flutters.

"Ben and K…they're kind of in a predicament…" Luna explained, trying not to sound so negative. Flutters swayed over to her and frowned slightly as she asked.

"Predicament? What!? Where!?" She asked in a confused anger.

Luna was already as confused as is, so she replied instantly by raising her hoof up and aiming it towards the orb at the other end of the room. Flutters quickly looked at the orb and nodded a 'thank you' as she trotted off to it. Luna looked at Celestia, Cadence, and Chrysalis in a confused fear.

"What was I to do!?" Luna responded to all the looks of frustration she was getting.

"Nothing sister, we must hope for the best and-"

"Wha-WHY IS BEN HURT!?" Flutters yelled outraged by what she was seeing.

Everyone quickly turned to Flutters as she grabbed the orb and tried to get a closer look, placing her eyes millimeters from the screen. "DID THAT GOD-it must have been…" Flutters let out sinisterly as she let the orb go and frowned towards the floor with her hoof on her chin thinking of a quick plan.

"What the heck is wrong with her? Has she completely lost her mind?" Chrysalis asked in a whisper as she looked around the room at the others, AJ and Dash shrugged along with everyone else. "Maybe I could put her to sleep, maybe that will help?" Luna asked. She looked around for confirmation and it seemed that everyone agreed.

Luna took a deep breath as she aimed her horn at Flutters and shot a beam straight at her at hyper speed.

Flutter's eyes diverted from the floor and looked off to the speeding beam off the corner of her eye before quickly ducking and standing up on her hind hooves.

"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!? I'M TRYING TO THINK HERE!"

"Uh, sorry!" Luna apologized nervously as she backed up to her sister and hid behind her. Flutters nodded before returning to thinking on the floor.

Luna looked at her sister and shook her head, there was no way she was messing with that again. Celestia agreed clearly.

"Anymore bright-" Chrysalis was cut off by Flutters looking back into the orb again and staring completely in shock.

"R-Rarity…EKK! WHAT'S HE DOING TO HER!?"

"What? Rarity!?" Celestia asked before trotting up quickly to the orb and studying the scene, of course she'd respond to one of the main ponies. The scene seemed to be a heavily injured K trying to slowly convince Yuson to let his hostage go. Celestia looked in terror as she noticed Rarity turning dark purple from having the breath choked out of her. "No-No-NO!" Celestia exclaimed before looking frantically around for something useful but what could she find in her bedroom that was of any use.

Flutters noticed Celestia's panic before she looked back the orb and back her.

"Hey! Send me out there!" Flutter requested fanning her wings out and ready for flight. Celestia rapidly looked at her and shook her head, why would she endanger a pony who's lost her mind?

"W-WHAT!? NO FLUTTERSHY YOU'RE NOT THINKING STRAIGHT AT THE MOMENT!"

Flutters shook her head in objection to that.

"I AM! I CAN SAVE RARITY! TRUST ME!"

"YOU'LL DIE!"

Celestia remained silent after that hoping she made herself clear. Flutters grew angered by her letting Rarity's time to live go by and flashed a red flare from her eyes and stomped her hoof on the ground shaking the entire building slightly.

"COME ON!" Flutters growled in a deeper voice than before. Celestia stepped back and shivered a bit before swallowing and nodding. Her horn glowed brightly as she sent a beam of light crashing on Flutters.

"OKAY, FINE, GO!"

FOOSH*

" _I'm supposed to be saving my ponies…why can't I?_ " Celestia asked herself mentally as she sat down and shook her head, the feeling of regret flowing through her.

"Then, why don't you?" Luna asked coming from behind with a smile. Celestia looked back at her and at the orb observing what was happening, the fight was serious, and she was locked in her room by her own accord.

" _It's just so new Luna, we've never had these problems before…_ " Celestia responded in her head, so her sister was the only one able to hear. Luna gave a glum look but quickly erased it for the sake of her sister.

"And we've never had a Ben or K before, a human and demon as a friend before, we must learn to embrace this, forget the bad events, we'll get through this one way or another sister," Luna motivated doing her best to lift her sister's spirits. Celestia looked back at her and smiled.

"Thank you."

Luna smiled warmly before glancing off to the orb and noticing Rarity horrible purple.

"R-Rarity…Sister!" Luna cried out alerting Celestia of Rarity. Celestia turned and noticed the scene hadn't changed. She stared in hope as she waited for something to happen.

 _Whatever you're going to do Fluttershy, do it now!_

"Fluttershy?" Luna asked.

"Okay, Twilight, that good enough!" I stopped her quickly getting up and turning around to the scene behind me. Twilight stopped and so did Shining who'd joined in to hurry the process up. "What the-" I whispered as I noticed Rarity still in a tight hold with K doing his best to dislodge her from Yuson's grip although that was easier said than done. I couldn't blame K since he was doing his best, but best wasn't good enough now, the brute god had turned into an even stronger tank.

"Rarity…no…NO!" I exclaimed reaching for my side and drawing my sword once more, I was still in pain but the adrenaline made up for it. It had to take it to a next level from here. I launched myself from the floor trying my best to move as fast as I could.

I clutched my sword to my side, cutting the wind as I rushed against the last few seconds of life in the nearly lifeless pony. I made it halfway before I switched my body to a position ready to strike. Although the strike never came, a huge blinding white light appeared out of nowhere and an object swiped down from the sky onto Yuson, he didn't react on time and was caught in the explosion. I paused my attack at the sudden occurrence and stared as dust clouds erupted.

I only stopped to stare for a second before quickly seeing Rarity's deep violet hair appear. I made the effort and swing my body forward towards Rarity, before getting the arm of Yuson in my sights. I spun my entire body around to get the maximum force in the swing and still managed to get the sword lodged in the arm as screams of pain erupted from the god. I could hear the sound of the bone cracking under the pressure I was putting on the sword and more pain go through his arm.

I groaned and grunted as I continued my desperate attempted before a hand grabbed my head and tried to pull me off. My skull felt like it was getting crushed in by the massive grip of the hand, I gritted my teeth as I applied more pressure but the more I did the more the hand pulled on my head. I glanced back at the clearing dust to see Yuson giving me my death sentence through his look. I closed my eyes quickly closed my eyes and hoped I will live to see Rarity again after this.

I grunted some more before letting out the screams of agony I felt as I tried to force myself into more power. Yuson let out some grunts of pain as well as he compressed my head even more.

"It's useless-"

"KAIO-KEN TIMES FOUR!" I exclaimed as I forced myself and my blade cleanly cut through. I kicked away Rarity, a safe distance before turning the sword on the hand behind my head and at Yuson in a series of heavy and potent slices. I backed up away from Yuson and to Rarity, quickly using my sword to cut off the still gripped fingers and free Rarity.

She was motionless.

I stared in fear and worry before I leaned my ear to her mouth to hear her breathing or at least feel some air flow through. It was thanks to the bristles of my barely noticeable beard that tickled that I felt the weakest breath call. I couldn't drop my aura at the moment in fear of hurting myself so I went along with it as I straightened Rarity's back and placed my hand on her head. This was probably the most human thing I could do at the moment that could save a life.

I placed my hand on her mouth and opened it along with covering her muzzle with my hand. _If it worked on a human, I might just work on a pony_. I just had to get her breathing stable.

I placed my mouth on hers and breathed into her before pulling back to listening, her breath was still thin. I did it again, again, again, and again. Hope looked grim but it finally paid off. It was on the fifth try her eyes opened and she took a double gasp for air nearly sucking the air out of my lungs. I pulled back and tried to catch my own breath before quickly trying to see if Rarity was alright.

The purple around her neck up was faded to the same lightness as her blush as she let out heavy breaths of air. I sat on the ground as I stared at her giving her breath a few tests before looking weakly over to me. I was so distracted by the headache I had over such worry, I didn't notice when I was thrown to the ground by the heavy embrace I was getting.

"T-thank…you!" She tried to exclaim but only managed to cry it out in a thin squeaky voice. I turned to her and smiled slightly at her, teared up but safe, look.

I whimpered a bit as I let my head hit the ground. "No, thank you for not dying on me!"

K stared at Yuson almost in shock after that sudden blast of energy attacked him. K looked around himself and at Ben on the ground resting it out while Yuson stared at his severed body limbs all over the place.

"Fucking Ben!" Yuson barked as he tried to get a piece of his body to move but he was so chopped up it was almost impossible for him to assemble himself without making mistakes.

K looked down at Yuson before giving him a growl.

"I'm sure he's thinking the same about you!" K lashed out as he aimed a hand down at him and pulled out Ben's bowie knife. Yuson looked at K with his severed head and growled as he stared coldly at K through his one complete eye.

The shine of the knife caught onto Yuson and was the trigger of an uncontrollable laughter.

"What's so funny!?" K asked as he placed the knife to the surface if his palm. Yuson laughed even louder at the question making K bury the knife just slightly into his skin.

"I'll be taking everyone you love with me down to Tartarus if you do that!" Yuson taunted making K stop and grip the knife tighter as he pulled it away from his hand. It's true, Yuson does have all the ponies in his hands at the moment, he had Rarity so he must have the rest of Ponyville with him too.

"You, lowlife piece of shit," K whispered out in the disbelief. Yuson was willing to go all the way to ensure he wasn't thrown down to hell without killing someone. K placed the knife away before moving over to Yuson's head and picking it up, staring at it with his now half black set of eyes.

"What do you want!?" K asked seriously.

Yuson only glared a grin at him before spitting out blood onto his face.

"I want to watch you bleed, to crawl like the filthy creatures you all are, I see the errors of bringing Ben here, and I'll do my best to send him back when I can! I WANT TO SEE YOU DIE-"

K felt the head escape his hands as yellow hoof appeared and was left in place of the head. K slowly eased his head to the left to notice a pretty well pissed Fluttershy to his surprise. She looked completely evil with the red eyes and her teeth sharper than usual.

"F-Flutters?" K asked, as she dropped his hand to his side and stared at Flutters in disbelief. She had an aura like his, she had eyes like his, she had canines like his, and she had an explosive look about her. Flutters turned to him and gleamed a smile.

"I made it!" Flutters giggled sounding almost as if she didn't just Flutter-punch Yuson's head out of his hand. K studied her and looked at her from all angles as she hovered in mid-air, he placed his hands on her wings and expanded them, she wasn't using them to hover. Flutters giggled as she shifted away from K's hand tickling her.

"W-WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?" K exclaimed aiming his hands at her with his mouth just hanging in disbelief. Flutters lifted an eyebrow and scratched her head. "What?" She asked. K slapped his face before he became serious and circled her quickly, Flutters keeping her eyes on him the whole way.

"You're…you're…LIKE ME!" K exclaimed as he placed his hand on his head and closed his eyes in all the stress. Flutters nodded slightly in agreement before she smiled again.

"Celestia said something about you putting something in me, I remember it briefly but it allowed me to exchange bodies with you and Ben, right?" Flutters asked.

K nodded before he lifted a hand and pointed a finger at her.

"But it seems it can do more than just transfer your body-K gulped loudly as he retracted his finger back-It also seems to give you…somewhat of my abilities," K explained laughing nervously a bit. Flutters thought about it for a second before she smiled once more, she didn't seem to get it that she's not herself.

K sighed before nodding and accepting the fact Flutters is completely different. He was accepting because of the fact when Flutters goes back to normal, she'd be almost as if she'd awoken from a deep sleep and not remember a thing, in other words, no worries. Since Flutters was just one pony as a whole and didn't have any other entities inside herself, she was split between two personalities (or ponyalities) thus meaning her mind was also in two, it was basically two minds in one; she switches between the current Flutters and switches off the old Flutters until the old Flutters switches on and this one goes off. K remained silent just to not stir up whatever was happening with Flutters and thanked her.

"You're welcome!" She responded making K smile and nod before turning to Yuson rumbling in the background.

"Can you fight?" K asked as he stared at Yuson's head levitate.

"I'm here anyway, nothing left to do but what we can," Flutters responded pulling off the same look as K, even the same battle position. K looked over and positioned himself in his usual fighting position and chuckled.

"Alright then! Let's see what we can do in that body!"

Flutters smirked and nodded.

"A lot more than you think!"

"He went times four…" Celestia whispered out as she stared into the floating sphere. Luna looked over at her and gulped as she agreed. "Yes, but he saved Rarity."

Celestia nodded as she continued staring at Ben, in particular, something was off from before. The sudden burst of white light he emitted during that hack and slash he had at Yuson was brighter than any of the moments before then. The most intriguing part was that he triggered this at the moment of complete hopelessness, if he did activate the Kaio-ken then he should've been engulfed in a deep red, but no, instead he was swallowed by pure light.

"Sister…are you still-"

"Yes, you saw that impressive display of light, then what looked like a flash of light was actually Yuson getting sliced into pieces, that isn't normal even by Ben's standards," Celestia stated before turning to Luna and seeing how she was along with the rest of the company in the room by her side. Luna nodded in excitement before moving up to her sister and aiming her hoof at the orb.

"Isn't this that Pure-Light Magic you described!?"

Celestia looked up at the orb once more before looking back at Luna, she knew the answer despite her curious look back.

"What else can it be?" Celestia questioned as she returned to looking at the orb with a serious look on her. Luna along with everyone else wanted to be happy over it but seeing Celestia so serious killed their mood, why was she serious was the question in their minds.

"What's wrong?" Chrysalis asked stepping ahead from behind Luna. "Yeah, shouldn't we be glad we have an upper hoof on the situation?" Dash asked next.

Everyone agreed as they waited for Celestia's response.

Celestia looked at them and back at the orb before lifting her hoof to it.

"This sudden eruption of this power was triggered due to Ben being desperate and wanting to save Rarity, as you can see, at the moment, that power is gone," She explained as she looked at Ben on the orb trying to get Rarity off him but she was attached. "Oh…" Dash and Chrysalis let out awkwardly at the realization. Celestia looked at them and grew a slight smile.

"But…"

Everyone picked their head up to listen, if Celestia smiles and has something to say, it has to be worthy.

"Yes?" Luna spoke for all.

Celestia turned to them completely with a cheerful smile and giggled.

"If Ben can show glimpses of his power, maybe K can too," She explained in a full confirmation, she knew well if Ben was capable then so was K. Everyone looked at Celestia before turning to the orb to witness K and Flutters, both equally symmetrical to each other apart from the anatomy.

"K…" Chrysalis whispered as she stared into the orb, her confidence in him was high but she still worried.

" _What is your hidden power?_ "

"Okay Rarity, time to get off now," I urged for the third time trying to not sound to mean after her experience. She looked up at me and tightly embraced me once more before hopping clean off and landing on all fours on the ground. "Thank you, I'm sorry I took so long again," I apologized before turning to face K and an unexpected visitor. I eyed her for a few seconds as I studied the obvious problem with what I was seeing.

It was Flutters, although, her grin, her eyes, her new aura; it was basically another K in a yellow feminine pegasi's body. I stared awkwardly, I must have, I couldn't feel a thing as I stared at how similar Flutters was to K before Rarity come up beside me and tapped me with her hoof.

"Oh, yes?" I asked her. She looked up at me with a confused expression as she left her hoof on me.

"When you were trying to get me free, I couldn't help but notice how you were sparking white lightning around you-"

"White lightning?" I asked I don't recall such a thing, all I remember was the feeling of my head getting crushed while I tried to cut her free. Rarity nodded and tapped me once more with her hoof.

"Yes, and not only that darling, after you said those Ka-io words, you exploded in a white light that was so bright! I can't recall it all but seeing that lump of sliced body parts over there, I guess, and I must say I guess pretty well that you must have done something while covered in that light!" She explained in an excited tone, I haven't seen her this excited before.

I looked at my hands before looking at my body, I was still in this red aura of the Kaio-Ken, like I said, I don't remember a white light or anything. I sighed and scratched my head as I thought about it as deep as I could, but I couldn't get anywhere.

"I'm sorry Rarity, I can't recall that, but I won't disagree with you, okay?" I explained. She nodded with a smile as she let her hoof drop off my leg.

"Alright darling, I was just trying to bring it up to your attention."

I left it at that for a few seconds before I got another question in my head. I turned to Rarity and she quickly looked up at me curiously. I cleared my throat as I knelt down.

"Where were you?" I asked, blunt and to the point.

"What?" She asked back, clearly not getting it. I aimed my finger at the lump of flesh that was currently trying to assemble itself again although K and Flutters were impeding it the best they could.

"Where were you? Yuson, that freak over there, he pulled out of thin air, where did he have you and where are the others?" I asked again but maybe it was a bit too straight now. Rarity froze for a bit before looking away to nothing, trying to get something in her head sorted out. I leaned my face back into her sight before she turned back to me.

"…right…" She answered, trying to find some air. I placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a slight shake to get her back on track.

"Hey, you okay?"

She picked her head up.

"Yes…sorry," She answered quickly and jittery. I wasn't going to find out if she prolonged the answer, I grabbed her shoulders and firmed her up. "What happened?" I asked again but this time she took a deep breath before answering. She gave me that look sad puppies give off, although seeing it come out of her was equally if not more depressing.

"He has so many of the residents, so many, even little-"

I cut her off to avoid hearing her voice crack under a whimper and tear.

"Yeah, I know, he practically swept up Ponyville as far as I know, do you have any ideas on how to set them free?" I asked her going directly to the point. She paused almost instantly and stared blankly in my direction, she became idle and soulless.

I quickly gave her another shake which I repeated more than twice just to get her back on track with reality.

"Rarity!?" I whispered her name out in a deeper voice, she quickly attached her eyes to me before her head followed. As confused as I was I didn't want to her trouble her at the moment over it, considering she just had something she might remember for years, no one forgets a near-death experience. She took a shaky breath while doing her best to not look awkward, although she did a bad job at that.

"…I hate saying this, but…you could try-she took a breather to calm down-ending him," She answered in an oddly slow and hoping I got the message type manner. I wasn't going to object to such a straightforward idea but honestly, I wasn't planning on that. I was hoping Yuson would keep his word on the little deal we set up but it seems he decided _to hell with it_ and just went upon himself to ruin my life, _I should've shaken on it or something._

"kill him then-I chuckled a bit at that thought-that's easier said than done," I answered trying to sound as if I hadn't been doing that for the last few minutes. This time I was taken by surprise as Rarity grabbed my shirt and tugged on it forcing me to stop myself from falling her, she was desperate. She pushed me to be face to face with her as she pulled off the serious look, she wanted to be heard.

"I know but there has to be a way!" She exclaimed.

I placed my hands on her hooves and pulled them off me.

"Okay but what will killing him do, will it bring back most of Ponyville?" I asked hoping she understood. Although she wasn't playing with her feelings, she nodded rapidly and began rambling about it.

"YES! Whenever Twilight and all of us get something taken from us like magic or another useful source, usually terminating the source brings it all back, never has it not been like that!" She explained stating a good point. In the movies that's how it always goes, although here, I don't know, but if I couldn't trust myself, then I'll trust in these ponies.

I picked myself off my knees and focused my energy again to keep it alive and going. I picked my sword up and stared at the blood-stained surface of the metal before looking back at Yuson almost fully assembled again. It seemed Flutters was a better fighter than she looked but even paired with K, she was no match for Yuson's disgustingly attachable body. I flicked my sword a few times before closing my eyes to get my breath. I finally reopened my eyes a few seconds later and brought my sword up to my face and viewed Yuson on either side of the blade.

"Okay then, I'll kill him," I stated straightly and leaving it there. I had no plan or way of doing it but things have a way of working out in the end, so I'll trust in my luck. Rarity glared at me in worry as I took a first few steps towards the enemy before stopping me with my name. I paused and slightly turned my head to her.

"Yes?"

"Be safe, okay?"

That's something I wanted to hear. I missed the feeling of doing something dangerous and having someone wish me well.

"I'll do my best, and I'd ask the same of you," I chuckled back as I began my steps again. She smiled and nodded with a tiny blush.

"Thank you, darling."

I chuckled a bit more, I still haven't gotten used to that name. I nodded back and turned to face my objective.

Here I go again, face to face with this guy, and this time, I'll make sure I do what I was told.

"Well shit, it looks like you can do a lot in that body of yours," K let out in a pant as he retracted himself back to a safe position along with Flutters breathing equally with him. "Yeah, but it wasn't enough, he reconstructed himself," Flutters pointed out as she let her shoulders drop in frustration.

Yuson glared evilly at them and like before, he wasn't playing games again as he aimed his hand at them and rapidly fired a blast at them. Compared to the other blasts from before this one basically was a hundred times the diameter of the other ones, and forced K to teleport rapidly out the area with Flutters.

"Damn it, looks like he's just getting stronger again!" K cursed as she let go of Flutters up high in the air, where they gazed upon Yuson.

"No kidding…" Flutters admired as she stared at the destruction occur to some homes.

Yuson turned his sights to them, he looked equally pissed as before as he aimed his hands towards them again. K aimed his hand back at him ready to deflect anything coming his way along with Flutters equally doing the same.

"Do you have any idea how to deal with this guy? He seems to have all of Ponyville in his hands," K asked before charging up some dark energy in his hand along with Flutters with the equal dark magic. Flutters stared at Yuson almost studying him before nodding. K picked his head up instantly.

"Really!?" K asked cheerfully. Flutters nodded again before turning to him.

"We'll kill him." She answered directly. K lifted an eyebrow at how strange Flutters sounded saying "kill," he had to remind himself he was speaking to this Flutters and not the old one.

"Uh…will that get everyone else back?"

"It should, I have some background knowledge on these type of things," Flutters assured him before looking back at the ground and seeing Yuson far down there still not shooting anything. K wasn't going to wait defensively, he quickly fired out his charged attack along with Flutters who had the same idea.

The attacks were met with Yuson firing back with a stronger attack and engulfing their attacks. K and Flutters quickly moved away from the attack, going their own way before returning back to the ground and reuniting.

"Okay then Flutters, now we-" K paused at the sight of Ben appearing between the two of them, he just appeared there out the blue. Flutters and K turned to him in surprise as he had his sword drawn and his aura in his Kaio-Ken.

"Hey, you finally decide to join us!?" K exclaimed as he smiled at my sight. "Yeah," I chuckled before turning to my other side at Flutters who stared at me in certain surprise. I smiled as I let her know I acknowledged this new her with my amazed look.

"And who would have thought our dear Flutters would turn out like this?"

She grinned and nodded. "Yup, you could say that."

K leaned over to me as I stared at her.

"No worries, she'll go back to normal later," He assured me. I nodded as I continued staring at Flutters before hearing the sound of a blast of energy being fired in front of us. I quickly aimed my hand out and shot back at the direction of the energy along with two dark beamed spiraling around my white beam of energy. The moment the opposing blast hit ours they exploded and we were left with our hands along with Flutter's hooves out towards the attack, although I was the only one using one hand.

"So Ben, what do you think we should do?" K asked stretching his arms. I stared straight forward at the target as I answered him, I've been surprised more than enough for tonight. "According to Rarity, we end him here and now," I answered him. He seemed to agree fully as he nodded and smirked.

"Alright then, I have a few ways, the hard way or not so hard way," He offered. I paused for a moment to sigh in relief, I had a hunch he knew what to do. "Well fucking finally! And they are?" I asked with a small smirk as well.

K gave off a nervous chuckle, which was worrying, _I don't like it when he shows insecurity._

"Originally, you'd have to rid a god of their significance to the world, but getting rid of despair is impossible, so I came up with the hard way; we pull off a seal on him and crush his entire soul until he's nothing!" he explained with enthusiasm.

"A seal?" I asked. I remember what happened last time he tried to pull off a seal, it would result devastating for him. As I feared, it was the same method.

"Yeah, I'll just do what I did with the knife and carve a special seal on my hand then aim it at him and BOOM!" He enthusiastically expressed, making it sound more simpler than painful. I quickly shook my head and turned him down, I needed to use a method that wasn't going to hurt anyone.

"How about something less painful to you?" I asked. He nodded his head showing disappointment for a few seconds before thinking and grinning a daring grin. He got an idea I was clearly going to be uncomfortable with, that'll explain his look.

"Or, the not so hard way-he lifted a finger and chuckled-you rip his heart out and eat it!"

So many _what the fucks_ went off in my head that I had to let one escape.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" I exclaimed as I completely turned away from Yuson to look at K. This was insane, I've had heart as a meal before, but never a god's heart. Flutters quickly agreed with disgust and gave off an equal look. "That's disgusting," She commented as she shook her head in disappointment.

K smiled widely before nodding.

"Then it's settled, I hope you've prepared your meat cravings Ben because you're going to do it!" He proudly exclaimed giving me the main role in this madness. Of course, it would be K to come up with these things, but I had to agree with the idea, it sounded so intertwined with god logic it'll work. Plus, the idea wasn't going to hurt K was it now?

"Fuck me," I whispered as I let my body release the tensions and stress in a few slips of air as I showed I was agreeing with the plan. K chuckled as he crossed his hands over his chest. "Let's leave that to Flutters," He chuckled.

"What?" Flutters asked, of course, she doesn't know what that term means, no one here does besides K. I waved my hands to shy her from thinking about it before I looked back at Yuson who was looking at us with his hands down as well, he seemed to be waiting for us.

"So, eat his heart, raw I'm guessing?" I said looking over at him. K rolled his eyes over to one side before bringing them back to me.

"Good guess," He seriously said before snapping his neck muscles from one side to another. My face twitched a bit as I began imagining eating a raw heart, of course it wasn't going to taste like Skittles or taffy, I had to not get my hopes up for this one. _And here I was complaining about my protein_.

"I'm also guessing there will be some side effects from eating a godly heart?" I asked giving him a serious glare, I knew well if I was eating the heart of a god there has got to be a mythical chance of a weird occurrence. K chuckled nervously again and shrugged.

"Uh…I don't really know this one, I've never eaten a god's heart before."

I guess the mystery was interesting and I don't have a choice.

"Alright, time to venture into the unknown, let's go!" I ordered as I twirled my blade and backhanded it, the most comfortable position I could use at the moment. Flutters and K did their similar position as I took it upon myself to take the first step forward. This marks the beginning of the end for this monster, I'll make sure to do this mission correctly and not fail.

Flutters to my right and K to my left, they'll open the opportunity for me to attack and do what I have to do.

Yuson looked at us with no emotion on his face besides the look of wanting to turn us to ground meat. I will never be fazed by that look, I've grown used to evil looks, although I won't stand the looks of my friends taking pain and suffering while I'm around.

I tightened the grip on my sword and gave off the most solid look I could put on before closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath and let it out.

"HEY! YUSON!" I called him out.

He turned to look directly at me, with his look. I tightened a fist in one hand and raised the hand with the backhanded sword up.

"It's time!" I assured him, I won't be playing games now or dealing anymore. He glared seriously at me before taking a step forward from his place, and this time we could all feel the magnitude of his strength. The ground shook with that step and so did each one of our insides, the feeling was terrifying.

"Alright, then I guess I'll also go all out!" He exclaimed before he followed it up with an impressive showing of violet aura, a deeper color than before. His strength was immense and destructive, but power was worthless when I was just after one thing, his heart. To get it, I'll have to go through his chest which won't easy considering I was just using Kaio-Ken times four to just get through his arm.

I looked to my sides at Flutters and K almost trembling from the strength he was showing. I closed my eyes and wished for the best as I reopened them to find Yuson just a foot away from me.

I swung my sword at him in an instant and met it with his steel-like arm that clipped my sword. I glared seriously at him and he glared back at me with complete hatred. I growled as I bounced back with the sword and swung again and hit his arm again before he swung at me with his heavy fist which I met with mine. His fist was painfully heavy, yet I managed to keep a straight face.

"I'll kill you Yuson, I'LL SHOW YOU THE STRENGTH OF WHO YOU MESSED WITH!"

"Daddy is fighting again…" The concerned unicorn whimpered with a tear as she stared the action. She had her moments in which she liked his fighting but when he was fighting against an enemy she understood would be death or horrifying pain, she worried.

"He sure is, and as passionately as ever too," Strike admired with a smile as she looked up to the sky at the scene. She pulled the little unicorn closer to her to comfort her but it seemed that the little filly needed more than just someone to cuddle with, she needed someone to assure her everything would be alright.

"I'm scared…" She whispered with a tear slipping down her cheek and onto Strike's hoof. She looked down at her and at her hoof before nodding, she knew how the little one felt and she could relate. She wasn't going to lie to herself that she feared for Ben, but she trusted in him and his determination.

Strike pulled her a bit closer so that the heat from her body could provide another layer of comfort to the little unicorn.

"I know, but just think, after this we won't need to worry about Yuson trying to erase us anymore, we can live like normal ponies, we can eat, dance, sing, play, and have lives!" Strike passionately stated almost tearing up herself at the thought of such a life. Ever since she found out there was more to life than doing an order and getting erased, she was passionate about trying to get make it reality and now she could.

"Have friends?" The little one asked looking up at Strike. Strike smiled just a bit wider and nodded.

"And have friends too," Strike added with a tear actually coming down now, she didn't know why it was going down, she'd never cried or understood the concept of crying. She just knew that ponies do it a lot when upset, but she wasn't upset, she was happy.

The little one reached a hoof up and flicked the tear away with a smile. Strike smiled back lovingly as she messed the little one's mane up playfully.

"Uh, I got a question," The filly interrupted Strike messing with her mane.

"What is it?"

The little filly looked up at the sky at the action taking place before looking at Strike. "What will happen If daddy eats his heart?" She asked worryingly.

Strike looked up to the sky and back down at the little one with a painful smile, it was either more tears of joy or tears of complete disbelief. She sobbed a bit before controlling it and using her hoof to wipe the tears away, which baffled her, she was crying pretty badly.

"Well-she sniffed back some tears-we won't belong to Yuson anymore," She whimpered in joy as she tried to control herself. The little one put her hoof to her mouth and pondered it before her face froze. She slowly lowered her hoof at a shocking realization.

"Wait a minute, does that mean we-?" She asked stopping at "We" so Strike could confirm her suspicions.

"Yes," She sobbed with a nod while she covered her eyes with her hoof.

"We get a new home!"

 **Next time on MLP: TTBIALA**

 **THE END DRAWS NEAR AND SPARKS WILL FLY! THE FLIGHTLESS PEGASI RETURNS AND EMOTIONS GO ADRIFT!**


	44. Chapter 44 - A So-called Hero

_**Like I've said before, I can deal with critism and if the story has some faults, I'd like to know. Thanks.**_

 _ **Also, I do always go back for edits and grammer mistakes, and plot points.**_

 _ **And thats it, on t**_ _ **o the story**_

#44

Off in her room, Starlight awakes to a sudden gentle rumbling. She picked herself up off the bed and looked around curiously before turning over to Trixie, who she asked to keep her company. She reached over and shook her gently.

"Hey, Trixie, get up," She demanded, gently giving her a slightly stronger shove.

Trixie's muzzle twitched slightly before her eyes opened, sleepy and exhausted. "What is it?" She asked yawning and stretching out. Starlight paused at the sudden rumbling that shook her room gently again. Trixie also took a pause before rubbing her eyes and quickly looking around.

"Are we having a tremor!?" She asked. Starlight shrugged and rolled off the bed onto the smooth floor.

"I don't know, but we need to find Twilight, Celestia, or Luna and ask, come on!" She ordered before a stronger rumble than before appeared making them both lose their balance and fall to the floor. The rumbling ended soon but they didn't waste any time evacuating the room and galloping off to their princesses' room.

"Oh no, did Twilight's lizard lose it again!?" Trixie asked as another rumble dropped them to the floor and forced them to take cautious steps.

"I'm sure Spike learned his lesson long ago, that can't be it."

They both helped each other through the halls and continued on their way to find some explanation.

"Maybe I should consider myself an artist, I'LL PAINT THIS WHOLE WORLD WITH YOUR BLOOD!"

I spat out the blood that managed to seep into the edge of my mouth, it was sour and as blood should taste. He got lucky with his swipe down my face with the sword he made with his magic, although the sword is only a one-time use and dissolved the moment it swiped my face. A cut ranged from my cheek to my ear, bleeding down to my neck and coagulating on my shirts neck.

"You okay!?" Flutters asked, concerned and staring at my cheek. I nodded before rubbing my hand on the cut and cleaning the blood away. "I'm fine, are you?" I asked back. She glanced at me and nodded, I nodded back. We set our sights on Yuson again, we won't let him get any lucky hits again, he'll have to work hard for them.

I haven't gone for his heart yet, the reason being he was very hard to get close to without receiving a blast of energy or a heavy blow to the body. K learned it the hard way.

"Oh man, that hurt…" He huffed out as he struggled to pick himself up, that was the second blow to his spleen. The spleen was a huge weak point for anyone, well, all except Yuson, his spleen was covered by a steel-like skin. Flutters helped him up and straightened him up.

I stared at them in worry before looking back to Yuson, this fight was not for everyone, and now I had K and Flutters in this fight. I got a grip on my thoughts and sighed deeply as I stepped forward and reached my hand out to my side to force K and Flutters to lag behind. Of course, they'd ask about it.

"What's that about!?" K asked with a grunt. Flutters remained silent but she thought equally.

"Listen, I'll try my luck-"

"No way! I won't let you go into this alone!" K insisted despite his pain. I admired him for his persistence, but he was in no way fit at the moment. I shook my head as I continued staring at Yuson.

"Ben…your Kaio-Ken may give you an advantage, but you've had it up for almost ten minutes!" He reminded me.

He was right. The Kaio-Ken won't last long and it might not even last the next two or three minutes: I was in deep shit now. The moment the Kaio-Ken wears off, the pain and helplessness will be a huge downfall. Although, with just two minutes I could just go a bit further, just a bit, enough for me to pierce the chest and get what I need.

I closed my fist before taking a huge breath of air and closing my eyes. I repeated the phrase in my head, word for word and with just about as much lung power as in the outer world. The feeling of my body tensing up, even more, was more terrifying than exciting now that I was gambling it all on the line.

"No fucking way did you just…" K eased out as he stared at Ben's aura expand further than before and become an even deeper red. I did do it, going further than before was all I could do now, there was no room for mistake or laziness. My breathing became heavier along with my twitching as I opened my eyes to see Yuson still in place just waiting for me.

K stared in complete disbelief as he slammed his fist into the ground, breaking it in frustration. Flutters stared at K as he stood up and wobbled his limped body as he tried to stand straight. "K, you can't fight like this, I'll help Ben."

K looked at Flutters off the corner of his eye before nodding and aiming his finger at Ben. "Go, help him now!"

"Got it!" Flutters responded before quickly getting next to Ben, and K being just behind Ben let him get an easy shot at her. K quickly adjusted his body before straightening his hand out and aiming it at Flutters.

" _I'm sorry Flutters, but this is for your own good,_ " He apologized in his head before quickly swinging his hand rapidly towards Flutters neck, and jabbing her on the side of her neck. Flutters collided with the ground almost instantly before K reached down and picked her up.

"K?" I asked at his sudden strike against Flutters. He put his fingers to his head as he closed his eyes and clenched his teeth in frustration. "This is for her own good, Ben, promise me you'll do something, for their sake…"

He disappeared with Flutters after that and left me wondering what I was doing. I was alone now, alone to face the wrath of this monster in front of me. _I won't lose_ , I told myself as I swallowed all my fear. I was a soldier, and I always do what's best for my comrades.

I felt a wind breeze by before I let my eye blink and before I knew it I was before Yuson with my sword over my head ready for a collision with his hand going for defense. My sword made butter of his hand before I rushed forward for his arms and his chest but he quickly put up a shield which made me bounce back before rushing back. I had to get on the advantage in two minutes or else it's over.

"K! WHAT DID YOU DO TO FLUTTERSHY!?" Twilight asked as she began trying to wake Fluttershy up, but it was an impossible thing to do when K induced the blackout. "I put her to sleep, for now, I can't have her hurting herself, you saw how she was." K answered back as he removed his thin slide-on jacket and his shirt to check his chest.

Twilight turned to K only to stare at his body curiously, never had she seen him shirtless, that is, no one has seen him without a shirt. He was almost the same build as Ben, just a bit buffer and damaged. But, what stood out was his strange symbol on his chest, it was that star symbol from before, the symbol he carved on his hand back in the dorms.

"K, what is that?" Twilight asked curiously as K rubbed his side in stinging pain. K turned to her slightly and looked at his chest before lifting his own eyebrow. "This thing?" K asked pointing at his chest and at the symbol. Twilight nodded.

"It's a symbol shared by the underworld, it shows our connection to it and just shows who we are," K explained as he massaged his side. Twilight curiously stared at it before looking at him again. "We?" She asked.

K nodded before aiming his finger and circling it in the air. "There is more than just one demon, and I know so."

Oh, he knew well he wasn't the only one, that mare of the night was without a doubt in his list of names, and so was another pony he'd been eyeing for a while, although she hasn't shown it yet. Twilight widened her eyes at the thought of there being more demons than just K.

"Really!? That's hard to believe," She thought as she turned to Flutters on the floor and plopped down next to her and looked her face, she seemed normal. K turned over before putting his shirt back on and nodding.

"So, more demons?" Shining asked coming from behind K. K turned again and nodded as he stood up and with a numb pain. "Yup, although, I wouldn't recommend looking for them, it's unwise."

"Right you are," Shining sighed as he turned to face Flutters and Twilight. "So when will she wake up?"

"By sunrise," K responded before turning to the action over in the distance. _Around a minute Ben, hurry up_ , K pleaded in his head as he tightened his fist in fear. He refused to think of what would happen if Ben didn't end it within the minute.

A sudden explosion appeared out of nowhere bigger than before as it lit up almost the entire world with light. K fell onto his behind as he stared at the sky in astonishment, there isn't a single magic strong enough to produce a moon-sized sphere of energy that big. _Ben_ … K thought as he stared at the gigantic dust cloud that formed.

"WHY DON'T YOU DIE!?"

"AND WHY DON'T YOU LET THEM LIVE IN PEACE!?" I countered as I backed off before launching back at him with almost everything I had in this one swing down his torso. I failed to stop his shield again and replaced my sword with my hand as I let the shield take everything I hand charged in my hand.

The shield shattered and sent us flying away from each other before we quickly got back at it and collided out fists together. Our hands shook at the intensity of our fists colliding.

"You know, you fight better than I hoped, and you just learned how to use your energy and abilities, truly fascinating!" He smirked as he grunted out the struggle of our force. I hated to agree with him, but it was true, I did pick up quickly on fighting beyond my normal abilities, it was fascinating.

I met his other fist with my other fist and now he both showed our place in this fight. I was the little guy with big strength and this god was Goliath. Although we both seemed evenly matched, we didn't harm each other as I bad as I hoped.

"Right-" I agreed before removing my hands from his forcing him to push his fists into the ground before I appeared on his back with my sword ready to pierce. "And THIS IS THE END!" I yelled as I quickly drove my sword in and quickly circled the razor-sharp blade around the place I cut, the bones were no match for my dedication as I cut his entire shoulder including a piece of torso out. Along with the torso piece, the connection of veins was visible and there was the jackpot. The screams in the background became loud as I quickly grabbed the arm connected to the meat chunk and backed away.

"YOU BASTARD! GIVE THAT BACK!"

I stared at him as I buried my hand inside the flesh of the torso piece and came across a pulsing organ. I grabbed it curiously as I ripped it out and stared at it and back at Yuson. The heart was in my hands, but, it was beating, and Yuson remained alive. _This must be a god's immortality_ , I thought to myself as I gripped the heart in my hand. The feeling was highly disturbing and the feeling of its pulse in my hand was giving me goosebumps.

"NO! THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS!" I yelled as I lifted the heart up to the sky. He looked at it and scoffed at it, before laughing. "And what good will it do, I'm a god! I'm-"

I forced him to a pause there as I lowered the heart to my face and glared at him seriously. He paused and stared at me as I opened my mouth. I wasn't taunting him, I was honestly struggling to eat something this horrible, although to him this was taunting. I managed to place my teeth on the heart before hearing Yuson yell out his objection.

I bit down only a sliver, my mouth was actually full of saliva and ready for this, but I was forced to a stop by another objection, although, not aimed towards me. That voice was easy one of the voice I least expected to hear. I looked over to Yuson again, and he had someone again in his hands, another hostage.

"You fucking monster," I whispered in disbelief as in his hands was the little pegasi I met on that awkward occasion with her trap, although now she was trapped in the arms of a monster. I repelled the heart from my mouth and aimed my hand at him quickly.

"CALM DOWN THERE!" I begged him before a pain erupted from my back and my hand began twisting in painful ways. I held back the pain the best I could, but Yuson could easily see my hand twisting painfully. My time was up.

"LET ME GO!" Scoots pleaded as she tried to break free, but that was never going to happen with Yuson's grip. I stared in horror as Yuson had his hand on Scoots head and slowly began turning her head to one side. I panicked and fell to my knees in the pain I was feeling.

"STOP IT! PLEASE! LEAVE HER ALONE!" I begged as my body refused to answer to me but I held the heart well in my hand. I felt my body lock up as I tried to move but I couldn't. I looking straight at the ground, with no hope of looking anywhere else.

"Oh, no-no, my slave, how about a game?"

"What!?" I asked in a squeaked voice as I tried to move but I was stuck between the pain and my body. I felt Yuson's presence near me as he squatted down next to me with Scoots facing me with her wide-eyes, so innocent and full of horror. I stared at her in disbelief as I tried to understand how I let this happen.

"Ben…help us, save us…" Scoots whimpered out in tears as they landed on the soil of the ground and streamed to me. I looked at her in pain.

"What?" I asked back in a horrified voice, almost no air in my voice.

"Please…" She pleaded even further.

My eyes widened at the sudden realization of this horror. It was that dream. That dream that haunted me for two nights, it led to this. I stared as Yuson placed his hand on her head again and gripped it. Scoots let out an innocent yelp as Yuson turned her head to the left slightly.

"Alright Ben, I'll tell you what, the longer you hold onto my heart, the longer it'll take me to stop turning her head, you know what will happen if you wait too long? Right?" He asked, making me almost tear up. I couldn't open my hand, it was tight and wouldn't budge anymore, I was stuck in a bad dream.

"Yuson! STOP THIS! YOU KNOW MY HAND WON'T OPEN!" I yelled out as I tried to find the mercy for Scoot's sake.

"Time is beginning, right…about…now!" he laughed as he did as he said and began slowly turning Scoots head. It was slow and intense and I couldn't open my hand. I actually teared up now, I was so fucked and that goes for Scoots too, K would be here if I hadn't sent him off. _I'm so fucking stupid!_

"FOR FUCKS SAKE, SHE'S A CHILD!" I sobbed as I tried to open my hand but it felt like it was already dried after being dipped in concrete. I looked at Scoots crying with her eyes closed. I couldn't deal with it, I cried like never before in fear as I heard Scoots cry and sob as her head was just a few seconds away from snapping.

"Ben…" Scoots called out in a sob. I looked at her once more with nothing but sorrow and the want to shove a knife so deep into my head, I'd suffer for my stupidity with death.

"W-what!?" I cried.

"…They will kill us all…"

I clenched my teeth as I tried to open my hand once more but it was tight. I cried as I closed my eyes and waited for the worst, I was helpless and so was Scoots. She called me a hero before, and I fucking failed. I thought I died into a world where I would love and feel right, but now, I wish I had never come here, to just ruin their lives.

"Scoots, I'll find a way, I always do-"

The sudden silence became haunting along with a flash of light.

"Who are you talking to?" Yuson asked before laughing insanely as he stood up and left behind his laughter with me. He took the heart from my hand, so easily...

I was stuck between it all, I gave it my all as a coward and failed.

Slowly a feather, light orange, and gently floating down to the ground. It made a sway back and forth before gently landing on the ground in front of me. A breeze blew, and the feather was swept away.

She's gone.

In the distance, K and Twilight spoke about what to do over the current issue but K paused at the sudden disappearance of an energy source. Twilight looked at K curiously as he turned in horror to look back at the scene that was far off, nothing could be seen from where he was but he could imagine what just happened.

"K?" Twilight asked. K shook his head before putting his hand to his head and concentrating.

As he finally found Ben's energy, he closed his eyes. "I'm coming-WHAT THE!?" He exclaimed as he felt something overload in his head and a pain forced him to lower his hand from his head. The energy he sensed as Ben's, seemed to erupt.

"What is-"

Before anyone could ask what just happened they were suddenly blasted away by a strong gust of white plasmatic energy that erupted off in the distance. K grabbed Flutters as he banged up against the debris of a house, he quickly reached to his left and right to catch Shining and Twilight.

"W-WHAT IS THAT!?" Twilight and Shining both asked aiming their hooves at the white beam of light piercing the night sky. K stared in horror once more as he placed his hand up to head, and took rapid breaths.

"WE'RE GOING BACK CELESTIA IMMEDIATELY!" K yelled as she concentrated on Celestia's energy and rapidly evacuated.

"BEN!" Rarity cried out as she hid inside the crater from earlier to avoid the pulses of energy. She stared at the energy flowing over her head, over the crater as she noticed the color. She froze at the sight and mustered up enough magic to cover her face from the magic enough to get a look.

She crept up the crater and peeked over it, but only for a few seconds before her protection shattered before her and she launched herself down. "Oh goodness!" She cried as covered her mouth with her hooves after seeing what the sight had for her to behold.

"That…is…Ben?" She asked as she sank into the crater, trembling in fear and worry.

"He's beautiful…"


	45. Chapter 45 - A Badass Hero

#45

After being thrown to the floor more than twenty times already, Starlight finally decided to do what she was begging to do from the beginning, despite Trixie objecting to it every time. She raised her horn up high and began enveloping both Trixie and herself in magic.

"That's enough! We'll just teleport now!"

Trixie automatically lunged at her and tackled her down, refusing to let Starlight do such a thing.

"NO! REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME YOU TRIED TO TELEPORT US WHILE THERE WAS A DISRUPTION!?"

"THAT WAS BAD LUCK!" Starlight fired back in defense. Trixie shook her head and frowned.

"I DON'T EVER WANT TO BE TANGLED WITH THOSE-she shivered as she reminded herself of that day-…vines…."

Starlight recalled that day well, she was the one who had to pull Trixie out of that unfortunate situation. Those vines had grip and some special needs for their "loneliness."

"I guess I understand…" Starlight accepted as she looked away. Trixie sighed as she backed off and nodded. "Good, maybe once you learn it better-"

Flash*

Trixie blinked her eyes multiple times before growling. It seemed she was now in a crater and her body was pressed against the ground.

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT TELEPORTING US!?" She yelled as she tried to pick herself up, but it seemed almost as if gravity had gone up times four. Starlight quickly smiled awkwardly as she tried to get up herself. They both managed to get up, supporting each other using their magic.

"I'm sorry-she grunted as she firmed her hooves on the ground-what's causing this!?" She asked, looking overhead at the white streaks of light. She looked at it curiously before looking back down at Trixie.

"Like I know!" Trixie responded obviously annoyed by what Starlight had done.

"IT'S BEN DARLINGS!"

Starlight and Trixie quickly turned to see that familiar face. It was Rarity in all her glamor as she also struggled to stand but due to being at the edge of the crater, she could support herself on the walls of the crater.

"Rarity!? Ben!?"

Rarity nodded as she aimed her hoof at the action happening over the edge of the crater.

"LOOK!"

The crew of four landed awkwardly on the floor before quickly running over to Celestia and their friends, except Flutters, who remained knocked out. If there was anywhere where they could safely watch the fight, it was here. Although, something was off. "Celestia! Something's- K looked at everyone in the room-…come up…" K slowly came to a pause along with the ones following him as they looked at the tears, pale faces, and complete despair of everypony in the room.

"What's…going on?" K asked as he stopped in front of Celestia and looked down at her. She looked dead on the inside, her eyes just wide with nothing in them; no emotion or reaction. Celestia looked up at him slowly. K backed up as he noticed her full look: that look when something happened so fast you can't react.

"We lost her…" She choked out.

K lifted an eyebrow before looking at the rest of the group of ponies. He scouted them all but he was automatically driven to the one who looked the worst: Dash. He patted Celestia's shoulder calmly before moving over to Dash in at the corner of the room where she hid from everyone else. Everyone stared at K as he journeyed his way over to her.

He reached only about few feet away from her before stopping and stepping on what seemed to be a stream of water. He looked to Dash shivering immensely and crying with no end before he took one more step forward and kneeling down in front of her. He studied her a bit before looking to the side wondering, "What the fuck is going on?"

K opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He sighed instead and shifted in place. Dash refused to acknowledge anything around her, it was as if she'd been put into a state of shock. She rocked in place with her hooves holding her hind hooves up to her chest, almost like a mental patient, as she stared aimlessly ahead. K sucked in any stupid things to say and played a new card.

"Dash?" He called out. She didn't respond, she continued shivering but began shaking her head slightly in denial. K was going to ask again but he received a gentle tap from behind. He turned to find AJ there, she looked horrible as well but she was easily miles better than Dash at the moment. "What the hell is going on? Why is everyone is depressed!?" He asked aiming his thumb at Dash behind him.

AJ looked at Dash before turning back to K. She opened her mouth but all that came out was a whimper followed by some tears that had been held back. K stared and wondered, it was all he could do as it seemed no one was going to answer.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?" He yelled getting up and waving his arms madly as he tried to get an answer.

K's head jerked to one side as something struck him sharply off the right. He placed his hand to his head and rubbed it as he turned to Luna holding up what seemed to be a magically spawned solid rod. "I asked for an answer, not a whack to the head," K growled as he rubbed his head.

Luna made the magical rod disappear before she sighed. She didn't cry unlike the others, and she didn't seem to want to, she was more offended than depressed. "Rainbow Dash, she lost somepony…" Luna revealed. K stepped back, he turned to Dash looking at him now. He knew that language, the language people use when they don't want to make something feel so terrible, although it always just does the opposite.

"Who?" K asked, becoming serious about the situation. Luna looked at K and closed her eyes as she gulped her sorrow. "Scootaloo, a young pegasus, Rainbow Dash's biggest admirer…and that goes the other way around."

K's head clicked as he reminded himself of the only pegasi he's met that was young and rubbed up against Dash the most was that orange, purple-haired one from the day with muffins and madness. That little one? K gripped a fist and closed his eyes before looking at Dash and kneeling down. Dash was able to keep up with K's movements this time.

"She's gone…" Dash whispered. Her voice was new, it was hers technically, but it was horribly low and depressed it was unrecognizable as hers. K nodded mournfully before putting both his hands on her face, just to make her feel a bit more secure, and tightened his grip around her small face. Dash stared at him as he stared back at her.

"This pain you feel, it will be no more in a few minutes, I promise," K strongly assured getting off his knee and turning over to Celestia who was now giving off a disturbed frown. "What does that mean?" Dash asked making K turn to look at her. "Yes, what does that mean?" Celestia asked calling K's attention back to her.

K smirked, almost immediately, as everyone in the room gave him their attention. "Funny, I thought you'd be feeling by now," he chuckled as he aimed a finger to the sky with his eyes closed.

"Feel wha-?" Luna took a sudden pause before shivering to the point she had to fall to the floor. Celestia and Chrysalis were the only ones to not fall to the extreme wave of energy they were feeling, although they weren't far from it. "Well shit, it looks like it's stronger than before!" K excitedly expressed as his own body tingled at the sensation.

"WHAT IS THIS K!?" Celestia asked before Chrysalis almost kneeled down at the strength of the ever-increasing energy. K smirked wider as he tightened a fist. "This is Ben! He's lost it now!" He exclaimed with a excited laugh.

"BEN!?" Everyone, except Dash, asked simultaneously before looking at each other. They had a moment of silence as they thought what could have triggered Ben, although there was nothing to it.

"SCOOTALOO!" Dash filled in as she got up from her corner and came into the conversation. K's ear twitched as he looked back her and nodded seriously, he was serious for her sake. "If that's what triggered him, then yeah."

"It happened in front of him-she wiped away some tears-so yeah," she added. K nodded once more before turning to Celestia who was on the orb, observing nothing but a huge bright light.

He walked over to her before looking at the orb screen in front of her and then at her.

"What is happening to him?" She asked in a whisper. K looked at the orb and sighed heavily.

"Never has Ben had someone he's cared so much for die in front of him, at least, not someone he loved like any of you ponies, I'm guessing it must have…hurt him…a lot," K expressed as he stared at the completely white-colored orb. Celestia turned to him and gulped.

"What's going to happen?" She asked.

K turned to her: he didn't need any time to think of any response, it was that obvious. Although, he didn't want to disturb her as well.

"Ben will do, what he's always done."

"Which is?" Celestia asked, wanting to hear what she wasn't.

K smirked a bit before nodding. _If she wanted to hear it, then she'll hear it_.

"Be a badass."

"What are you!?" Yuson asked as he backed away from me.

I wasn't in control of my body, rage was, and rage was another me. I was weak compared to rage, rage was the one moving my body, and I wanted it to. I knew my body, but I didn't know what it was capable of, but rage…it knew. I stared straight forward at Yuson with both my hands closed into fists and my face hurting from how exaggerated my anger was. This is what people referred to as Blind Rage, it had to be for me to not even think before speaking.

"I'm g-going to kill you!" My voice was all jittery over its anger.

The swirling of pure white around me, it was majestic and frightening at the same time. I was on my feet again, I wasn't glued to the ground like before. This was it, I won't ruin it for anyone anymore, I'll kill once more. I'll make sure I do what I pledged to do.

"And that is to kill you, and all of your kind, I'll kill every corrupt god, every corrupt evil, and anyone who shall ever try to bring harm to this land!"

I aimed my hand at him.

"This is your end, Yuson!"

He quickly disappeared but I hadn't lost any connection with his movements, they were quick but useless. I swung my leg at him, behind me, and my foot collided with his head in what felt like the heaviest direct blow I've given anything at the moment. He scampered away from my foot before I brought down my other foot on top of his head embedding him in the ground. I stared at him as he scurried to get out of his crater and try to go for a direct hit but I caught his hand with ease. I put pressure on his hand as I broke almost everything in it; bones were grounded, flesh was molded, and his arm became useless.

"Remember Derpy!?" I asked, forcing him to kneel down as I closed my hand tighter. He looked at me in all the agony he felt before grunting as he swung a low kick for my feet. I stomped down on his leg, his yell along with the sound of a snap was almost harmony to me. His leg was in two now.

"Y-you're not Ben! WHO ARE YOU!?" He asked as he clenched his teeth in pain. I looked down at my hand and at my leg before picking him up and forcing him down to the ground. I placed my foot above his head and pressed on it, forcing him into the dirt. He tried to pick himself out but I wasn't letting him.

"I am Ben! But you, you don't understand anything!"

He grunted as he tried to push himself out his hold. I let him get up before sending a knee to his spleen: This one hurt him. He looked at me as I picked his head up and forced him to look at me.

"You never understood mercy, forgiveness, love or friends!" I exclaimed as I held his head up to mine. He looked at me with a swollen eye before chuckling.

"You didn't either…that's why you were the perfect specimen!" He chuckled as he tried to cut through my neck with his hand. Although, it was stopped by my own sword. His hand fell to the ground and his blood covered the right side of my face. I let him drop to the ground giving him a small breather.

"I'm indeed my own type of being as so is everyone, I was lost for years and I changed for the good, but I'll never change one thing from before!" I firmly told him as he stood up. He looked at me almost as if he'd rejuvenated himself and was ready for more, although I was ending this now.

"What is that!?" He yelled swinging at me with a furious punch which felt almost as if he'd charging that since we began the fight. My hand was easily there for me and my aura followed it with an eruption of white light. I gripped his hand tight as I swung my other arm behind me quickly with all the energy, mass, and tension I could put on it. He stared at me in horror as I opened my hand like a claw and glared a final message to him.

"I'm a killer, a human, and a blood-stained badass! AND THIS, THIS FOR EVERYONE YOU'VE HURT!" I exclaimed as I drove my hand straight into his chest. There was a split second where the world suddenly stopped and I was on the verge of ripping his chest through. The voices of hundreds upon hundreds, shouting and cheering as my hand drove deeper and deeper into Yuson's chest. It was only a split second and all I could do was follow through without hesitation.

The world went quiet as I froze. All I could feel was the gust of wind that whispered in the distance. It was horrifying to think I just did what I did. My rage was gone, it seemed I did what I so desperately wanted and now it was gone. At the end of my hand, I felt a pulsing and thick fleshy organ, and my arm was driven into Yuson's chest. I let out all my exhaustion before turning to face Yuson glaring at me with horror in his eyes. I growled as I mustered all the strength to retract my hand and meet his stomach with my foot, sending him feet away from me.

I was sweating madly as I was getting the blurry vision again. I wobbled to stay up as I brought the heart in my hand up to my face again. It was in my hands once more, but now, he won't play me like he did before. I felt the sweat pouring on to the ground in pints as I gripped the heart tighter and grunted at the thought of Scoots. _Please come back_ , I pleaded to her as I opened my mouth and placed the heart on my teeth. Like before, it was disgusting and the puking factor came in instantly.

Rarity stared in horror as Ben placed the organ in his mouth and closed his eyes tightly. She quickly looked away and covered her mouth with the urge to vomit as she could easily smell the warm flesh from where she was.

"MMRGG!" She muffled as she teared up at the thought of eating a heart.

Starlight and Trixie just stared in mass confusion as they wondered all the questions of the universe.

"Why is he eating that thing!?" Trixie asked before passing the role of questioner to Starlight.

"And why is he fighting this creepy guy?"

There question asking went as far as it took Rarity to ease herself which was only a second.

"I'll explain, just give me a minute!"

"K EXPLAIN THIS!" Luna demanded as she stared at Ben place the heart in between his teeth. Celestia and Cadence quickly demanded the same before the rest asked the same except the two most surprised ones: Dash and Chrysalis.

K nodded quickly as explained everything at a rapid speed. His words were nearly unexplainable but what everyone got was the part that went. "No more Yuson!"

"THIS IS DISGUSTING!" AJ yelled as she almost held back the feeling of puking. K nodded as he quickly hushed everyone and stared at the sphere with the event.

This was it. The end of Yuson. Finally.

"STOP!" Yuson begged once more as he tried to stop me again. The thought of procrastinating filled my mind as I placed both my hands on the heart and forced my teeth down upon the heart.

Never will I ever feel this disgust ever again. The texture of the heart was slimy and was all I expected from chewing on it. I covered my mouth as I forced the raw flesh into my mouth and chewed. It was madness: I was puking while trying to swallow down on it. I felt the acidic taste of blood, vomit, and raw flesh swirling my mouth as covered my mouth to avoid anything slipping out. Throwing up while eating raw flesh, this was disgusting.

I was begging for mercy from myself as I swallowed everything in my mouth in one go. It was almost relief as I let my tongue hang there taking in the fresh air from the outside world. I coughed and spit out blood as I tried to find a way to not think of puking again.

"You monster…" I heard as I turned to face Yuson. His face was cracked like a stone. I shook my head as I saw his face begin to fall apart like tiled pieces and crumble to dust on the ground. He was breaking before me as he tried to make his way to me but only got halfway before his legs turned to dust and blew away in the wind of the night. I unsheathed my sword and began moving to him as the only part left of his body was his head and torso.

The exhaustion got to me before I could reach him and I feel to my knees by his side. He looked at me in terror as I stared at him, raising my sword before rapidly bringing it down on his head. A gust of wind blew and all that was left was my sword standing tall with dust flying off in the distance. This was over. No more pain, no more suffering, and no more Yuson.

"You…were the monster…"

I felt a gentle wave of wind push me down as I fell onto my back and let my head weakly fall to one side. My body was beyond hurt and beyond exhaustion, I could die at peace if I wanted to. I managed to blink my eyes slightly as I began fading away from reality and my head was becoming numb. As the world became darker, a bright flash of light and cheering erupted from nowhere as I felt my head finally lose it and become heavy.

My head may have fallen asleep on me but my eyes didn't and in a blurry sight, the orange with purple blur appeared in front of my face. I couldn't tell if that was a smile on that face or worry but I knew I was crying my eyes out and so was she. I wanted to see her clearly, but my exhaustion only let me see a blurry spot.

"Thank you," She whispered before cuddling next to me and curling up into a ball. I sniffed back some tears as I felt her presence fade into the distance, despite her being so near.

"I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry Scoots…." I whimpered weakly before the world faded to black.

"Come on! Let's get him!" Rarity quickly demanded hopping out the crater and waiting for Trixie and Starlight who were still trying to take in everything. "Please!" Rarity insisted almost begging. Starlight and Trixie nodded as they hopped out as well and hurried over to Ben.

They quickly pushed aside everypony as they got through the crowd that had surrounded Ben in a bunch of apologies. They forced their way before finally reaching the center of attention and they quickly fell into a shock as they noticed Ben was completely covered in that disgusting color of blood and a pony, pronounced dead, was now sleeping aside the body.

"Scootaloo!" Rarity exclaimed as she rushed over to Ben and Scoots only realize they were both out.

"He's alive!" Starlight quickly informed removing her hoof from Ben's nose. She giggled slightly at the good news before almost turning away instantly at the sight of the blood. "By Celestia! Somepony clean him up!" Starlight exclaimed covering her eyes.

"What are you talking about!? HE'S LOOKS AS AMAZING AS HIS FIGHTING!" Someponies exclaimed from the crowd. Starlight looked at them before looking behind herself and almost gagging at the sight again. "Amazingly drenched in…that!" She argued before peering her eye at Ben. Despite the blood, he had amazed her with that display: she never expected such a violent approach from anypony or him. It frightened her while equally exciting her. "…But yeah, I guess that was…amazing."

Rarity and Trixie both quickly used their magic to pull out Ben's sword from the ground, although, that wasn't an easy task considering he drove it almost a foot into the hard ground. They placed the sword into its sheath and sighed in relief.

"As joyful the whole of Ponyville may be, Ben in severely hurt, we must take him to the princesses or let him rest somewhere where he can rest and heal." Starlight informed looking at both Rarity and Trixie.

"How about we just take him to Fluttershy's house? He sleeps there and there we can clean him," Rarity offered as she turned to observe the other two. Trixie shrugged, which in the end meant she agreed. Starlight sighed as she decided to agree as well.

"Okay but I'll need to get the princesses, just to make sure we can heal him at Fluttershy's home," Starlight mentioned before teleporting away and leaving behind Trixie and Rarity to stare at Ben as the wondered how to move him: they don't know teleportation magic as well as Starlight and alicorns.

"Um…can a kind and faithful pony help us move him to Fluttershy's home?" Trixie asked as she smiled trying to get anyone to help her. Her question was instantly answered by many but in the end, the crowd parted as they let a special three break through them.

"Mind if we help?" Soarin asked as Spitfire and Fleetfoot appeared to his side, all three of them in their uniform. Trixie and Rarity smiled as they quickly nodded and let them take over, stepping aside and letting them do their job.

"Thank you," Rarity thanked. Soarin chuckled a bit before shaking his head. "I think we should all be thanking him for what he did tonight, I honestly thought we were doomed as we witnessed him go down. But every time he went down, he always got up and stronger than before, that's a true hero. Plus, were good friends with him!" Soarin smirked with no shame in calling him a hero above him, it was in his code to honor.

"Yeah, he's a lot more interesting than anything we've ever encountered," Spitfire added with a giggled before Fleetfoot nodded and giggled along. "Yeah, and we also owe it to you for being so…dramatic that day, sorry about that anyways," She apologized awkwardly with a smile. Rarity shook her head and smiled back nervously.

"Think nothing of it, there was obviously a pressing matter at hoof," Rarity forgave before watching as the crew of pegasi do their part, chuckling and giggling. Rarity used her magic to mount Scoots on Ben and secure her there.

"Let's go!" Spitfire commanded.

"Right!" Soarin and Fleetfoot responded.

"SHE'S BACK! SHE'S BACK!" Dash quickly cried as she hugged almost everyone in the room at her rapid speed. K smirked as he felt his side quickly get embraced and watched the colorful blur go around the room. "Good…" K whispered as he sat on the floor and laid down, closing his eyes to let out his breath of relief.

Eveyone expressed the equal joy of Dash as they celebrated amongst each other.

As K laid down, something and tapped his forehead gently: an innocent tap. K brushed it away and chuckled. "Come on, I'm trying to relax," He chuckled as he took another deep breath. Another tap came upon his head and followed by the presence of something's face leaning over his own.

K opened an eye immaturely with a smile before it faded into speechlessness. It was her and looking down at him with her crossed eyes. "Hi," she kindly greeted almost as if she didn't just wake up from being in a hell-of-a-lot of pain. K's eye vibrated strangely as he stared into her eyes, he'd forgotten how uniquely beautiful they looked especially with this innocent personality of hers.

"Hmm?" Derpy hummed curiously as she stared at his eyes become almost as innocent as a baby's. K slowly raised a hand and touched her cheek to feel if this was real. Her blush and giggle was enough for him to know she was real. "DERPY!" He cheered as he flipped on his feet with her in hands all the way and spun around with her around for the room to see.

Everyone laughed and giggled as K simmered down and embraced her. Derpy embraced back before K let her use her fully healed wings to land safely on the ground.

"You were also affected by Yuson's death! Thank every-damn-thing you're well!" He exclaimed looking down at her with excitement all over. Derpy looked almost saddened by what he just spat out and looked towards the floor. K scratched his head as he kneeled down.

"What is it? Aren't you happy you're well?"

Derpy looked at K and nodded before rubbing her watery eyes.

"Yeah, but, he didn't have to die," She whimpered. K looked almost wanting to rapidly shake his head and object but he detested hurting her feelings after this. K admired her trust in others, it was to the point that if someone hurt her, she'd forgive it. "Your heart is in the right place, keep it there okay?" K asked of her trying to comfort and at the same time distract her from the matters at hand.

Derpy put a hoof to her chest and nodded with a smile. "Good girl," K smiled back before rustling her mane like he would. Chrysalis moved up next to K as she looked down at Derpy turn her focus to her. Something about those eyes and the innocent look and mentality also got to Chrysalis, almost making her giggle a bit but she kept herself with a smile.

"Hi…" Derpy nervously greeted her this time. "Hello there," Chrysalis smirked back as she waved a hoof. Derpy tried to keep herself contained with a smile but quickly lost to her head swaying and hooves nervously tapping each other between what to do now. Chrysalis caught on and questioned her odd actions. Derpy immediately stopped tapping her hooves with each other and giggled with a blush.

"Nothing, I'm fine, really!" Derpy answered, out of character and with a not so convincing giggle. K and Chrysalis exchanged a look of curiosity before turning back to her and smiling. "Ya sleepy?" K asked with a chuckle. Derpy looked at him before nodding with embarrassment. K chuckled and nodded, "You need it, you're acting a bit strange if you haven't noticed."

K turned to look back at Celestia and Luna both comforting each other with Twilight and Cadence.

"Maybe it's because of you…" Derpy whispered thinking she was safe from K, she was, but she wasn't from Chrysalis whose ears were flawless at eavesdropping. Chrysalis looked down at her and stared for a few seconds before turning to K and tapping him to turn around.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Would you mind if I take her to sleep?" Chrysalis asked as she pulled Derpy to her side with her magic. "What?" Derpy asked as she looked around curiously. Of course, K would be curious about this sudden favor, it was Chrysalis acting strange now.

"Uh…What?" He asked with curiosity on a high. Chrysalis glared her teeth at him in a convincing smile.

"I'm not restricting you from sleeping with her, I'm just saying I want to talk with her," Chrysalis explained. K glared suspiciously at her before nodding. "Fine, just don't do anything reckless, she's been through enough tonight."

"We won't, come on," Chrysalis giggled as she teleported away with a highly confused and almost fearful Derpy. K scratched his head before turning around to the others and noticing how Fluttershy was still out.

"Um…somepony take Flutters back to her home, I need to…refresh myself," K ordered before walking towards the door of the place. "And take care," He finished opening the door and walking out.

"You too K!" AJ and Dash yelled as K left, waving their hooves. K nodded with a smile as he let the door close behind him.

Over to Celestia and Luna, who had been discussing the crazy events with the rest, trying to get how horrible it felt to actually lose someone. Shining was the first to speak but in an effort to calm down Cadence and her tearful self.

"Come on Honey, she's back, you saw it!" Shining tried to comfort her but she was just too emotional at the moment. "But…that was a horrible way to kill a filly, and who kills a filly in the first place!?" Cadence responded trying to get a hold of the scene. Shining aimed his hoof at the orb.

"Yuson, he does, and he's gone, never to be seen again, so please, calm down!" Shining urged as he wiped her tears for her with a handkerchief. "No more tears okay? It's over."

Cadence smiled slightly and nodded. "R-right…will Ben be alright?" She asked next as she looked around.

"I trust in Starlight's medical knowledge, so if she says he's needs rest, the rest he'll get!" Twilight proudly announced, defending her pupil. Celestia smirked a bit as she reminded herself of when she would say the same of Twilight. _She really has matured into a fine teacher_.

"Alright Twilight, but we shouldn't just leave Ben without expressing out thanks," Celestia said before looking at Twilight to see what she would think up. Twilight tapped her mouth with her hoof in thought before smiling.

"We give him something he wants," she suggested. Everyone looked at each other before looking back at Twilight.

"Something he wants?" Celestia asked. Twilight nodded with a smile.

"Of course, what you give to Ben, he always gives back, meaning no matter what you offer him he'll always come back with something for you back, he's sweet like that," Twilight explained making everyone in the room to look at each other curiously.

"So…anything?" Celestia asked curiously. Twilight lifted an eyebrow and nodded, "Yeah, what did you have in mind?"

Celestia smiled as she shook her head, of course, lying about it. Why would she reveal anything this secretive to her? Yet, her smile was short lived as she realized the fact that there would never be any amount of gifts that could satisfy her gratitude towards Ben.

"Nothing, I just need to think of something to give, it's logically and magically impossible to repay what Ben did for us." She said before looking over to Luna. Luna sighed as she nodded and looked to the sphere.

"Look at him…drenched in his own blood as well as Yuson's, and his own tears, his body as fragile as glass, he witnessed the death of a friend while he was helpless, and fought without thinking of himself," Luna said before getting teary at the the thought of nothing being good enough to make up for how much pain he has expirenced. "I'd become a slave for him, a pet, and still not feel like I fully repaid all he went through!" Luna cried as she used her wings to cover her face as she lost her battle with tears.

Twilight, Dash, AJ, and Cadence slipped out some tears as well as they agreed, but not to tge magnitude of Celestia and Luna. Shining traded tears for a salute of honor, a real soldier doesn't cry for himself, but if he does, then they shall fall in the name of honor.

"I'll respect Ben, to a high authority from now on, he's well deserving of it, he's always deserved it. And I can't forget K, I can't believe I ever distrusted him, he's a hero as well, like Ben and Fluttershy today." Shining stated a serious glare about him, being absolutely solid in his words. Everypony turned to him before gulping some regret and agreeing.

"But just look at him…do you really feel right just saying that, is that enough?" Cadence asked him and he simply sighed and shook his head.

"Of course not, but both of us being stallions, it's just in us to let our words do the honors." Shining was amazing sometimes for his ways of dealing with situations, in this case, everypony was confused on how calm and collected he was.

"I'll never understand the male mentality, such a puzzling mystery," Luna mentioned before Shining smiled.

"I promise you, what Ben showed out there, that's being a true stallion, or as he called it, _being a man_."

Everypony was silent before nodding, but still, even with nods, they had a diffrent idea from Shining's male mind, they were mares, it was in them to worry for those they cared for.

"You share a male connection to Ben, but we share a diffrent one, and we find it hard to accept such minor gratitude for him," Celestia explained in a sigh. Shining smirked as he nodded.

"Then think of Ben's connection with you, remember, your relationships with him aren't nothing, imagine the joy he gets from just seeing you safe and sound, that's what love is, understanding each other and enjoying each other's presence." Shining brought up and everypony froze as they thought about it how Shining explained. Cadence quickly embraced Shining and made sure to make it count as she agree fully.

Celestia looked up at the Sphere and glaced at Ben, still looking near lifeless but now with a smile as she turned to look at Luna, who stared back at her.

"Luna…let's make sure Ben is loved…" Celestia smiled her way before Luna smiled back. "He's done the same for us, and we need to make it clear to him that we do too."

Celestia smiled back as she closed her eyes peacefully.

Luna nodded and smiled. "For now, we need to get a message out to Ponyville and send a fleet of construction ponies to begin repairs."

Celestia commended those thoughts and quickly raised her horn like a beacon and sent a signal out. Repairs begin now.

"Alright, now I'll…go to sleep? Shouldn't we at least check on Ben?" Celestia asked again, looking at Luna hoping for an answer. Luna nodded seriously.

"Yes, but your health is important sis, go to bed. I'm sure Starlight can handle it, you heard Twilight," She encouraged. Celestia smiled slightly before she neared Luna and reached down for her ear. Luna stared curiously before hearing her sister's voice echo in her ear.

"Will you sleep with me?"

Luna looked at her sister before gulping and nodding.

"S-sure…is something wrong?"

Celestia bobbed her head one side before the other.

"I just want you there with me, you have that thing about you that makes it easier to sleep, but first lets check on the ponies, we need to ensure their safety," Celestia giggled before turning around and finding the door. Luna looked at her sister before smiling and nodding.

"Coming Sis!"

Shining and Cadence nodded to each other before disappearing from sight. Leaving only the guard, Flutters, Dash, AJ, and Twilight to stare at each other awkwardly.

"Uh…I'll send your friend, Ben, a compensation for his struggles, expect it by morning," The guard expressed before disappearing through the door leaving only the friends in the room. Twilight sighed before getting over to Fluttershy, who was still out and surrounding her with magic.

"Well…I'll be taking Fluttershy back to her home, want to come along?" She asked. AJ shook her head with a worried look as she trotted over to Twilight. "Sorry, it's been…not so fun, but I need to get home and check on my family," AJ explained hoping Twilight understood. Twilight nodded as she surrounded her in her magic as well making her lift an eyebrow.

"I'll take you home Applejack-Twilight stated before turning to Dash-Dashie?" She asked.

Dash looked at her and nodded. "Take me to Ben, I want to see him and Scootaloo," Dash asked of Twilight with a smile. Twilight wouldn't turn down a friend and quickly surrounded her in her magic.

"Alright, I'll drop Applejack first, then, the rest of us."

And now, off to a soul that has two souls inside of it. Sadly, Strike had to reveal something to the little one since she caught on to the secret.

"So I never had a mommy then?"

Strike sighed as she nodded. "Yeah, it was a way to trick you into not thinking Yuson was going to erase you after you served your purpose. Sorry…" She apologized hoping she hadn't hurt the little one's feelings. She sat down on the grass outside the home behind her and stared to the infinite abyss.

"I still like you, you know?" The little one smiled as she leaned into Strike's view. Strike smirked a little before rubbing her mane and giggling. "Thanks."

The little one sat down next to Strike and both stared off to the infinite beauty ahead of them. It was a grassy plain, with only a few trees and mountains in the back. Souls were very beautiful places.

The little one sighed as she leaned on Strike.

"Will daddy be okay?" She asked. Strike almost expanded that smile on her by another inch and nodded. "Yeah, just let him wake up and we'll talk to him! And we'll tell him the good news!"

"Do you think he'll be happy!?" The little one asked as she excitedly returned the enthusiasm. Strike giggled as she let herself fall onto her back on the grass. The little one stared curiously before doing the same and giggle along with Strike.

"Of course he will, plus, we might just get to go back to our physical bodies," Strike stated. The little one sprung up and quickly became hot with excitment. "Really!? I can be with him again!?"

"Not just you, me as well!" Strike argued with a pout. The little one lifted and eyebrow and placed a hoof on Strike's chest as she laid on the ground.

"But, he's not your daddy?" The little one asked confused by Strikes sudden response. Strike frowned slightly as she got off her back and sat up. "He could be!" She argued back. The little one shook her head and aimed a hoof at her.

"You're too old to have a daddy."

"THATS NOT TRUE, I'M NO OLDER THAN THE PONIES BEN'S WITH!" Strike countered, outraged by such a response. The little one scratched her head to show her confusion. Strike sighed before nodding and laying down again. The little one stared at her almost amazed by her attitude, before she remembered all those things Strike had said and admired about Ben.

"Do you like him?" The little one asked.

Strike turned to look at the little one, ready shout out an instant "no" but she stopped to think about her words. She couldn't describe it exactly, but she did like being so close to him and not to mention, how he has his ways with mares.

"I…I…"

The little one inched closer.

"Do you love him?" She asked going further than just "liking."

Once again, Strike was stuck with no words. She wanted to answer truthfully but that was just embarrassing. She couldn't understand herself, these feelings were all new to her. She'd never been told about these feelings when she was created.

The little one giggled as she reached up and pecked her a kiss on the cheek before happily trotting away to the house. Strike blushed as she rubbed her searing hot cheek and looked back at her. The little one stopped and turned around to face Strike one more time before going on her way. She loved her expression and along with her mass confusion of love.

"Don't worry, daddy loves you too!" She yelled before going on her way to the house. Strike stared as she disappeared into the house before whipping back around to look up at the sky. She stared at it carefully as she rewinded her memory back to those moments of Ben's interactions with AJ.

She stared at the sky as the whole scene played back like a movie. AJ on Ben was something she could look back on and stare for hours.

It was in only seconds that her breathing became heavier and her body began sweating up. She didn't realize how her body was involuntarily acting until she had her hoof rubbing between her thighs. She quickly shut her legs tight and squealed a bit at the sudden realization of what she was doing. She panted heavily as she brought her hoof up to her face to see her hoof dripping of a warm, moist sap. _Masturbation, was also something new to her_. She stared at it as she reminded herself of what the little one asked her eariler.

 _Do you love him?_

She whimpered a bit before licking her hoof.

"I do…"

 **That's it for this chapter, it honestly took sometime to get this one done. But, no project should be rushed.**

 **Just a heads up: Spitfire and Fleetfoot, I got something planned for them.**


	46. Chapter 46 - The Desires Continue

#46

Derpy, being a curious pony, was being her confused bundle of joy as Chrysalis tried her best to get to her. Chrysalis had moved them from Celestia's room to the room she occupied along with K the night before and earlier this night, both sat on the bed from before as they spoke. In this room, they had the secrecy they needed to talk and not have to be heard. Although, it was Derpy who was having a hard time getting what Chrysalis was saying while Chrysalis couldn't do much but giggle at how peculiarly adorable Derpy looked while she was confused.

"K? Special?" Derpy asked taking the two main words from the question, although, her innocent mind only let her see the shallow part of the question. Chrysalis tried to contain herself as she observed Derpy struggle getting what she was actually asking. She was naturally cute, and Chrysalis had already admitted it in her mind.

"Derpy, you are as innocent as you are adorable," Chrysalis giggled, her plan to contain any laughter had failed, the Derpy Effect was too great even for her. Derpy looked down at the bed and sniffled a bit: she was on couldn't understand why she was being laughed at or anything, it frustrated her mentally, and all she could do in response was hold back her sadness. Chrysalis quickly caught on and was instant in her response to reach out a hoof and calm her.

"No, don't cry, I'm just trying to ask if you like him," Chrysalis finally revealed with a smile. Derpy looked up and smiled. "I do like him, everypony does!" She answered completely missing the point of the question again.

"No, not as a…you know-she struggled with saying that word she hated-…Friend." Chrysalis redirected trying her best to not shiver at the word. Derpy cocked her head to one side curiously and lifted an eyebrow. "Not as a friend? Is there another way of liking him?" She asked as she used her mental curiosity to find an answer, although that's pretty hard when she didn't know what she was asking.

Chrysalis sighed as she nodded in acceptance of her confusion.

"Do you love him?" Chrysalis spared her from her confusion. Derpy was immediately was struck with a heavy blush as she tried to cover it with her hooves before burying her face into the bed. "WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT!?" She asked into the bed as she tried to understand how in the world did this ever come to love. Chrysalis smiled as she used her magic to easily pull Derpy from the bed.

Derpy quickly covered her face from embarrassment as she didn't want to be seen like this or with a blush in general. It was funny to Chrysalis that Derpy could actually feel embarrassed but saddening to think she was trying to hid her feelings to K. "Come on, enough hiding it now, let me see your face!" Chrysalis teased as she used her hooves to try to pry open Derpy's from her face.

"NO!" Derpy objected as she immediately turned away at her hooves being opened and her face revealed. She kept her eyes closed and held her breath. Chrysalis smirked as she used her hooves to pressed her cheeks together letting out the air she was holding back. Derpy had no more options: she stared at Chrysalis almost to the point of crying from embarrassment.

"Aw, don't cry, that's not why I brought you here," Chrysalis calmly said letting Derpy go and smiling that unexplainable smile of hers It was either friendly or evil. Derpy looked up to Chrysalis and froze at that smile. She immediately forgot about anything they were speaking of and stared, mystified by Chrysalis's ability to look so…seductive.

"Then why…why are we here?" Derpy asked as she leaned away carefully from Chrysalis who began leaning in slowly. Chrysalis smirked as placed a hoof to Derpy's chest and pressed on it tightly.

"To do this."

"To do wha-"

Before Derpy could ask, she met with the soft feeling of Chrysalis's lips on hers. Her face lit up bright red as her eyes went numb from the warmth of the moment. It was a feeling of complete embarrassment, but the kind of embarrassment was heartwarming. Derpy remained frozen as her mind was lost within the magic that was Chrysalis: her warm, slippery, snake-like tongue swirling around inside her mouth, reaching around and messing her head up.

As full of heat as the moment was, Derpy was an acceptation for more. She found a way to get her hooves around Chrysalis's head as she returned the tongue she had received and played along with Chrysalis. A line of drool, between their mouths as they exchanged their emotions and unique love to each other. A line was drawn at a minute from their act. Chrysalis giggled as she moved away from Derpy and Derpy remained with questions and a distant urge for more.

"W-what was that f-for?" Derpy asked as she shivered from how cold the room suddenly felt with their bodies not connecting. She wasn't hiding her embarrassment anymore and furthermore, she was actually more attracted to Chrysalis than before.

Chrysalis smiled calmly as she patted Derpy's head with her hoof playfully. Derpy, obviously confused by this, asked again making Chrysalis nod.

"I wanted to know if you like me," She revealed with her slight blush deepening into a redder that contrasted with her dark appearance. "If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not a praised changeling, but I guess I've surprisingly come off to the sisters and a lot of other ponies."

Derpy stared at Chrysalis almost as if she'd heard the most obviously self-explanatory question in all of Equestria. Chrysalis lifted an eyebrow as she lifted her head up.

"What's wrong-"

She froze in place and shivered as she felt her entire body fall to the power of Derpy's hug. It was mystical how much emotion a hug could show, and how many questions it answered. Chrysalis slowly looked down at Derpy embrace her, even if it was gentle and soft, there was a firmness to it that was unexplainable.

"Of course, I'll be your friend," Derpy answered looking up to Chrysalis with a smile. "Who wouldn't want to be your friend?"

Chrysalis stared almost heart broken by that. She tried to avoid getting that term swung around but it literally simplified everything. "Many." She answered bluntly and painfully looking down at Derpy.

Derpy looked up with worry now as she let her embrace loosen.

"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to understand. Chrysalis bobbed her head to once side to another as she spilled out reasons left and right. It seemed she could dedicate a biograghy to herself and just right the word "evil" to summarize it all. Derpy frowned slightly as she heard excuses enter through one ear and left out the other before she finally snapped at hearing about her twentieth excuse.

"STOP THAT!" Derpy yelled firmly, staring at Chrysalis stare back with a shiver in her eyes.

"W-what?" Chrysalis asked, worried over why Derpy had raised her voice, it seemed Derpy raising her voice also had a fear factor added to it. Derpy let out a heavy sigh but her frown didn't disappear, it was there until she figured out what Chrysalis was doing.

"You're not explaining anything, you're just spitting out excuses to avoid getting friends!" That struck deep into Chrysalis, she flinched back and responded with an instant objection.

"That's not true!" She defended herself sounding as if she'd been backed into a wall. "Yes, it is! The only reason you'd bring all those things is to avoid friends! AND IF I KNEW ANY BETTER, THEN I'D THINK YOU'RE JUST AFRAID OF MAKING FRIENDS!" Derpy fought back punching her hoof onto Chrysalis's chest. Chrysalis was frozen in place with her eyes looking as innocent as Derpy's were a few minutes ago. They stared at each other a good few seconds in silence before finally Derpy backed off and shivered as she retracted her hoof. She was terrified. Never had she ever been to serious about something that she'd purposely shove and punch over a friend over it. Her eyes shook as she stared at her hoof before putting it down and staring at Chrysalis, her wide eyes showing the worry she felt.

"I-I'm so sorry…I didn't want to be that mean!" Derpy apologized as she almost teared up from what she'd done. Chrysalis stared at Derpy, pondering what she'd just heard: It was true, no matter how much she could deny it. She hesitated to whimper as she began feeling almost as teary as Derpy was. That was spot on the problem with her, and if anyone had acknowledged it, it was Derpy, no one else. Derpy began actually showing her tears as she began apologizing with a sobbing voice.

"I…I…just want to be your friend! And you telling me these bad things…they don't change anything! It…never…will!" Derpy explained through the sobs and whimpers. As if she couldn't be anymore influential to Chrysalis's opinion on her. Chrysalis already had a strong liking towards the cross-eyed pony and that was only reinforced by her understanding her problem.

Chrysalis stroked her hoof on Derpy's mane and smiled painfully from the truth. She refused to tear up but she couldn't help it when she'd made Derpy cry and it was all in good intent. "Hush now…don't cry, I was wrong for trying to lie to you." Chrysalis apologized sniffling back her tears which she didn't want to escape her eyes. It wasn't a shock for Chrysalis to receive an embrace from Derpy the moment she ended her apology. She held her tight as she calmed down the warmth of Chrysalis's body. Within seconds, Derpy's grip loosened and she slowly began falling back onto the bed: she fell asleep. It true, crying is the best form of rest.

Chrysalis stopped her from falling back with her magic and brought about another pillow from the closet at the other end of the room and placed it between the two pillows already on the bed. There, she laid Derpy gently on the bed before smiling at the sight. Derpy's ear twitched every now and then as so did her hind hoof.

Chrysalis sighed gently before smirking sleepily as she looked at the door over her shoulder.

"Alright K, come in." She said.

K came in with no surprise but his expression. He looked about as serious as he was when he figured out about Derpy's injury. Chrysalis turned to him with her smirk before losing it and looking down to the bed in shame.

"Derpy is work of wonder, isn't she?" K asked with a newly formed smile. Chrysalis looked up from her shame and smiled: she thought he would bring up friends and all that other stuff. "Yes, she is." Chrysalis agreed as she turned to Derpy and smiled a bit wider at the sight. K exchanged his sight between Chrysalis and Derpy a few times while she was distracted before walking up to the bed side and looking at Chrysalis seriously once more. Although the seriousness was overlapped with worry.

"You know, she may act innocent and slow sometimes, but she's got a truth about her," K said, sitting down on the bed. Chrysalis lift her head up. "I know." She responded not looking back at K.

K let out a sigh before a smile made its way back onto his face again.

"Hey," K nudged Chrysalis playfully. Chrysalis turned to him curiously. "What?" She asked.

K's smile became more of a smirk as he put on his best pondering face and made it obvious he was teasing.

"What was that odd silence when you said _To do this_ and Derpy asked _To do what_ -!?" K was equally cut off by a sudden force that shut Derpy up before, Chrysalis leaned in from her space on the bed and was almost on top of K again as she pressed her mouth onto his. Like Derpy, K was taken by surprise on this one since his goal was to tease her, although he wasn't going to argue with this result either. Chrysalis parted her mouth from K's and stared into his eyes lustfully.

"That was the odd silence." She giggled throwing her hooves around K. K's smirk turned into a smile of delight as he used a finger to push her muzzle back a little making her blush a deeper. "How about some more silence?" K offered as he retracted his finger back. Chrysalis pressed her muzzle on K's nose playfully before licked him from the chin up to his lips and letting her drooling tongue hang.

"Chrysi likes." Chrysalis seductively whispered as pushed K onto the bed fully and pressed her mouth onto K's.

 _K likes too_ …

Soarin finished setting Ben down to rest on the bed, although, his blood covered clothes had to come off to which he refused to do the task. He chuckled as he turned to Spitfire and Fleet who stared back clueless as to what Soarin was thinking. Rarity had gone off to prepare something to drink while Trixie rehearsed some magic tricks to show Ben if he were to wake up, so she could entrain him.

Soarin chuckled some more as he aimed a hoof at Ben.

"Uh…you two take his clothes off and change him, I need to wash my uniform." He chuckled as he inched his way to the door one step at a time. Spitfire and Fleet stared curiously at him before it finally hit them the request.

"WHAT!?" They both asked as Soarin aimed his hoof at Ben again, now halfway to the door. "Come on, you have to learn how to do some common things, it's part of being a good wife." Soarin explained with a smile before he was met with two great and mighty pillows, peppering him with feathers.

"Lesson one: A good wife doesn't assault her husband with pillows!" Soarin mockingly exclaimed before quickly escaping the room in laughter. Spitfire growled before letting out a sigh as she let go of the worn-out shoe in her hoof which she stole off on Ben's foot. Fleet giggled before turning to Spitfire who gave her a slight frown.

"What?" She asked before getting met with pillow herself. Fleet pouted slightly as she shook the feathers off.

"You know something, a good wife doesn't assault her husband with pillows." She said seriously before stretching out her wings and giggling some more. Spitfire looked at the small amounts of feathers on the floor before smirking and giggling as well.

"I guess you're right, but Soarin can be such a…a…" Spitfire began as she tried to come up with a word to describe Soarin. "Playful wonder of a pegasi," Fleet laughed it up before pausing and giggling some more. "You know what…that's his superhero name! The Playful Wonder!"

Spitfire laughed it up as well before sighing and looked at Ben on the bed. Ben was still and motionless, apart from his faint breathing, which was of no alarm since he was passed out. Fleet followed along with Spitfire's gaze and turned to Ben.

"So, let's take his clothes off." Fleet ordered as she turned to Spitfire with a smile. Spitfire stared at Ben, distracted by her thoughts. Fleet cocked her head to one side with a lifted eyebrow before trotting over to her friend and giving her a slight tap on the shoulder. Spitfire shook away her thoughts and turned to Fleet with a chuckle to make up for her gaze.

"What?" Spitfire asked, trying to ignore the fact she was just staring at Ben. Fleet took the eye protection off and stared at Spitfire with her own eyes as she tried to understand what just happened.

"You okay? I mean, not including the fact we just witnessed a lot of violence or the fact we were part of a massive abduction." Fleet asked checking to see if her friend was alright. Spitfire giggled nervously as she waved a hoof ahead of herself to reassure she was fine.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking about…how…beautiful his voice is." She spat out as she tried to cover up with a reliable lie that was defendable. Fleet smiled almost immediately and nodded in agreement, she wasn't going to disagree when she herself was impressed. "Right! He's an amazing singer, almost as amazing as his fighting!" She admitted sending a punch into the air before giggling.

Spitfire sighed in relief before Fleet began undoing her suit, which put her in a sudden shock.

"What are you doing?" Spitfire asked as she stared at Fleet expose her true head before a hoof and another. Fleet bit down on her tongue as she pulled out one hind hoof before hopping right out the suit with a grin about her face.

"Ta da! It's me! Fleetfoot!" She excitedly exclaimed as she posed in a heroic pose, chest out with pride and her head up high. Spitfire stared in disbelief as she quickly asked again, this time making sure she was serious. Fleet raised an eyebrow before moving over to her and leaning into her face.

"Come on, we need to let free sometimes, plus, we can't dirty our outfit." She explained before Spitfire looked towards the ground in some shame. Fleet nudged Spitfire with a smirk as she played around.

"Come on, take it off!" She insisted trying to take off Spitfire's eye wear. Spitfire jumped back at the sudden order and shook her head in an instant. She refused to expose anything at the moment, she wasn't fully prepared to take it off. Fleet paused and frowned as she stomped her hoof firmly on the floor.

"Why not!?" She asked, "It's just us in here! And what does it matter? Other ponies go about without a suit or anything!"

Spitfire wanted to squirm away but she couldn't act so cowardly. She gulped and shivered as she reached her hoof up to undo the suit. She began with the eyewear and that was the first sign to Fleet something was up but she didn't fully understand. Her eyes were nervous, and to add that, she was struggling to take her suit off leaving Fleet to stare in utter shock.

As hard as it was for her, Spitfire poked her head out the suit and forced a smile upon Fleet's face.

"You're blushing…" She said in a whisper, her smile growing slowly wider. Spitfire frowned as she brought her hoof to her mouth and hushed her. "But…you look so cute," Fleet expressed amazed by how Spitfire was an entirely new pony when blushing. "I've never seen you blush like this before!"

"I said be quiet!" Spitfire lashed out as she pouted and proceeded to take off her outfit. She kicked it away before nervously sighing and turning to Fleet who smiled, without a doubt, enjoying seeing her like this. Fleet changed her smile to a smirk as she hopped onto the bed with Ben and looked down at Spitfire.

"Well, with your cute face aside, we need to get these clothes off of Ben and put these on him." Fleet said grabbing the shirt from edge of the bed, which Rarity left there along with pants and boxers. Fleet gulped slightly at the sight of the boxers but she passed it over her head as something for later. "A-alright, let's do this I guess." Spitfire nervously whispered to herself as she hopped onto the bed as well and stood on the opposite side of Ben.

They began by lifting his back off the bed, to which they realized how strong Soarin must be since both of them used a considerable amount of strength to get him off his back and to sit up. Spitfire was the one to stare and hold Ben up while Fleetfoot worked on getting his shirt off. Spitfire nervously looked to one side before looking to the other, trying to not stare at Ben or Fleetfoot too much.

"Hey, Fleetfoot?" Spitfire called over as she grabbed Ben by the shoulders. Fleet looked over to her and lifted an eyebrow as to how Spitfire was still blushing over something: she expected she would have stopped a while ago. "What is it?" She asked nervously now, considering she was witnessing Spitfire ignore her and Ben equally.

"Don't you…you know…feel a bit...naked?" Spitfire asked blushing slightly redder as she tried to hide behind Ben's shoulder. Fleet pulled Ben's shirt off in a single tug and stared in shock at Spitfire. Obviously, they were not thinking at equal levels.

"What!?" She asked. "No, I mean…how!?"

Spitfire as embarrassed as she was, looked across Ben over to Fleet as she picked up Ben's hand and showed it to her. "Without our suit…he could easily touch us…and do…you know…" Spitfire explained in a series of stutters and whispers. Fleet had so many questions they fumed out of her in one word.

"WHAT!?"

Spitfire closed her eyes as the wave from her shout reached her and she squirmed slightly behind Ben. "It's true…how do you not feel like this?" She whispered embarrassed by the thought of herself actually telling another pony about such an embarrassing topic. Fleet paused and looked between Ben and Spitfire, and the rule of thought- _when you think something up, you can't stop thinking about it-_ applied here.

The idea of being so close to another warm body that was of the opposite sex, quickly clouded Fleet's mind and so began the mental realization that: _Oh my Celestia, I'm taking the clothes off a male_. Fleet was no match for the feeling of embarrassment that filled her mind as she slowly retracted her hooves off of Ben. Her blush was as bright as day and her obvious embarrassment was radiating in the room. And as if thinking about unclothing a male wasn't enough embarrassment, the mind has funny ways of twisting these innocent thoughts into something lewd and deeper as so was happening to Fleet as she stared at Ben her eye twitching every second.

"Why…why are you making me think weird things!?" Fleet asked as she covered her face in embarrassment. Now, she could easily feel what Spitfire mentioned earlier, this feeling of being too exposed while next to someone: it was powerful. Spitfire looked curiously at her friend before looking at Ben.

"Maybe we should continue…"

"CONTINUE!?" Fleet asked swaying her attention to Spitfire who curiously looked at Ben as she let him slowly fall back onto the bed. Fleetfoot stared a little longer as she studied her friends trembling body which was beginning to sweat heavily. It was new from her, never had Fleet seen this type of attitude from Spitfire. Given a few seconds, Spitfire's breathing now began to become heavier along with the drenching sweat going down her body.

"Hey…are you alright?" Fleet asked as she slowly stepped across the bouncy mattress over to Spitfire's side. The worry had escalated as Spitfire allowed herself to lay down on the bed and rest it out. This moment had gotten out of hand-or hoof-for Fleet, who was now stuck between asking what she was seeing or keeping her mouth shut.

"It's not…what it seems…" Spitfire whimpered out as she covered herself with her hooves around her groin. Fleet stared in disbelief as she looked down at her friend squeeze her legs together to avoid anything being seen, although all that needed to be seen was the drenched mattress.

"Y-you're…in heat." Fleet whispered as she processed it in her mind.

"J-just give me a moment…I'll be fine…" Spitfire responded switching to using her tail to cover between her thighs. Fleet looked around quickly before jumping off the bed and dashing to the door rapidly closing it and applying the lock. She got back onto the bed and stared back at her friend who seemed to not have calm down a bit. The obvious regret running through Fleet's mind was great but it was nothing compared to how Spitfire dramatically changed within minutes.

"Why didn't you say anything!? If you have said something, I wouldn't have pressured you!" Fleet sternly said as she tried to think of a solution to end this madness. Fleet looked over to Spitfire before looking at her hoof and sighing with a blush. There was of course one simple solution. "I could help you…if you need it…I'm always here to support my friends."

Spitfire glared at her as she clenched her teeth and looked down her body which was locked up in heat. It was hard for her to move her body without feeling like her body would cramp up. "I'm…fine…" She grunted out as she lied as clear as day. She wasn't fine and she knew it well, if she continued like this she would explode into a rampaging maniac or probably dehydrate from sweat loss.

"LIES! We're two mares, we can do it!" Fleet motivated, feeling her opportunity to make up for her error being taken away. Spitfire let out a pant as she realized it slowly, and whimpered. Slowly, she removed her hoof which was covered in her sap and slowly spread open her legs. It was a sight to behold for Fleet, she'd never thought she would see the day her friend opened her legs for her. She gulped as she neared Spitfire side and plopped down right beside her. She smiled to her best ability before staring at down both their bodies and noticing Spitfire's hidden area. The smile turned wavy and brought about embarrassment as she slowly ran her hoof down Spitfire's chest area to her nether. "I won't get carried away, okay?" Fleet assured.

Spitfire nodded with shivers as Fleet attached a hoof onto Spitfire's plump walls. Shivers erupted from both of them as Spitfire felt a hoof, that wasn't hers, touch her down there, and Fleet felt the burning love sap stick to her hoof and send tingled down her body. It wasn't even a second as Spitfire let her body loosen to the feeling of having someone stroke her walls gently up and down. Strangely, seeing her friend loosen up and breath slightly calmer was enough to bring relief to Fleet as she smiled slightly.

"O-okay then…does this feel good?" Fleet asked as she looked down to Spitfire's twitching hind hoof as she slowly passed up and down. It was almost if by hearing that question Spitfire was immediately made joyous. A smile printed its way onto Spitfire as she let out slights slivers of laughter as she was being tickled.

"Okay…then." Fleet giggled with her blush slowly become dimmer as she was slowly getting into the act. Seeing her friend in pleasure was about as gifting as it could be, but of course, seeing someone get the pleasure while you're left to just wasn't good enough to satisfy. Fleet didn't want to do to herself what she was doing to her friend, out of not showing selfishness or her clear arousal, but she was leaking as well and now her arousal began heating her up as well.

Spitfire had regained enough control of her mind to notice the whimpers coming out of Fleet and slowly reached over a hoof, attaching it to her nether and slowly rubbing her as well. Fleet yelped as she lit up with red and recoiled her body at the feeling of having a hoof on her regions. Spitfire scooted in closer to Fleet to the point their chests touched along with their traps skimming over each other's fur. Fleet couldn't with the pressure and whimpered in embarrassment as she let herself get taken over by Spitfire. She was turned onto her back and her friend positioned herself to best fit both of them, there was pussy contact and now the fire was ignited. Spitfire grabbed one of Fleet's hind hooves and held on tight as she moved her hips and rubbed against each other's walls in an intertwined-scissor position.

If Fleets mind wasn't lost enough, her mind was defiantly far from reach as she began moaning with her tongue loosely hanging from the pleasurable friction between their secrets. "You make cute sounds…Fleet." Spitfire moaned as she rubbed at a pace while pressing tight against her groin. Fleet blushed heavily as she let her saliva escape her mouth and panted heavily against the mattress of the bed grabbing it tightly with her hooves.

"I-I-I…I j-just…it feels…Ugh!" She moaned as she made no sense with how melted her mind was.

Now, what the hell is that sound?

My head wasn't bloating in pain anymore but I had that disturbing, horrible, and sickening taste of raw flesh in my mouth. As if I wasn't sick enough, there was rocking and a clusterfuck of moans and yelps coming off my right. The heat around the room also added to my uneasiness. Just who could moan that loudly? I asked myself mentally as I placed my hands against the soft-but familiar-foam I was on and pushed myself forward.

The moaning was only getting louder and that was the trigger for me to open my eyes. Of course, the daze of waking up so suddenly was forcing me to squint my eyes as I tried to look around, although, an obvious thing to note was that I wasn't outside anymore: I was in a room. A bedroom.

"SPITFIRE! PLEASE! HE'S AWAKE!" A familiar voice, shouted off my right followed by some of the loudest moans up to date.

"Spitfire?" I blinked my eyes but I couldn't open them more than a millimeter cause of the burn of the light in the room on my eyes. I wanted to know what the hell was going on. I was blinded by this light.

"I…I'm going to melt! Just a little more!" Another familiar voice moaned out. With both of these lustful moans and pleaded going off, I was more the intrigued and quickly rubbed the sleepiness out of my eyes.

I had no explanation for what was going on to my right but it was what the moaning added up to: it was two pegasi going at it with their crotches, although the one who was doing most of the forcing was the one with the flame-like mane. A flame-like mane? She dominated, forcing her partner to stay stiff as she grinded on her plump walls.

"S-Spitfire?" I asked as I stared at the lust in front of me. It was her, no doubt about it, that same mane and voice, but this is the first time I see her eyes and body (Especially like this). She was cute, like every mare I've met, but to see her out of her getup, it was fascinating. She turned to me with a look that showed how full of heat she was, she was almost evaporating the sweat on her fur as she continued grinding hard on her friend. I stared into her eyes as she stared into mine before the obvious occurred. I must have awoken a little too late to have awoken at the time of climax.

"Fleet…I…" Spitfire gushed out in a whimper as she pressed tighter onto her friend. "Fleet…foot?" I asked in whisper as I looked down at her. This pony, was Fleetfoot, her mane was the same as the one's I met that day. Her eyes, and shade of color: this was something new to me from her as well. She buried her face into the mattress as she drowned in her embarrassment and, possibly, cried. She whimpered loudly as Spitfire drove one final hip movement, with the greater swing of all, and followed with an explosion of love juices going in all directions.

It was shocking but oddly enjoyable to see two mares go at it and end with one crying in embarrassment and the other drooling onto her friend as they each loosely dropped their body onto the bed. I was curious about what had happened and how I ended up back in my room in Flutter's home after that series of events. I couldn't become aroused by what I was witnessing due to having so many questions, but I lost the sick feeling in my stomach along with any sadness or doubt I felt, and for that I'm thankful.

I leaned in over Fleet and stared down at her with a smile as I waved.

"Hey." I playfully greeted.

She glared at me, her eyes half-open in exhaustion as she tried to catch her breath. It took her about a few seconds to finally realize me and snap open her eyes before sending a kick to my chin which I let hit: I didn't have the strength to even try to defend myself.

"Damn! What was that for!?" I asked as I flinched back and placed my hand on my jaw, massaging it. She had a good kick, there was no denying it when she made me think my jaw had dislocated. She glared at me with a frown with full embarrassment going on as she covered her private with her hooves.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO WATCH!" She yelled at me as her tears of anger rolled down her exhausted and sweaty body. I frowned back as I numbed the jaw pain and bounced back.

"Well, can you blame me!?" I exclaimed. "You can't expect me to not watch a pair of mares going it right next to me! Especially when it's two mares I know!"

She launched her hoof at me and aimed it with a malicious intend to prove me wrong. Although, she will recognize how right I am and give up, all I had to do is watch.

"BUT…but…" She realized how she was on a losing argument and began dying her feistiness. _Told ya_. I stared at her with a smirk as I aimed a finger at her. "It was embarrassing?" I filled in, positive that was it. She glared at me with a frown, _of course that was it_.

I lifted an eyebrow before chuckling and giving up.

"Alright! Sorry I looked, although…it looked great from my view!" I added with a smile before getting a pillow to the face which tipped me over the edge of the bed. My feet were the only thing on the bed and now my back was on the floor. I let my feet join me on the floor as I picked myself up and smiled again but secretly, I held the pillow she threw at me, hidden from sight.

"OH MY GOSH, I'M SORRY, I FORGOT YOU'RE STILL WEAK FROM EARLIER!" I heard her apologize but it was too late for that, she had written her fate.

"You know, when my mom hit my dad with a pillow, my dad would smile like this and say…RIGHT BACK AT YA!" I laughed it up returning the pillow she launched my way and it hit her smack well in the face making her land on her back on the bed before spring up with a feather-covered face. She growled as she shook off the feathers and picked up the pillow again. I smirked a friendlier one than before as I stared at her get ready launch it right back at me.

"My dad would say, a good wife doesn't assault his husband with pillows, but if she does, you found someone special." I quoted, going off that one night I actually asked why Dad had thrown a pillow at mom, and he told me that exact quote. Funny, it seems the more time I look back on memories, the more I have a reason to miss my parents. I saw her fall back on her attack before looking at the pillow.

"Why is that?" She asked. I chuckled a bit as I aimed a finger at her.

"I guess it's because my dad loved playing with my mom in pillow fights, guess what they did for their first date?" I said, proud of my dad's funny ways. It was honestly starting to pain me slightly thinking back on him. Fleet looked down to the bed before giggling a bit.

"They had a pillow fight?" She answered with a smirk. I looked over to her and bobbed my head playfully. They did much more than that and honestly, now that I think about it, I owe it to pillow fights I was alive. Yet, I still wonder how my dad got my mom to sleep with him on their first date. Ha! I should ask myself the same damn thing too!

"They did that, and from that, I also emerged, I was born a less than a year later," I happily claimed with my hand on my chest, patting it gently.

That was the reason my dad loved pillow fights, it gave him a child, me. I was happy on the outside but on the inside, I was depressed. My parents created a child that isn't even in the same world as theirs, they died without hearing a single word from their son at their grave, and they probably died thinking I was dead. I didn't like being sad but it was fine sometimes, but I can mourn my misfortunes along with my parents' later.

I looked up to see Fleet who was fighting a smile that was already stretched across her face. "Okay, don't make this anymore romantic than its supposed to be." She giggled as she tossed aside the pillow. She adapted to her embarrassment well. Her blush was now a tamed one, a cute one too, as she rubbed her hooves together nervously. I liked this response, I gained her trust in the most unexpected of times, especially after she whacked me under the jaw and threated me with a pillow.

"Alright," I chuckled. "So…what why were y'all pleasing yourselves next to me?"

She blushed a little more before turning around to Spitfire who was blushing intensely as she smiled nervously. She seemed a little more than guilty and it was all obvious since she was the one who was dominating over Fleet on the bed. She chuckled nervously before scratching the back of her head.

"I…uh…had a problem that needed sorting…" She explained. I was a quick observant and thinker, so my head got the answer as soon as she ended her statement. "You're in heat?" I asked her. Of course, if tis the season that heat goes off at the most unexpected of times, along with periods.

I observed them go from their nervous smiles to downright embarrassment. I smiled before nodding. I wasn't new to this anymore but I was new to these two without their suit and their secretive issues.

"It's alright, that happens to many, but are you telling me y'all had a sudden heat wave right now?" I asked them. Fleet shook her head before aiming at Spitfire. "She did!" She pointed with trying to defend her rep, before Spitfire fired back with a gasp.

"But you said you could help me!" Spitfire revealed not trying to sound as if she firing back but pointing out. Fleet swayed around to look at her and frowned. "And you took advantage of me!" She yelled making Spitfire lean away almost instantly and blush heavily.

"But it felt good, I wanted more…of you…" She quietly expressed almost heartbroken by Fleets angered response to her actions. "I though you would enjoy it too? That's why I turned you over like that." She explained with a saddened look. I guess I would be sad too if I didn't satisfy my partner. Fleet looked towards Spitfire almost as if she'd been hurt as well and put those worries eyes on before turning to me and back.

"…I never said I didn't enjoy it," She said, turning heads up. "I did like you…on me like that…"

Spitfire grew a huge smile before tackling her friend down in an embrace as I stared wondering _how the hell did I wake up to this_? That question forced me to rewind my memories in a rapid succession of images. I recalled waking up to find out Derpy was hurt, to the point Scoots…had her head twisted off. I quickly patted the bed repeatedly and called for their attention.

"Is Scoots alright!?" I asked quickly. They both stopped their hugging and playfulness before smiling and nodding.

"Yes! Thanks to you she's fine! She's down stairs!" Spitfire assured with a smile that assured me everything was alright. "You saved us, and every single one that monster captured." Fleet added with the same smile. I looked at them and nodded a "Thank you."

I didn't know how to feel, it was my fault in the first place Scoots died, but, now she alive again. I had to see her with my own eyes to be able to forgive myself and apologize to her for her suffering. I looked around and noticed my shirt on the floor, before noticing my bare chest, I had some questions about that but first things first. I reached for that blood-stained shirt before swinging it over my head and rushing down my torso as I made my way to the door only to grab the knob and smack my head on the door. Someone had locked the door.

"Sorry about that!" Fleet apologized as I rapidly escaped the room and rushed down the way to the living room. I slid in like a madman as I caught my fall. I looked to my feet before noticing I was missing shoes as well. I let out a heavy pant as I looked around the room of terrified ponies, but nowhere did I see Scoots.

"BEN!?" Rarity shrieked at my sight, I must have been unexpected. I slowed my pace down, reminding myself that she was fine according to Spitfire and Fleet. "Are you okay!? Goodness me, do you need something!? Water, Tea, food!?" She asked as she met me where I paused. I looked down at her and nodded, I calmed my anxiety down to a stable breathing cycle.

"Yeah, sorry if I scared you, I was told Scoots was fine, but I wanted to see her with my own eyes." I explained as I wiped the worried sweat from my forehead. It's strange how quick worry makes someone sweat. Rarity was stunned by that for a few seconds before depressingly aiming a hoof to the Kitchen. That wasn't what I wanted to see.

"She's in the kitchen," She said, before gulping some bad news. "but, she's…scared darling, very, very, scared."

I looked up at Trixie who was staring at me with a face that didn't want to be involved in any of this. I turned to the right of the room to notice the other guests: Twilight, Dash, Flutters (knocked out), and Soarin. I waved my hand at them insecurely before directing myself to the kitchen, I couldn't ignore this for anything.

I was just a few steps into the kitchen and there was Scoots, staring at a cup of tea almost zombie-like. I froze at her sight before walking up slowly to the chair she sat on. I pulled back a chair on the opposite end of the table, across from her, and sat myself down, never losing sight of her as I sat. I looked at her before seeing off the corner of my eye, everyone (except Flutters) staring into the kitchen. I pushed myself in and placed both my hands on the table. I didn't know how to begin, but I knew I had to distract her from her trauma.

"Scoots…are you there?" I asked her. She continued looking brain dead, not moving or twitching at the slightest. Rarity shook her head. "We tried everything, we can't get her to-"

"Yes…" Scoots responded by surprise, looking up at me with eyes that were just broken for her. It looked like she had the soul ripped right out of her. We all stared at her, she was almost like a robot the way she didn't move much, it was terrifying.

"I…I'm sorry I let that happen to you…I wanted to stop it but…" I began trying to find a way to say this without getting worked up with too much emotion. I couldn't find the words to finish what I wanted to say to emphasize how horrible I felt but I didn't need to, Scoots sniffed back her tears as she nodded.

"I know…" She whimpered as she stopped looking so dead. Her eyes gained that violet color that was missing in them before she began crying, and now her tea was getting filled her tears as she full on let her tears reign down on the table. "You cried, so much…"

I cried, it true. I cried when she was dying in front of me, with nothing I could do to stop it.

"I cried because…I knew I was going to lose you and I couldn't do anything as I stared at you…disappear from my life." I said, fully deserving to whimper as I was slowly realizing I had her in front of me. And I couldn't stop myself from whimpering as I wiped away some tears that were trying to escape my eyes as she tried to smile but it came out as sob.

"I never want to feel…my head turn like that again!" Scoots cried as she covered her face to stop her tears from being broadcasted to everyone in the room. I looked at her and nodded as I reached my hand across the table and picked her head up so I could look at her face to face. "You never have to worry about that again, it won't ever happen again as long as I'm alive. And I'm gonna live a long time, I promise." I assured her rubbing her cheek gently as I smiled. I will live a long time, this was not only a promise to her but to myself, I will not die as long as there is a danger to these ponies.

She flourished with a teary smile as she jumped from her seat and met me on my seat with a huge embrace, her wings fluttering in joy. I balanced the seat as I embraced back. The warmth from her little body forced me to hug tighter, it reassured me I was holding her, alive and well. This was all I wanted.

"Thank you." She thanked as she let me go. I gently put her on the floor as I stood up and smiled as she rushed over to Dash without a second to waste, also embracing her deeply. The scene was too heartwarming, as if my face already hurt enough, they forced my smile to lengthen. Dash looked up to me with a smile as she hugged Scoots with one hoof, thanking me with her expression. I nodded back before looking at the other smiles aimed at me and making sure I acknowledged them.

The scene calmed down. Trixie offered to entertain Scoots with some magic tricks with Dash watching over Scoots, Soarin helped take Flutters to her room, and Twilight spoke with Rarity about her wellbeing before coming to me and asking the same.

"I'm fine, honest." I assured her although Twilight had a problem with connecting my words to the blood on my shirt. Someone had cleaned my face off with a wipe or something because I remember having been sprayed with blood before I got here. She sighed almost refusing to believe I was being truthful before sitting on the floor. "Well, can I ask about your strange magic?" She asked next. If by that she meant that white light and energy I emitted, then I myself have some questions as well.

"What about it?" I asked.

"How did it feel to have such power?" She asked. It wasn't an easy question when I was relying on blind rage to do most of it for me. But I do recall having the crazy advantage of being able to move quicker than before while being able to break bones by the simplest squeeze of my hand. I looked at her as I opened my hand and showed her.

"I don't really remember how it felt like since I was in a raged state, but I do recall being able to break his bones by simply squeezing my hand without even trying, also I was incredibly more agile and responsive. and if that wasn't enough, what took the kaio-ken times four to cut through his steel-like hand, took only a punch to get through his chest." I explained, intriguing myself with how much of an advantage that power gave me. I brought my hand to my side as Twilight filled in a journal with in formation.

"Okay, that's…uh…very scary power," Twilight mentioned as she stopped righting for now. "Tell me about it." I chuckled as she readied the magical feather again and cleared her throat.

"Okay, next, why did you stop using the power once you…pierced his chest?"

That one was a bit harder to explain. I recalled how my rage died down as I pulled the organ from his body and kicked him away. It was the prime moment in the battle. I looked at her and back at my hands as I shrugged.

"I don't know why, but I know that I felt my rage disappear as I realized I had gotten his heart again. So, the power disappeared with my rage, at least it seems that way." I explained again, and this time Twilight jotted almost a page full of information as she nodded to everything. She closed the journal as soon at the feather left the page and she quickly made them both disappear.

"Thanks, I'll use this information for research…don't think I'm not at all glad you're alive and Ponyville is back to normal (mostly), because I am." She assured me, quickly making sure I wasn't feeling pushed over. I knew it was important to understand myself, and I also knew it was important for Twilight to understand me as well. I had no problem with anything Twilight was doing, in fact, I preferred her not mourning me at all, Ponyville was fine and Scoots is alive, that's what matters.

"It's alright," I said, giving her mane a small caress before turning to Soarin who had exited Flutter's room and rubbed his eyes with his wings. He came up to me, yawning and blinking his eyes multiple times to stay awake. But before he could say he was sleepy, he looked up at me suspiciously.

"What was up with all that moaning and yelling?" He asked, daring me to answer with his straight face. I didn't twitch or anything for the sake of not getting called out. I stared at him with no change in my expression as I nodded.

"I'm an excellent pillow fighter." I responded with a, maybe, too straight face. He lifted an eyebrow as he nodded to that but he had more question by the look in his eyes. "Well, how about all the moaning?" He asked next, this time becoming slightly more serious. For that I needed to be a little more creative because I didn't know how moaning connected to that. But maybe I could try a little something.

"That was me, I'm pretty good at imitating voices!" I chuckled altering my voice to that of Spitfire's. If by some odd reason this works, I'll look back and laugh in the future. He curiously stared at me before nodding and growing a smile. _Oh boy_.

"Well now, you learn something new every day," He chuckled, clearly signaling my little display of voice alternation. "uh…so, where are they?" He asked, indicating the two mares in my bedroom. I aimed my thumb at my room before smiling.

"They should still be in there." I said as I began walking over to the room, followed by him. I reached the door and opened it slowly peeking my head into the room, making sure I wasn't going to be met with anymore lewd scenes. On the contrary, instead I was met with two ponies sleeping next to each other with a blanket over them.

"What the?" I whispered to myself before looking down at Soaring also peeking his head through the door.

"Well would you look at that, looks like they've made themselves at home." Soarin whispered as we both retracted our heads from the door curiously scratched them. "What now?" I asked him. He shrugged with a smile.

"I guess they'd rather sleep here for tonight, and it's been a really stressful night, just let them sleep here." He chuckled before yawning and rubbing his eyes again.

"Okay, now I'm really sleepy, take care of them, okay?" He said, giving me the right to watch over them. I scratched my head as I nodded slowly. I was confused as to why this was happening; Why like this? Why in my room? Why tonight? Why me? Although, I won't argue, it's okay by all means, but it was weird to sleep with the ponies that were just rubbing each other off.

"Fine, no problem, I guess I'll be seeing you some other time Soarin." I said with a smile. He smiled back and nodded in delight.

"Thanks, and yeah, we'll see each other again." He chuckled as he began trotting away from me and off to where ever he goes at night. He waved with his wing, to which I waved back and chuckled: Those wings have so many purposes.

I walked back to the living room to notice how Trixie thrown herself onto the couch and rested on it with Dash and Scoots being next to Twilight as she jotted down a few more notes. I smiled at the sight and moved over to them.

"Okay, Ben, I need to get Spike, as well as everypony I safehoused, hopefully I'll see you soon, if my studies don't get ahead of me." She explained, trying to get to that she needed to leave.

"Alright, get home safe." I said. She nodded with a smile and warped away. She lit up the room as she disappeared, and left only me and Dash with Scoots, both smiling at me as Dash held Scoots closely next to her with her wing.

"Hey." I chuckled. Dash continued smiling as she looked to Scoots and back to me. She had this look about her that was different, it was almost as if she was at ease after being so tense. She'd been crying before too, it was easily seen in her eyes.

"Thank you, for everything, I'll never forget it." She said stepping up to me. I knelt down to agree with her before she got on her hind legs and wrapped her hooves around me. I wrapped my arms around her as well, she needed some comfort after tonight, I'm sure everyone did. She let go, but not before giving me one on the cheek and backing off with a blushful smile. "Take care Ben, you're the greatest thing to ever happen to us and me."

With that she left, as I was left there to ponder that phrase. I couldn't with how I could be the greatest thing that has happened to them. It was almost unfair to me, how they referred to me as this great thing when all I've done was cause harm.

"I'm just me…and as far as I know, I've caused so much trouble since I've arrived…and I was brought here to kill ponies…how?" I asked myself, sighing as I took a seat on the floor. It was so hard to think about being optimistic when I just had a reminder that life isn't as safe here either.

"Maybe it's because you're special to all of us darling, you protect us, fight for us, give us those moments we can't forget but that we cherish so much, if that isn't enough to prove you're special, then maybe we haven't been doing a good job in showing it."

That voice, I nearly forgot she was here. She had her hooves around my neck as she embraced me from the back. I looked at myself as I wondered what she'd said, it was as if the answer was so simple but my regret in myself was denying me access to the reasoning.

"I'm sorry, Rarity," I apologized. "I was trying to understand how anyone would consider me special, I guess I needed someone to open my eyes."

She smiled, and I knew she did. She let go of me and also pecked me one on the other cheek as she trotted off to a soft couch in the living room before making herself comfortable. I stared at her as she sat down and smiled towards me.

"In other words, thanks." I chuckled as I stood up. She nodded as she stared at me observe my clothing and how dirty and stained it was.

"Looks like you need to bath and change." She giggled. I smiled back and nodded. "No kidding."

She had an awkward silence for few seconds before clearing her throat. "Uh…I don't have any flank-tiring related tasks for a day, so I'll spend my night here, if that's alright?" She said. I turned to her and smiled as I nodded. "I see no problem in it, but where will you sleep?" She smiled as she turned to Flutter's room and aimed her hoof towards it.

"I'll sleep with Fluttershy, you seem to have company in your room."

She just had to remind me. I smiled the best I could and nodded.

"Yeah, but it's asleep so no worries." I chuckled as I waved. "I need to clean myself up and get to bed I guess, night."

Rarity giggled as she nodded and hopped off her the couch and trotted with me before diverging to Flutter's room. She entered her room before I turned to open my room. Before I could open my door, I paused as a sudden giggle. I looked at the couch Trixie was on before looking to myself and to the room I was about to enter. I opened it and peeked my head in again. Everything seemed normal. A strange giggle… _Could it have been in my head_?

I shook it off before going for the clothes that were on the bed, randomly there, they were new so I'll take them. I stepped out the room to proceed to the shower, but again, that giggle appeared. I turned to see Trixie still asleep before placing my ear against the door of the room. It was all quiet on both ends.

I shrugged it off but not without taking note of it and readying myself for the next time it appears. I entered the bathroom slowly and did my business, which was only about ten to fifteen minutes. I did myself like I would, and took a deep breath as I stared at myself in the mirror. It was really me. I did some crazy things in life, but what I did tonight was insane. I could be screaming right now in the corner of a room wondering what is happening to me, but I'm not and this what I admire about myself: I'll never be to the point of insanity.

As I stepped out the bathroom, I listened carefully to the atmosphere for the anonymous giggling. They didn't appear or come out this time. _Interesting_.

I stepped into my room again and looked around carefully before looking down at the bed at the two ponies who seemed to be heavily asleep. I scratched my head before sighing, forgetting the idea of finding the random giggler, and trying to find a way to sleep in this room. It was hard when I had to find a way to not wake them up.

They shifted a bit making me slightly flinch before relaxing my body: it was a fluke. "Damn…" I whispered to myself as I paced around the room looking down at the bed, there was more than enough room to sleep. Although, I'm sane enough to know that a creep would sneak into bed with two girls. My head pushed me to get in but my head pushed me back. I bit my lower lip as I paced a few more times.

"This is stupid, I can't do this!" I told myself in stern whispers. I repeated it a few times before I paused harshly on the word "stupid" as I ended my pacing. I thought about it, and the more I did, the easier it was to see that: I was just procrastinating.

"What the hell am I saying, I like stupid!" I chuckled as I tried to pull off my shirt but stopped when I noticed the ponies in front of me. "On second thought, I'll keep this on." I whispered to myself as I gently put my shirt down and laid down carefully on the bed. I kept a safe distance from them as I placed made myself comfortable.

" _Ha! Not bad._ " I mentally praised myself as I shifted over to my side looking off the edge of the bed as I began closing my eyes.

Deep sleep can't arrive early, can it? For me, it can't. I knew so as I felt something creeping up on me from behind. _I jinxed it again dammit!_ I froze for a few seconds since I knew who it could only be that was behind me at the moment. _Shit, did I wake them up!?_

I remained silent in hope I could come off as being asleep but I just had to get touched on my back forcing me to bend away from the hoof. I was blown from my cover, and the only thing I could do was turn around to face them. They looked awfully fine considering I'm bed with them, maybe even a bit too fine.

"Until you finally decide to lay down!" Spitfire giggled as she shoved me with a hoof. I was thrown off the edge of my mind. "What?" I asked, not getting anything, I was too shocked to event compute what she was talking about. As if I wasn't confused enough, Fleet picked her head up as well from the bed with blushful smile. Now that I looked closer: they both had blushes in this dark room.

"Is everypony gone?" Fleet asked from behind Spitfire as she looked at me anxiously. I was staring at them almost emotionless before getting a tap between the eyes from Spitfire. "Are they gone?"

"Gone to sleep, y-yeah, the only ones here are Trixie, Rarity, and Fluttershy." I responded gulping down heavily as I was frozen to the bed, already getting the idea of what's about to happen. There was no avoiding this event without coming off as a bore or slump, not that I wanted to avoid it by any means if this is what will happen if I let it go on.

They both looked at each other before smiling, it was those malicious smiles that gave me the chills of excitement, that is from the other ponies, these ponies gave me a bit of nervous feeling. "That'll do." Spitfire giggled as she looked at me, waiting for me to say something. I remained stunned into silence as I waited for them to explain themselves, although it just made it more awkward.

"Uh…you're awfully silent tonight?" Fleet pointed out making me blink my eyes from staring and look away for a second to compose myself. "Yeah, I thought you two went to sleep." I responded making them look at each other with their blushes increasing ever so slowly.

"Nope! We needed a way to get Soarin away and you alone in here with us!" Spitfire giggled. And there was my trigger to nodded and break a smile. I knew this was going to happen from the beginning of the giggles but even then I had my doubts, now, I don't even want to remind myself of doubting this.

"Alone?" I asked them. They pouted and nodded.

"You know, you're terrible as getting the point." Fleet commented with a frown making me lose it mentally. I asked myself why I was pretending to not get it when I did. Fuck it then, better to be real than lame.

"I get the point, but, you could've warned me before hand," I countered before getting a hoof shoved into my mouth. I stared at Spitfire as she approached me, her eyes lustful in their own special way. She removed her hoof as she giggled and stunned me to the bed with her hoof going onto my chest.

"Then I wouldn't be able to surprise you, surprised?" She asked.

"Very…" I answered before seeing Fleet come off my right and smile nervously at me. Unlike her friend, she was the shy one, still, I found her more attractive like this.

"Can I ask something?" I asked them. They both quickly looked at me before doing that cute confused tilt of the head to one side.

"What?" They asked.

"Have you done this before?" I asked them, in the end actually worrying about them. They glared at each other before blushing a bit brighter and turning to me with their clueless smiles.

"There's a first time for everything!"

"No kidding…" I answered back as they both placed their hooves on my chest and giggled.

 **Thats it for this chapter. I'm still trying to get these relationships flowing, and believe me, they will get extreme (no limits to fun). Anyways, next chapter we'll find out hows it going in K's side of town, and where Starlight's haywire teleportation magic gets her. Along with the crazy things going on in Flutter's home.**

 **Poor Princess Celestia: No Partner = No fun**


	47. Chapter 47 - Stress Reliever

#47

Many wonder how things lead up to such a point, but this was one was a no-brainer. That seductive play from Chrysalis was now evolved into hip swinging, pelvic thirsting, and a series of loud moans and groans. K rapidly through his hand over Chrysalis muzzle as she accelerated her hips and weakened him.

"T-try to keep it down!" K grunted as Chrysalis looked to her side at Derpy shifting in her sleep. He'd tried to hush Chrysalis up multiple times now but it seems she couldn't keep herself together during such lewd times. Damn, it shouldn't be this hard to keep her quiet!

"MMFFGG!"

K wasn't taking that anymore. He learned his lesson the fifth time he let her muzzle go: she would go into a moaning frenzy if he'd let go. Although, the feeling of just holding one side of her hips wasn't as satisfying and firm as holding her with both hands and inducing his own thrusts. Chrysalis closed her eyes as she continued thrusting him into her, although at a slightly gentler pace, in an effort to die down her rowdiness.

She moaned softer and this time, when her eyes opened, they had rolled back down to their casual seductiveness. "Alright then," K sighed as he admired her effort, letting go of her muzzle and letting her breathe with her mouth. "Try to keep it slow, for now."

Chrysalis had gained back her mind from his throbbing shaft, but now that she could clearly think, she could think of even crazier things to do in this position.

"Hey, want to try something new?"

K slowed down. His interest was flared, just like that, but the tone she had was almost daring and if not, warning. "Will it hurt?" He asked, his face holding onto worry and his mentality holding onto curiosity.

Chrysalis smiled as she shrugged. "Maybe, for me, you'd probably just feel a tight squeeze." She giggled with a blush that heightened during that small moment. K stared a bit more curious than before and his worry a bit more on the low from her giggle. Now all in K's mind was: what could be so new?

"So…what's this new-

A flash of green surrounded her and lit up the room with a dim green light show. K was left in a shock as she stared at the colors hypnotized him in the darkness of the room before he felt it. "THIS IS NOT A FUCKING SQUEEZE, THIS IS "THE" SQUEEZE!" K yelled to himself, mentally, as his body locked up and made it almost impossible for him to move his cramped body.

"F-fuck…tight-tight-TIGHT!" K rapidly exclaimed, nearly tearing up from the feeling. He immediately launched his hands over his mouth as he wondered the fuck is under that green flash as it dimmed out slowly. At the same time, he also heard the almost sniffled tears of what wasn't Chrysalis voice anymore, but a more recognizable voice.

"C-Chrysi?" He asked through his hands as he stared at the green flash fade.

It faded completely.

His eyes became as wide as they could be as his breathing cut off at the sight. "H-holy fuck!" He exclaimed in disbelief. It was just that crazy, for him to have used the word "holy" was as much evidence of the scene's madness as his trembling eyes.

"Oww…this hurts…a lot…" Chrysalis whimpered as she looked down her new body, and the blood she was dripping down low. "Are you alright!?" K asked out of worry as she stared at her bleed from down low, hoping he hadn't broken anything. "Did I break anything or-!?"

He got a gray hoof into his mouth as he stared at her cry her tears of pain and swallow heavily as she sweated from the tight fit. "I-I'm fine…the only thing…you probably broke was…my hymen…" she whimpered as she clenched her teeth. Thank Ben for his knowledge on the human anatomy, if not, K would never have guessed what the "hymen" was.

"H-how…?" He asked in a whisper as she stared her new body: her blond mane, her gray tone of fur, her crossed eyes, and her crying face of joy and pain. "You see, when I change into a new body, I gain the advantaged of being, inexperienced, if you get my point." She giggled with a hint of pain in her voice. K gulped as he looked at her, now in a makeshift version of Derpy and with pain written all over her and that smile she was pulling off.

"Then why? W-why would you do this?" He asked through a grunt as he felt the tight squeeze with every throb of his rod. Chrysalis whimpered a bit along with the sudden twitches from him but managed to placed her hooves on his chest to support herself from falling. She was weak from having something so thick driven so deep into her, now small, hole. He was huge from this new perspective, if that wasn't enough, then the fact that his dick made a lump on her belly was.

She looked at him through the painful tears and whimpers and pulled off a smile so innocent and heart dropping, it froze K.

"I like the feeling of you…taking it away." She whispered with a blush. K's breath got cut off again as his mind processed that.

"W-what?" He asked, wanting to make sure he heard it right.

Chrysalis looked down below before pulling back a bit to reveal his blood covered shaft and her overstretched tunnel. "I like it…when you take away my innocence, it's so beautiful and passionate…I like that…" She said with a gentle tone and smile. K thought about it deeply as he controlled his fear and worry before swallowing it down.

"I just don't want to hurt you, you know…" K expressed seriously looking off the side. Well, damn, K has become softer, cute magical beings do that to you. Chrysalis took it well and smiled warmly from that before pulling back a bit from their connection and forcing herself forward. She bit her lower lip slightly as she held back her pain until it became more of pleasure, she was waiting for it.

K gaged a bit from the squeeze and shivered as he felt her complete one back and forth action after another. Love fluids mixed with blood slowly rolling down onto the bed mattress as Chrysalis persisted and tried to get a hang of it, while K suffered from intense pleasure.

"What's the matter? Too tight?" Chrysalis giggled as she noticed K with one eye squinting, staring at the crazy scene. "Y-yeah…you really have a tight squeeze now!" He grunted. Chrysalis smirked as she leaned in with her hooves on his chest.

"Then loosen me up."

K froze before slowly attaching his eyes to hers. He stared in shock before slowly placing his hands onto her body. Funny, a seductive Derpy was strange considering she was so innocent in reality. Chrysalis shivered from the feeling of his warm hands as they traveled down her new slimmed body, and attached tightly at the curvy bottom.

K smiled a bit as he nodded. "If you say so."

He slowly lifted her up to the point he could feel the tip about to come out, but the grip her tiny hole had refused to let him out: it was unrealistic. Chrysalis actually felt some fear wind up inside as she actually realized how her body ratio to his was and chuckled out of fear.

K chuckled as well.

"You noticed, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah…I, uh…"

K smirked as he lowered her, mid-thought. She yelped at the sudden movement and frowned while trying to hold back the moans. He chuckled in the excitement and cringed his face as she applied a tight squeeze.

"Well, this isn't going to get easier if we hold it off, might as well get the hang of it, that is if my dick doesn't explode in the next few seconds." He smirked. Chrysalis giggled as well, she had almost forgotten that he liked this squeeze. Despite her own pleasure, she wanted him to feel the most of it: seeing him happy was her happiness as well.

"Alright then, let's bring this to end, I'll make sure you feel satisfied." She said as she forced herself down slowly. The sound of her moist walls stretching filled the room as she forced herself down along with K's hands helping. K couldn't help but smile from the pleasure and Chrysalis couldn't help but giggle at his smile as they finally hit the max point in which K could go, although, the max was actually budging into her womb.

"Now…break me."

"If you say so, just don't die on me!"

The night hadn't been going well for one pony after the aftermath of that battle, and that was Starlight's. She was so confident in finding the princesses but in the end, only managed to end up spawning inside of a hallway, aka, the corridor of the dorms. "Darn it! Why can't I get this right!?" She asked herself, smacking her head with her hoof as punishment.

She had appeared near to the princesses, yet, she wanted to perfect her teleportation. She been taught it before and even successfully done it when she was on her day, but now and days, it has been flawed. Once she stopped her punishment and began thinking clearly again, she raised her horn up again and focused this time.

"Okay. Okay. Slow and steady now, slow…and…steady." She whispered as she entered a pre-meditation/concentration phase. Honing in on areas of interest was hard, but when it came to warm bodies, now that was a different story. And that was exactly what ran through the young prospect's mind. She smirked as she found two large masses of energy nearby and aimed her focus on them. Despite the masses being highly active in movement and energy, Starlight had a good feeling and confidence surging.

"HA! I found them!" She exclaimed with a proud grin as she raised her head up and covered herself in her aura. "About time I find them!"

She disappeared confidently, although, she probably will be scarred or mentally incapacitated, or, if by a streak of luck, she might just get a new perspective.

After reassuring them I was fine for the eighth time, I finally gained their trust. I don't mind that they worried, I worried for myself too, but with an erection pulsing, my head was clouded with heat.

I could easily say now, I hated teasing, even if they were just studying it, I hated it when it's when it's done to me. It's unnatural, it's against my beliefs, and having a huge erection getting pushed from one side to another was an example. Of course, they did describe themselves as inexperienced, so I could not be too forceful.

"W-what do we do?" Fleet asked, looking up at me, her blush still thriving and her stuttering on a low. Spitfire had an equal reaction like her friend, blush and all, but she had that extra factor to her: she was in heat.

I looked at them before sighing and reaching my arms to the button on the jeans. It easily undid itself with the pressure my dick put on it, and my rod bounced up instantly. Little me had made his return. Fleet and Spitfire both flinched away as it sprung up before slowly coming back in to stare at what I had just unveiled.

"Y-you didn't say it was that big…" Fleet whispered as she stared at the boxers make a tent that was easily larger than her face, and that's just the boxers holding "it" down. I looked at her and chuckled with a smirking. "You never asked."

Maybe I should start carrying a warning sign with me, then I'd see who'd still bang. Although, maybe I'm thinking from my view if I were a mare. Christ, how crazy would that be? I thought before it actually came back: I've been Fluttershy's body before.

"Oh…"

"What?" The two pegasi asked. I drifted back into reality and chuckled. "Nothing."

I looked down to see what had happened while I was lost in thought: it seems getting lost in thought limped me, and now my pain was eased. Yet, despite my eased erection and pain, these hormones circulated quick, probably explaining why I was sweating all of a sudden.

"It got smaller?" Spitfire asked before Fleet curiously eyed it suspiciously. Well damn, they couldn't be any less observant. I gave them the pass on this one, they did say "There's a first time for everything."

"Maybe, you should try doing something?"

They both looked at me as if I had given an unspecific order, which I did, but I expected them to get a hint. "L-like what?" Spitfire asked. Fleet looked over at her as if she had a point, but she seemed to also exempt this look of shame.

They forced me to a pause before a frown made its way to my face. I couldn't tell if they were playing or really clueless but I was losing some patience. I sighed before smirking to rid my negativity and focused on them. Maybe a direct approach would be best.

"H-"

I couldn't even get a word out, I lost my pants almost like that. "What the?" I whispered turning to Fleet drop my pants on the floor from her tight gripped teeth. I looked down myself before looking up at Spitfire, her eyes wide at the sight.

"Oh…Celestia…" She whispered before Fleet moved up my waistline and plopped herself down. I didn't know who to look at, both of them seemed to have intentions. "You're supposed to enjoy it," Fleet said with a sigh as she used her hoof to aim my limped pole over to Spitfire. Spitfire flinched slightly as the tip flopped over to her and almost touched her muzzle.

"Come on, use your mouth," Fleet ordered. Spitfire moved her eyes carefully up to her before getting to me and then down at little me. A blush is always a good sign, and so I took it as is as she licked her lips, passing her tongue over them only once before opening her mouth to take it in.

Even after having a few exotic blowjobs, I don't get used to it. Probably because of how unique everypony is and the fact that these are just cases that wouldn't work in an "normal" everyday lifestyle. My thoughts were interfering again, but they couldn't overrun the tingling sensation on my back as the warmth of Spitfire's tongue circled. She picked up quickly on it.

Within seconds, my erection stood once more, forcing Spitfire to move up so she was aligned with it. She got into this quick as well, and so did I. I had my hand on the back of her head as I forced her down gently onto me, with no objection or wanting to pull back. I could feel the swollen head of the erection rub against her tongue and the saliva she was collecting up in her mouth.

Above all, she was burning hot in terms of physical heat. As she leaned her pony body on my thigh, her sweat and heat transferred onto my skin. It was fever-type heat, she was on fire. I'm not that advanced in animal-pardon the term-heat, but if this was it then this was on a whole new level of heat.

Her heat was affecting me, and it was easy to tell by how I forced her down slightly more and entered throat zone. Despite my force, which wasn't too strong, I couldn't help but notice the smile on her. The ends of her lips curled up and her eyes were completely in lust, as she picked up on my hand movements, and reacted on her own: moving up and down, as deep as she could go, without my need.

"Alright, you got it." I chuckled as I let her head go and brought my elbows down on the mattress to leaned my back off the bed. It was almost instantaneous that Fleet appeared in my sight: she was alone, on the bed looking down with a small shiver at her friend take me in her mouth.

"Why so lonely?" I asked with a smirk either inspired by the blow or my general silliness. She turned to me as soon as I began speaking, almost as if she'd been waiting for my voice. I dodged an eyebrow as she looked down and rubbed one hoof on the other, nervously.

"I…don't know…"

As simple as that answer was, I understood it quite well, not to mention this scenario is almost the same as that one with Flutters and Dash, not too long ago. I lost the smirk for a moment as I nodded. I didn't know what to do when Luna sank her teeth into my neck either, I understood her well.

"I guess that's true, I didn't know what to do the first time neither. Ha! But I'd be damned if I didn't enjoy it." I chuckled with a smile of glee as I tried to comfort her. I didn't notice when she got to next to my chest, but now that I did, she seemed curious, if not demanding a bit more story.

"You don't care if I mess up?" She asked, her eyes slightly wider than before.

I smirked and closed eyes. "What is there to mess up? I don't think anyone can fault the female in sex, it's always the man who gets the shit." I opened my eyes and chuckled a bit more as I rubbed my hand on her cheek and felt her warm plump fur.

"But…I've figured out, over my time here, it's more about the passion than it is about preference and demands."

She blushed a bit more, before looking away for a moment. She came back with a small smile appearing over her face and a cute look about her as she giggled inwardly. I chuckled as well, but not before I must have looked like a man holding back the urge to laugh. I felt that intense pleasure filly my body making me smile uncontrollably with my teeth clenching tightly.

"Are you alright!?" The Fleet asked somehow making her way on me. I'm gonna have to keep a better eye on her. Now she was on my chest as she studied the face I was making. I controlled it by letting out the thin line of air I was holding in and chuckling the last bit of air.

"Your friend can take things far down the throat." I grunted. She looked behind her before returning with an embarrassed look.

"Yeah…does it feel good?" She asked making me turn to her. She looked at me directly as I nodded childishly and placed my hand on her thighs making her yelp. "You've never been grabbed like this before, have you?" I asked with a smirk. She gulped and shook her head with an embarrassed pout.

I looked down her body and down low to the secret that hides down there. I looked at it curiously as I noticed a drop of sap from the end of her pony vag. "Huh, juicy are we?" She looked at me before making that globally-used, wavy smile I've so infamously seen. I smirked as I licked my lips.

"Alright," I flipped her around and aimed her behind towards me while her face faced her friend deep throating. She was well stretched across my chest now. Her vag touched my torso along with her whole body while her hooves hanged from either side of my chest. Nice view. I was quick, so quick she didn't react until I had gripped her bottom, and with my thumbs, stretched and mash her moist walls. "N-no!" She yelped before covering her mouth to stop the moan that followed.

"That was fast," I smugly grinned. "And, since you're this wet…"

"W-wha-HA-HA!" She let that last bit out in almost a laugh as I drove in two fingers gently but quickly. They glided in smoothly and so did the release of some more of her fluids. Funny, those cries bring me closer to climaxing by the second.

"Oh? Did you like that?" I chuckled shifting the pace.

"N-no, Ben…" She moaned as she used her front hooves to pick her chest off me, yet her behind remained in contact with my chest as her juices slid down onto the mattress. I gently jerked my fingers in and out of her as I tried to see how much she could handle, by the looks of it, she might ejaculate any second now.

"No?" I smirked, removing my fingers and splitting them to see the juice between then drip down like syrup, really warm syrup. She let out pants as she struggled to hold herself up and just let her body fall to the weakness of her heat.

I studied her as she let her tongue slightly out to catch her breath. I realized, then and there, the power of seeing such a cute face so lewd. My back slightly stiffened and I felt my dick finally throb again but with considerable potency as I felt the head swell up. I carefully lifted my head to see what the hell had happened. Spitfire had happened, she and her pony throat had found a way to balance pace and deepthroating.

Damn, and just when it seemed I could go on longer. It wasn't too much of a letdown, now I could skip to the main dish. I grunted as Spitfire's throat began tightening around and I grabbed Fleet's behind again. The let out a small cry as I pulled her up to my face and sat her crotch on my face.

"BEN! WHAT ARE…n-no…y-your tongue…" She gushed out as she began panting heavily again, a moan or two escaping between pants.

No time for questions. I slid my tongue in as I could feel something wanting to combust down low. It was the same thing that always happens when orgasming, you feel it bottle up until it caps, but it was undeniable how the pleasure never seems to lose its value.

"P-please…you'll make me…" She moaned out as she let go of holding back her lewd noises. Shit, I would be saying the same to Spitfire, but I couldn't. I caressed Fleet's body with my hands as I licked her breeding temple. She gushed out juices by the second while Spitfire bobbed her head by the second, and my body began locking up.

It was all coming too fast; my climax, her juices, and Spitfire's blow. Fleet placed her hooves out to my body as she lost the feel for her lower half, and tried to hold up as I drilled in deeper and quicker. In my head, all I could hear was the roaring of Fleet's moans as she drooled down onto my skin as I drooled at the taste of her love hole.

"B-Ben! I-I-can't anymore!"

I wish I could have gone longer but I just couldn't anymore, there's a limit to how much fun one could have, and this was mine. I gripped Fleet's curved behind and forced my tongue all the way as her slick walls tightened around it. She cried out as she spurt out juices onto my face and mouth, and trembled. I shut my eyes all the way and gripped tightly to Fleet as I felt my rod throb twice, shooting two loads into the throat I was in before a cold surrounded it. It was no longer inside Spitfire's mouth but it was bent over and aimed towards my face, I.e. Fleet's face. I couldn't hold back, and so I let it all go where it was going to go. It felt like a heavy load after heavy load as Spitfire's hooves rubbed out the last of my remaining semen. I only gave off four spurts that time before my intensity lessened and slowly, I loosened the grip on Fleet, letting my arms fall to my sides.

The world almost felt at peace now that I had finally let out stress in the most unexpected of times.

"F-fuck…I needed that." I panted out, refusing to let my eyes close in on themselves before looking to see Fleet and Spitfire, although Fleet caught my attention more. She touched her semen covered face with her hoof before looking at it, and shivering at the sight of a lump of semen on her hoof.

"Not a bad look for you." Spitfire giggled. Fleet blushed madly as she looked over at me in disbelief before turning to her friend. "I got that." Spitfire giggled some more before grabbing her cum stained hoof and licking it clean for her. Fleet trembled as she looked up at her friend lick her lips and swallow the thick white load down and blush considerably bright as her eyes widened.

"Oh, it's not that bad!" She exclaimed with joy seeing Fleets reaction.

I could only stare and shrug on the inside as Fleet turned to me trying to push Spitfire off, who was trying to lick her face clean of any white. As pleased as I was, I was also thankful for what they had done. I was dealing with stress and then they come along and cure it for me, I needed this so badly.

"Thanks, you two." I thanked with a smile. They both froze and turned to me.

"What?" They asked, confused as well as joyful, that is, Spitfire was joyous, Fleet was still beyond embarrassed. I sighed as I knocked my head with my fist and let myself fall onto the bed.

"I needed to get rid of that stress that was lingering around, I was honestly thinking of just losing it before y'all two came along. I thank you for that." I explained with my eyes closed as I felt the rush of drowsiness sweep me off my feet. I knew both of them had a moment to take that in as they looked at each other before getting off and joining me on either side of the bed. They seemed to want to be close despite the sudden craze.

"So, you feel better?" Fleet asked from my left. I smiled as I looked over to her and nodded.

"Yeah-I leaned my head in to give her one on the muzzle-thanks to you."

She blushed with a warm smile as she giggled and flustered.

"Hey! What about me!?" Spitfire yelled, damn nearly blowing out my right ear. I frowned as I stabbed my ear with my pinkie and closed my eyes facing the ceiling.

"Now you don't get none!" I playfully exclaimed holding my best poker face. It was my best poker face because I can make almost anyone buy it. Spitfire was no acceptation.

"WHAT!?" She asked with a heightened voice. I smiled as I found myself on her lips within a flash. Her eyes were wide with shock before they reduced to embarrassment and a cute blush as I backed off. She looked up at me almost with shame as she tapped her hooves together nervously. I smiled as I laid back down and took a deep breath, just waiting for it.

"I…uh…thanks…"

There it is.

"No problem, now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna pass out." I sighed relaxing my body on the mattress and throwing a blanket over myself. It wasn't a surprise that I would easily get the sleep wave crashing against me the moment I closed my eyes, but it was odd, I could already see morning in my head: a warm breakfast, friends, K, and little Scootaloo. I'll make a promise to myself to take her out for something to eat or drink when I can.

I felt two warm bodies connect with me from either side and a hoof on either side of my chest. They both giggled and I smiled in response.

"Thanks, Ben…see you tomorrow." They yawned, cuddling in.

I chuckled and nodded slowly as my eyelids got heavy and so did my thoughts.

"Same, goodnight."

"PRINCESS CEL-!?"

Just when Starlight finally gets the teleportation thing down, she teleports to the wrong two. Bad timing, wrong place, wrong situation. She took a step back, her eyes over exaggerating the definition of "shock" as she stared at the shocker of her life.

Chrysalis had reverted back to her original form, only lasting a few minutes with K's massive size inside her, before her body gave up on holding down the transformation. She was disappointed she couldn't hold up the transformation but K's love for her original form made up for it. Now, Chrysalis had her mental sanity on a low as her mind was clouded by K's lust and force as he forced her down onto him full-throttle.

"K! FILL ME WITH YOUR-"

K immediately pressed his mouth on hers as he thrusted her down onto him, ravaging her insides with his meat. Chrysalis was left to moan it out in his mouth as K gave her tongue, which she, with no objection, gave back.

Starlight fell onto the floor weakly. What was she seeing!? Chrysalis getting her Changeling bits pounded!? It was almost unreal to her, her hooves gave up on holder her up as she stared at the exotic intercourse happen in front of her. Tears wanting to flow down her face piled up under her eyes with every moan Chrysalis slipped and every thrust K forced.

"C-Chrysalis…you…and him…"

Both K and Chrysalis were too intertwined with pleasure to even pay heed to the crying unicorn at the other end of the room.

K quickly felt his arms jerk before he fully hugged Chrysalis and sent her plunging down onto his throbbing shaft. Chrysalis embraced K back and pressed her mouth to his, tighter, as their tongues swirled while the combination of orgasms swirled down low. K was a load to take in, Chrysalis had realized it now, and she wasn't complaining as her womb quickly got flooded and began spilling the rest onto the bed.

K gently rocked her on him a bit more before finally stopping when he felt limp and let her loose. They both disconnected from the mouth giving each other exhausted but satisfied looks as K slipped out of her. Chrysalis let herself fall on her back to see how she looked below, at her nether. She giggled at the sight of her slowly letting out his thick, warm semen.

"Thanks…" She thanked with a blush resting her head on the mattress, rubbing her belly in satisfaction. K smiled as he leaned forward and rubbed her belly gently making her giggle a lot more. "Same Chrysi, you know how to make a night better, ya know?"

She smiled before licking her lips. "You too."

"C-CHRYSALIS!"

"Oh shit." K groaned looking to the end of the room at the unicorn with tears rolling down her face onto the floor. Chrysalis looked over as well before picking herself off the bed and staring at the pony in tears.

"S-Starlight!?"

K stared at both Chrysalis and Starlight as they stared at each other in shock. He obviously was more curious about what would happen than what she had seen, but that was still in his mind as well. Chrysalis gulped as she looked at Starlight sniff back tears.

"How l-long have you been there?" She asked trying not to blush more than she already was. Starlight shivered as she blushed and looked away.

"Enough to see…what I just saw!" She yelled in a stern and harsh way. Chrysalis looked down herself before rapidly swinging a blanket over herself with her magic, her blush increasing quickly. K looked over to Chrysalis before scratching his head, curious about what was happening.

"Then why are you so upset?" He asked, making her jump at the question. She looked at him with a frown that trembled with anxiety as she wanted to shout out anything to get her feelings across, but it was those same feelings that threated her to stay quiet.

"J-just…put something on!" She shouted looking away with her head slightly jerking to look back while she _could_. K looked down curiously before sighing and tossing the same blanket Chrysalis was using over himself. "HEY!" Chrysalis shouted as she tugged back on the blanket to cover herself again. K cocked an eyebrow as he lifted his hands in defeat and looked around before putting his boxers on, then his pants. The fun was over for tonight anyways.

K chuckled a bit before looking over to Starlight. He eyed her carefully as he looked through his cards of options and put on his poker face, the poker face being what Ben would pull off. And he knew when to pull off this move.

"So, explain to me, what's the problem?" He asked again. She turned to him, checking with one eye to make sure he wasn't showing off his fun time. Chrysalis remained idle, hoping that this wouldn't end up with the whole of Canterlot knowing about anything that had just been witnessed.

Starlight fully turned to them, she still didn't look confident in any way, nor did she seem to have gone past the tears that still glazed her eyes. She aimed a hoof towards K almost as if to shun him right then and there.

"The problem is-!" She couldn't finish what she was saying as she realized she couldn't blame K for anything wrong. She lowered her hoof, defeated by her own will, and proceeded to break down before them.

"Y-you don't see it like I do! Chrysalis had sworn vengeance on us, and-and then Ben comes along with you, and it's like the whole world has changed! Gods, mythical powers, you, and now…Chrysalis is in Canterlot, not even conspiring to conquer or take us hostage! Instead, she's here…with you…having fun!" She cried, tears going everywhere as she let the come out of her at full flow. K and Chrysalis looked at each other, Chrysalis looking widely confused on how to respond while K comprehended what she said well and nodded with a smirk.

"Fun? Sounds like you don't get enough of it." K expressed, not being a tease in any way. Starlight growled as she turned to him, and frowned. "DON'T MAKE THIS ABOUT ME!"

"Really? You're the only one complaining, and as far as I know, you seem to be stressed every day." K preached again. Chrysalis looked over to K before looking down at Starlight, her head trying to wrap around what she had said earlier about how her life had changed so drastically.

Starlight backed up a bit and was winding up some more waterworks. K still had his ways into someone's thoughts and knew how to extract them. Starlight gritted her teeth in the pain of the truth before K chuckled and smirked.

"It's okay, ya know?" He assured her. She looked at him, not knowing what to expect from a mouth like his, but, for now, she could rest easy knowing he was taking her seriously, even with that smirk.

"I guess some crazy shit must have happened between y'all two in order for this to be so stressful, but you got to admire the simple fact that, you're looking at each other with no intentions of hurting each other," He reminded. Chrysalis and Starlight looked at each other, curiously, they studied each other's looks: K was right. There was no intention of hurting each other, nor was there any problem at all. It was just that they were just too traumatized to accept it.

"Well, I guess, but…You and Chrysalis? In bed?" She asked next. K looked over at Chrysalis who was blushing while holding back an urge to smile. There was something about hearing the name of someone you love next to yours, and next to the word "bed". Chrysalis had no problem believing it since she had just finished off riding K, and her smile was inevitable.

K smiled and laughed a bit at the blushful smile Chrysalis made before looking down at Starlight, who was amazed by seeing Chrysalis smile so beautifully. "You'd do it too if you loved somepony, changeling, demon, human, or whatever, enough," K explained making Starlight think deeply for a few seconds before refocusing on K. She won't object to that or even challenge it, it was true to every extent.

"I-I guess so…and are you two…"

"Yeah…" Chrysalis answered with her blush increasing slightly redder. K looked over at her with a smile and nodded. "Yeah." He answered as well.

Starlight looked down and to a side before giggling to herself. "Okay, I guess I did overreact, I'm sorry for intruding…I'll go now." Her horn glowed with her aura before K quickly snapped his eyes on her and extended an arm out.

"WAIT!"

"What?" Starlight asked, dropping her magic. "What is it?"

K scratched his head nervously with a smile.

"Why don't you sleep here for tonight?"

"W-what!?" Both Chrysalis and Starlight asked. K nodded with a smile again as he moved aside and let her see the bed.

"Yeah, this is a huge bed after all, there is nothing bad about it, and it'll help you with that stress." He explained with a good intent. Starlight looked with her wide eyes towards K, Chrysalis, and the bed. She didn't know what to do. Chrysalis tapped K on the shoulder gently, calling his attention.

"What is it?"

"I don't think I'm ready for this!" Chrysalis pleaded in a whisper. K chuckled as he placed his hand on the hoof Chrysalis had placed on his shoulder. "Come on, Chrysi! Do I have to wake Derpy up to remind you again?" He whispered to her.

Chrysalis didn't need much more than that to motivate her. Derpy had revealed the painful truth to her before, yet she refused to listen to it then, now it was her chance to change that. "I…uh…okay fine, but I'll sleep on Derpy's side!" She whispered back with a pout. K chuckled. "Fine, whatever you say."

K turned back to Starlight and smiled as Chrysalis had begun moving over to Derpy's side and the only option left was Starlight by K's side. Perfect, no?

Starlight was looking awfully embarrassed by such a request and her jittery hooves made her look worse. K smiled accordingly as he scooted over a bit and placed his hand on the bedside that was big enough for her to rest on and feel comfortable.

"I…I…uh…"

"Don't worry, I won't try anything funny or abusive of your body's rights," K assured her. "So come on, it's just for tonight, maybe you'll even feel better sleeping with someone tonight."

K patted the free space on the bed once more. She looked at it before looking up at K and sighing nervously. "O-okay…"

She slowly and with a slight delay made it onto the bed right next to where K was patting and looked over her to see Derpy and Chrysalis both facing away and resting. K smiled as he patted her head.

"You see, not so hard." K laughed before Starlight lit up her horn with her aura again. K lifted an eyebrow before asking. "What?"

"I…needed to get rid of some left over…residue." She giggled nervously before K joined in and nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that, got a little carried away."

They both giggled slightly before K rested comfortably on the bed, waiting for Starlight to do the same. K watched closely as Starlight slowly and gently laid herself to rest pulling up the blanket to cover herself.

"Sleep well." K slithered out. Starlight looked over at him and smiled in the dimness of the room, concealing her smile.

"Yeah…you too."

 _ **Damn it took forever to finish this chapter. My damn pc got that bluescreen shit, but I managed to get rid of it. Thanks for reading this chapter.**_ _**I'll finally begin on some Celestia action as well as blah blah blah.**_


	48. Ch 48 - My Killer, My Master, My Friend

#48

I woke up that morning, reminding myself I had done the impossible to believe yesterday. But this time, I was able to put up with it thanks to waking up two ponies on either side of me. It was that feeling of complete warmth that eased my disbelief in yesterday and made me focus more on breakfast.

The sun shined through a window, peacefully giving off a nostalgic feeling of home as I fully clothed my exposed body. The sound of birds chirping joyously and wind gently rustling leaves outside the home made the feeling of nostalgia even more potent. The world wad truly at peace.

 _A perfect morning? No madness, no gods, no sounds but that of nature?_ I took a deep breath before smiling, I had awoken to the best morning ever. The only thing that could make it better was breakfast, although, from the sound of silence, it seems the house was inactive.

"Well-I paused for a moment to study how my voice sounded in the silent nature of the morning-looks like I better do something." I followed my shirt down my torso and slipped on my shoes before making my way to the kitchen, being awfully careful to not awaken the house.

Trixie rested on the couch, where I last saw her resting her eyes. She seemed to have slept uncomfortably by how her mane was all ruined from tossing and turning in the night. I stared at her as I passed to the kitchen, she was still asleep with one hoof hanging off the couch as she faced the ceiling.

"Poor girl…" I whispered as I made my way to the kitchen and went for the first thing I saw. I grabbed a bag of flour along with some a small bag of a supplement, which I had to taste to make sure it was what I thought. Sweet and perfect. I smiled as I looked at both my hands, one with sugar and one with flour. I was no Gordon Ramsey, but I could easily make a pastry along with something warm to drink with these things.

I looked around the kitchen once more, looking for what I needed. As I looked around I couldn't help but feel tingly in a way: there were so many colors. I spun slowly as I studied how many spices, ingredients, and utensils were in here. "Woah…" I whispered as I moved over to a shelf and picked out random spices. There was so much variety it was fascinating.

Cooking is another word for "Experimentation with food" and it was more than obvious with Flutter's laboratory of spices and ingredients. I picked up a jar labeled _Chocolate_ , powdered by the looks of it, and gave it a flick in the air before uncapping it. Chef Ben is about to debut.

K had awoken at the right time, right before everyone else, and right before the sun could have risen. He was at the peak of the castle, resting his legs off the edge as he watched the calm sun smile across the land before it reached his face. He smiled back as he stood up from his perch and held onto the sharp rod stabbed to the top of one of the many roofs on the castle.

"Sunrise…" He whispered before looking down at the Ponyville in the distance, very busy and actively repairing a multitude of homes and local areas. It was funny to him that there could be so much work and action being done so far away and he couldn't hear it, it made his brain tickle a bit. He took a moment to take in the deep air of the morning before sliding off the roof to land on a balcony, Celestia's balcony that is.

"Huh, now ain't this something?" He asked himself, entering the room that the balcony connected to. He didn't know there was a balcony here, and now that he knew there was, he smirked at the sight of the room from before. He spun around looking around to see the things he missed last night, before stretching a bit and bouncing on his toes to prepare himself for the rest of the day.

"Now, where are those two?" He asked, stretching his body to either side. They should be in here as far as he knew.

"Right behind you!"

He quickly swung around and saw the two princesses, both looking well-rested. He scratched his head looking back at the bed and back at them, wondering how they managed to appear out of nothing when he spun around to study the room beforehand.

"Would you look at that? You are!" He smirked. Both the princesses expressed their joy with smiles as they approached him. Luna looking slightly easier than her sister, who was holding onto something on her tongue. K held onto something as well but he didn't hide it like Celestia.

"Since Ben's not here, and by my part as well, I'll ask. Are you two alright?" He asked upon getting them face to face. "Yes, thank you for asking." They nodded with no regret. K smiled slightly but he couldn't believe it that easy, when he, himself, didn't even feel, at the least, a bit worried.

"Alright," He sighed, "Cause, and I'll admit it, I'm still a bit worried after what happened."

The royals looked at each other before turning back to him, now with a look of truth. "Yes, we share similar feelings, the events of last night were truly haunting," Luna spoke up before Celestia nodded and picked her head up for attention.

"Everypony seemed alright last night, it seemed he only managed to concede Ponyville and part of Sweet Apple Acres. Despite that, I do want to check on a specific few."

"Who?" K asked.

"First, I want to check on Fluttershy and Rarity," She began. "Fluttershy was acting very strange last night, and she seemed to have achieved strange abilities as you may have obviously noted."

K nodded with a small itch in the back of his head as he recalled the more than active pegasi. He'd forgotten how different from usual she was and how he had an obvious part in that happening. He had no intention in agitating Celestia or worrying her, so he kept it on a low for now.

"Uh…yeah, I can explain that, but I need to confirm my suspicion, what about Rarity?" K asked, skipping over details for later. Celestia awkwardly stared at him for a few seconds before clearing her throat, dismissing his odd behavior. "Yes, she was physically abused and I need to make sure she's fine."

"Right. Right. And the who else?" K agreed trying to be sympathetic but quick whilst doing so.

Celestia bought into his question and firmed her hooves on the floor as she explained Scootaloo to him. The sad case was an obvious mention, and K had a problem with that. The problem is that he'd barely known that little one, yet he felt so connected to her. Being chained to Ben's will must have given him that strange feeling, but still, damn did it feel depressing to be reminded of that kid.

K stared at the floor seriously for a second. "Yeah, that was horrible." He said in a low tone, forgetting completely about Fluttershy. Celestia stared at him, before perking up a bit smiling.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot to ask, how is your cross-eyed friend doing?"

K picked his head up, and this time a smile printed over it as he turned to her with joy. "Oh, Derpy? She's fine. She slept with me last night, accompanied by Chrysalis and Starlight." He claimed with a smile that showed his satisfaction with what he'd said. Oh yes, he liked reminding himself about last night, at least that bit.

Celestia and Luna exchanged more-than-curious looks before turning back to him. There was always going to be speculation about K, considering he's the daring one with no limits to his doings. That was further emphasized by him mentioning Chrysalis and Starlight, sleeping, on the same bed together, with him.

"Are you telling me, you managed to get Chrysalis and Starlight, on the same bed, with you?" Celestia asked with a two-sided smile: half impressed, half confused. Luna had an equal smile as she stared at K whip around to face them, recalling last night with his hand on his chin.

"Yeah," He chuckled. "But, she was quite hesitant. I couldn't tell if it was Chrysalis's company or mine which unsettled her, maybe both, but she ended up falling asleep with a smile."

K smirked while holding back some laughter after reminding himself about how he could see Starlight smiling in the dim light of the room. The princesses let out a sliver of laughter as well at seeing K so openly cheerful about it, as well as hearing Chrysalis and Starlight share a bed, and with him.

"That's good to hear," Luna giggled, enjoying the vibes in the cheerful setting. "We do need some positivity after last night."

K snapped his fingers and aimed them towards her. "Right!"

"Oh, and K," Celestia called his attention over. K turned to her lowering his fingers and crossing his arms at the sight of her serious glare.

"Yes?" He asked, holding onto his smirk. Celestia straightened her stance and looked up at him with a firm lock onto his eyes. K undid his arms and stared back at her with the same level of firmness in his own eyes. "What is it?"

"You've more than earned my trust after what you did, and I feel wrong for ever judging you by what I believed. And I been wanting to tell you this since I first realized my mistake, but I was too busy. I'm sorry…K, for mistreating you." She apologized deeply. K stared at her seriously for a second before he caught a laugh from slipping between his lips and turned away. Celestia looked up at him, almost offended by the gesture as she rapidly questioned if he'd even listened. He smiled and contained himself.

"You know, you've apologized before, and I believed you the first time, you saying it again, makes me feel as if you're trying to get somewhere." He chuckled. Celestia smiled and nodded.

"I am trying to get somewhere! I want to be friends." She claimed with her warm smile. K dodged an eyebrow and smirked. "When we already are?"

"Yes…oh…" She slowed down as she began realizing the true meaning behind the question. "Wait a minute-she looked back at him with a pout-you have a slippery tongue, you know that?"

K didn't need to think about it at all, he shrugged with a smile and bobbed his head in agreement. How could he object when his tongue like butter inside Chrysalis's mouth?

"Yeah," He grinned. "Chrysalis would agree, not to mention she has one herself too."

The two princesses gave each other a look of slight disbelief, but they couldn't be shocked when it was _him_ who told it. "You don't say…" Celestia chuckled before Luna giggled at her sister being so questionable of him. K smirked as he shrugged.

"Fine, just wait till it's Ben telling how your tongue is so slippery, well actually," K giggled a bit on the inside. "I bet Luna knows enough to tell you. Don't you Luna?"

Luna was no stranger to Ben's tongue, it's basically one of her favorite things about him, and damn she wasn't going to object to how _slippery_ it is. Yet, she never expected to get called out on it. Her blush covered her cheeks and almost radiated out of them as she giggled nervously and waved a hoof ahead of herself to derive attention.

"Please, go on about Chrysalis, I'd rather hear that right now." She calmly requested with a smile, trying not to break into an embarrassment attack about K shining the light on her at the worst of times. Celestia pouted slightly as she turned to K and shook her head, not wanting to hear any more about tongues and over-night experiences. Not that it's not entertaining to hear, but, it's saddening when you're the only one amongst the group that has no experience in the subject, it was a feeling of feeling left out, especially when she's the oldest of them all.

"Well, back to the main interest," Celestia brought back. "I haven't forgotten. I need to check on Ben, he's earned a huge amount of specualtion, but more importantly, I want to make sure he's fine."

Luna and K ended their soft feels and tightened up.

"Right," Luna agreed with a straightened posture. "He did somethings that were way beyond what we expected."

K agreed with a nod before crossing his arms and giving them both the glare of suspicion.

"That is true, who knows what he might be doing as we speak."

"Well, I'll be damned…" I grinned before clapping my hands together in satisfaction as I backed away from the oven. I had successfully created the aroma of warm cookies in the morning along with warm Latte by my side as I watched the cookies through a glass frame.

The aroma began just a few seconds ago, but there was already someone awake. It was just a feeling, but the smell was an obvious give away that someone was going to be up by now.

"W-what is that?" A familiar voice asked with a yawn as she trotted up from behind. I looked over my shoulder and smiled at the sight. It was the same messed up mane from before with the blue shade.

"You look like you've slept better." I greeted as she moved up to my side and eyed the glowing window panel on the oven. "I have…and," She gave a stronger look at the oven, cutting herself mid-sentence to squint her eyes to look closer.

"And are you baking?"

I nodded proudly as she looked up at me with an eyebrow cocked up and questions going off in her head.

"Yup, and-I turned and placed my hand on the table-a latte, care for one?" I offered as I showed the table with a steaming latte ready for anyone else who cared to join me. Trixie's eyes must have become as wide as her smile as she disappeared almost in a second. I blinked a few times, looking at where she once stood before turning around and catching her on the chair where the latte stood: right across from me.

"Ok…ay," I chuckled. "Glad I chose the right morning beverage."

She took a whiff of the steamy beverage and glanced a smile towards me. "How did you know Trixie's morning tastes?" She asked with a giggle as he blew on the latte. I shrugged and sipped from my own cup.

"Guess I know what the mare likes." I chuckled using her name in a third person like she does. She eyed me with a smirk before sipping from her warm drink. She grew her smile wider as she took another sip and licked her lips. My eyes widened a bit as she giggled and placed her cup down.

"You okay?" I asked with a smile. She kept her smirk on as she winked at me, and slithered it out.

"I am, although, you could have at least have kept it down, I couldn't sleep at all until you were done." She giggled picking her cup and sipping some proud sips as she waited for a response from me. I froze like a picture as I tried to find out what to say. It's hard to believe I actually did what I did when I well knew that Trixie was always going to be keeping an eye on me, especially when she was just a few feet away from the room.

"I…uh…sorry about that," I apologized rubbing my temple as I turned to look at the cookies in the oven: just a minute left. She remained silent for a few seconds as I eyed the oven making sure I didn't burn the treats inside.

"I guess you deserve it after saving the entire of Ponyville, did you enjoy it?"

I removed my hand from my temple and held back some laughter as I nodded. Funny, I didn't expect to receive such a question. "Yeah."

She smiled as she sipped from her latte once more. "I'm glad."

There was some silence that only lasted until I took a deep breath and turned to her and smiled.

"Thanks, but I have a feeling. If not that, then I know, that this isn't how you really feel." I said getting up from my seat and flicking the knob on the oven and opening the door. A small steam met me as I used a thick towel to extract the tray and leave it on the counter before sitting back down. I took my cup and sipped once more before turning to Trixie, she looked like she'd been exposed.

"Well, if you know, then why are you smiling?" She asked, trying to redirect the question my way and make me look guilty. She didn't seem to have the energy to defend herself, instead, she looked more ashamed than offended. I removed the cup from my mouth licked the latte on my lips, passing over the mustache that seems to become more visible by the day.

"Trixie, I smile because I'm speaking to you with a latte to sooth our words to each other," I explained using my hand to indicate her then myself. "As you may know, I might as well be dead if I hadn't handled myself, but I did. Now speaking about what happened last night in the bed is a blessing, if not a gift that you gave me. And honestly, you're good company in general."

She stared at me as I sipped some more, her look giving me her new view on me. I place the cup down and smiled widely towards her.

"Or maybe just having you smile earlier did it." I complimented under my words. She blushed with a smile as she giggled along with my smile.

"Thank you."

I looked over to her taking another sip from the cup, which was now only a quarter of the way full, and smiled.

"You're welcome."

I let her simmer down in her seat as she slowly lowered her latte. My head jerked up suddenly as I looked over to the counter. "Oh! Want a cookie?" I grabbed the cool tray and brought it over to the table, giving the tray a slight punch from the bottom to get any of the adhered soft-baked treats off. Trixie looked at the tray as I evenly placed the sweets on a round plate in the middle of the table.

"Didn't know you could bake?" She brought up as she brought a cookie up to her face with her magic and ripped it in half. The soft cookie split easily from the freshness and let a line of gooey chocolate drip as she split the sweet in half and admired the view.

"I've seen people, people being my kind, bake a lot before, that's were most of my knowledge comes from," I explained as I picked up my own piece and took in the sweet tempting aroma before enjoying it. I smiled widely as the sweet taste: I've impressed myself. I looked up to Trixie, who had barely inserted the delight into her mouth, she was response-less for a few seconds before a smile broke onto her face.

"Not too bad? What do you think?" I asked as I took in the whole treat and finished it. As for Trixie, she whipped her sight to me with a shocked expression. I'm guessing that means I'm being too modest?

"Not too bad!?" She restated the question in disbelief. "This is a meal that even Celestia would have trouble sharing! Well…not that she shares too much when it comes to sweets."

I rammed a fist into my palm in joy as I thanked her for her words. Honestly, I was being too modest, but I didn't want to look like the silly one when she disapproved and I loved it, it was all planned for anti-embarrassment. "Thanks! Now I have something to be proud of this morning."

"You mean apart from the fact you bedded two mares last night and saved all of Ponyville from imminent doom?"

I lowered my hands and let them loosely hang on my lap. "Well, now that you bring it up, I have three things then." She nodded approving of my words before a few sudden hoof taps came from behind us. We turned our heads but nothing was there.

"You heard that, didn't you?" She whispered towards me. I nodded and aimed my finger towards the living room. "Yeah, sounds like somepony is awake."

"Oh my, this is delicious."

We both paused at the quiet whisper that now came from in the kitchen, again being behind us. I swiftly turned back around to spot Flutters on a chair, casually eating a cookie. There were more questions than greetings going off in my head but Trixie was already ahead of me in terms of questions.

"How!? How did…" She asked turning to me. I shrugged back before turning to Flutters. She enjoyed a cookie while we both stared at her curiously. I put on my best face and did how I always do.

"Good morning, you're in a cheerful mood."

She turned to me and smiled casually, giving me some comfort.

"Yeah, I woke up from this horrible dream." She began, shifting my feelings from good to worrisome. She had her hoof up to her chin and a dodged eyebrow as she told on.

"Then, the last thing I remember was that Dash was trying to get me to hit her," She explained with shivers. I let out a deep breath of air as I tried to get into my head what she was saying. It was highly likely that all that did happen, it would explain why Flutters was so strange last night, maybe Dash triggered something with her request. I nodded to what she said but it was obvious she was slowly coming to a point as her words gradually left her mouth slower.

"Hmm…now that I think about it," She looked up slowly. "How did I get home after-"

She paused suddenly, her mouth stuck open as she slowly switched sights between us. Something must have ran through her head at rapid speed for her to suddenly become a trembling machine. She shook violently as she lifted a hoof and recoiled her body, feeling highly insecure.

"T-then Dashie and I did that in the room…then Derpy…then K and you…then Dash was complaining about something…oh no-no-no…what happened to me!?" She asked as she smacked her head onto the table. I quickly reached out and picked her head up.

"Sounds like you became unconscious after Dash told you to hit her." I inferred, but she quickly retracted from my hand quickly, almost too quick for my eyes to follow. I blinked multiple timed before turning to Flutters who was making a scene in her seat.

"If that's so, then-then how am I here!? What happened to that monster that hurt our friends!? Where is Dashie!? Is everypony safe!?" She asked, becoming worried and highly stressed. I quickly grabbed her head with both my hands and squeezed tightly to give her a tight feeling of security with my hands.

"CALM DOWN!" I firmly exclaimed gripping her tiny head making sure to show I was serious and equally worried. She looked up at me and stopped shaking. I stared into her eyes, making sure she wouldn't lose it again before loosening my grip on her head and letting my hands slide off her, my fingers caressing her cheek as I retracted my hands back to my side of the table.

"Flutters, I'll explain what I know, but I'm sure Dash and K together would probably explain it better," I said shifting in my seat to get comfortable. She stared at me before slowly doing the same in her seat. I turned to Trixie and she nodded back, I needed some permission from anyone to get into the madness that it explaining everything that happened last night.

"I'll make it simple, that monster is gone and everypony is fine, we all took care of it. Now listen, you were acting very strange last night, you seemed to have gained some boost in magic, strength, and the ability to fly without the use of your wings. With that being said, I assume you were possessed by something, when Dash was urging you to hit her, that was the trigger. After that, you entered the battle zone, and thanks to you, we actually rescued Rarity from getting strangled to death by that monster."

"I did?" She asked. I nodded as I resumed.

"Yeah, you bolted from the sky and opened enough room for me to react. Then you and K teamed up in an attempt to beat him down, but that was harder than expected and the both of you ended up getting heavily tired. You and K met me and there, K knocked you out, he put you to sleep temporarily. And you've finally awoken now." I explained. I deduced some parts but it still made sense in the end. Flutters stared at me with an urge to believe but she still needed to make sure.

"Ben, what you're saying is so hard to believe-"

Trixie quickly shook the table as she rammed her hooves on it.

"Yeah, and so is the fact he ate that beast's heart like a cupcake!"

I felt horrible now. I didn't need to be reminded of that part. My gag reflexes kicked in as I quickly covered my mouth to avoid any accidents and turned away. I reached over for my latte and quickly gulped the whole thing down while thinking strongly of drinking some Cola. Cola always helped get rid of a stomach ache.

"Sorry! I didn't think you hated it that badly!" Trixie apologized, but I quickly lift my hand to stop her apology before reaching for a cookie. The only thing I could do now was get a cookie in my mouth and imagine chocolate melting in my mouth. That did the trick.

"No, I'm fine, it's just it tasted like…nevermind," I said as I turned to Flutters, who stared at me with her eyes studying me carefully, legs to head.

"That's disgusting…" She whispered.

I lifted my eyebrows in agreement. "I know-

"No! That's what I said! I remember now!" She exclaimed. "It was you, me and K, we were all fighting that monster. Dashie did try to get me to hit her, and I almost did but Celestia stopped me! Rarity was getting suffocated and I did come in!"

"Woah…and you did all that?" I asked. She looked down and shook her head quickly.

"No, it wasn't me. I remember it, but it was as if I was watching it happen from somewhere else."

That made sense, I could easily relate to that. I nodded and placed both my hands on the table. "Almost like when K takes over my body, I see myself from a third-person view."

"Yes!" She replied, excited to have figured out something in common. I would have rejoiced in as well figuring out that bit, but there were still unanswered questions. The table shook violently once more.

"Wait!" Trixie screeched. We both whipped around to her as she looked at me then Flutters, giving us a reason to believe she had a point to point out. "If K takes your body over," She began. My head already produced the question the moment she said those words.

"Then who takes hers?"

"Why, that is as simple as Flutters herself."

I paused along with everyone in the room. That voice was so familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it, it was almost foreign from my head. "Who da?" I asked picking my head up but before I could even turn around to face the source I got a blindsided by a small pink blur.

"DADDY!"

I blinked my eyes a few times before realizing my eyes were parallel with the floor, I actually banged my head against it slightly, but no injuries, fortunately.

"Ben! Are you alright!?" Flutters asked as I picked my back off the floor, feeling something roll of me as I did. I stared at that pink blur from before look at me with a passionate smile going about her.

"Huh, look at that, I am…" I whispered in some disbelief as I picked myself off the floor and dusted myself off. I looked down at the small pony that I only managed to see a few times. She looked overwhelmed with joy as she gave me the widest eyes I'd seen. I would know "wide eyes" when I label every set I see as huge

"Ha! Just when I thought this morning couldn't get any tenser, you appear." I chuckled getting down on a knee and petting her cute little head. She smiled and purred her head around my hand as I caressed her head from one side.

I never expected her to surprise me like this. Although, seeing her again, I had some questions that immediately went off. Questions which I don't think she could answer on her own.

"So, are you okay, nothing troubling you or anything?" I asked getting up and picking my fallen seat. She placed a hoof under her chin and thought about it with a hilarious look about her, she looked like the childish Sherlock.

"Uh…I never had any parents!" She exclaimed with proud smile.

I paused at the sudden outburst. "What?" I asked hoping to hear that again. She nodded in response.

"Never had any parents!? Poor little one, who raised you?" Flutters asked, getting off her seat and cuddling with the little one. The little one smiled at the gesture before cuddling back, although it seemed she didn't mind what she'd said.

"Daddy." She answered with her same smile. I looked at Flutters and Trixie, who both shared equal looks of confusion and worry. I had only been in her life since I found her, and as far as I knew, she already knew how to talk and more-or-less use magic when if found her. I pulled back a chair and sat down with my head just asking itself what was going on.

"Alright, I'll take it from here." The same familiar voice from earlier spoke up. I looked up and noticed how there was a familiar face almost ten feet from me. My eyes slightly widened with my smile as I noticed the mixed eye color and completely defenseless pony, eye me, just armed with her smile which was new from her.

"Strike?" I questioned automatically upon seeing her smile. "First time I see you greet me with a smile."

She blinked her eyes in seconds of those words leaving my mouth and gulped. She blushed slightly, which was no use hiding when I was already a pro at detecting it.

"I…uh…" She murmured as she tried to not make a big deal out of it. Flutters shifted a bit as the little one stepped forward and pouted.

"She's just really happy to see you, she'd been waiting for this moment." She answered with a face that showed she gave no fucks about what she'd said, although not the same could be said about Strike who became fazed by what she'd blurted out.

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THIS!?" Strike lashed out with her eyes twitching the frustration of staring into the child's eyes. The little one frowned back as she stuck her tongue out and turned away with equal frustration.

"Well, at least I can show my love!"

"Y-YOU…" Strike growled before unclenching her teeth and letting it out in frustrated sigh. "Fine! Just shut up!"

The little one sighed as well, turning up to me and smirking before winking. _Wow, what has happened to my relationships?_ I turned to Strike who was blushing up a good one now and taking relaxing breaths that were not going to help her once I'm done with her.

"Once thought to be foe, now has feelings for me?" I chuckled. She froze and turned to me. She didn't seem to have a way to fight back or even respond, almost as if it was all too new for her. I stared at her curiously before chuckling once more and reaching for the cookies.

"Hmpf, fine, how about this instead." I offered with my hands cupping two cookies about the size of my hand. They looked at my hands before the little one used her magic and lifted one, followed by Strike.

"Sorry, I don't really know much about this world…"

I stopped myself from reaching for a cookie, and looked down at her. She wasn't lying. Her look was depressing, almost as if she'd repented what she'd said.

"What?" I asked.

She glanced up at me and shrugged. "I don't know this world at all, I was just merely a spirit sent to reclaim back this kid. I had no purpose but that, I would have been erased from existence in the end."

That was worthy of the look she put on. I couldn't look away nor could I comprehend what a meaningless life was, it was so hard to relate but I could feel the equal depression she felt. Flutters and Trixie both stood where they were, both too deeply scarred by those words to speak.

"Holy shit…" I whispered before thinking on it deeper and giving myself a small headache. I growled a bit as I slammed my hand on the table.

"But…but we found you! We took you and you now you're with us! And Yuson is dead!" I reminded her with my deep voice echoing in the house. She paused and slowly she reaped a smile. I stared with some trembling in my eyes as she nodded and smiled almost with an urge to lose it in tears.

"That's right!" Her voice cracked up horribly and so did my inner feelings. Her voice shook my insides and sent shivers down everyone's spines as he watched her slowly begin twitching and her eyes become slightly swollen.

"W-WHAT IS HAPPENING!?" I asked in all my confusion. I was dreadfully lost. My head was wrapped around so much drama it was giving me that damn headache from before. She cried a little, a tear rolling down her face as I watched.

"I n-never knew there was so much…so much in this world!" She cried out. "Why am I crying!? I should be happy I can think and breath!"

"Strike…" I called her. "What's happening?"

"W-we belonged to Yuson…and you killed him, plus consumed his power!" She rejoiced. "He is no longer our master…it's you Ben!"

I've been mind-fucked left and right, but this one shot me through the heart and skull. I gripped a fist as I swallowed heavily those words. "F-fuck…" I squeezed out through my thin breath as I pulled my shirt from the collar to allow my breath to easily flow.

"Ben? Your master!?" Trixie asked from behind me. Strike turned to her, studying her face before nodding.

"Yes! He took Yuson's power by consuming his core…we…we don't have to live under the control of a monster!"

"BUT-BUT "MASTER"!?" Trixie screeched back.

"Yes! Ben has full control of what he wants to do with us!"

I looked at my hand as Trixie and Strike exchanged their words. I had their fate in my hand, but I couldn't even begin to imagine what to do. I stared intensely at my hand as I looked between Strike, the little one, and my hand. I had to do what needed to be done. I stared at Strike as I began squeezing my hand into a fist, making an effort to focus my full mediation on her. In my head, I imagined what was a journal, and with a pen, I began writing.

 _I don't know what I want, but I know what you want_ …

She began glowing. She didn't recognize it but I did, so did Flutters and the little one. I didn't know if I was doing something right or wrong, but I felt peaceful doing what I was doing, so I followed through and closed my eyes gently.

 _If life wasn't given to you, then I'll give it…_

"-Be free…tis what you want and need…" I whispered loud enough her everyone to hear and forced silence in the room.

"W-what?" I heard Strike asked back.

I opened my eyes and stared at her as I watched how she glowed brightly and almost didn't even look recognizable. If I was master, and I wanted them to be free, then I demand my body set them free. I smiled as I finalized my sentence, ending it with a period at the end as I opened my hand loosely.

 _I hope it worked_.

She stared at herself as she whipped over to me and trembled greatly. She looked normal enough but I don't know what was happening with her eyes, it seemed to be fully leaking out tears in streams.

"You…you did it without even thinking about it…" She said in tears of disbelief. I stared at her, curious about what I had done, hoping I did the right thing in the end. I leaned in and placed my hand on her mane, and there was odd thing going on. Her mane, the first time I feel it, and it feels warm.

"Thank you…THANK YOU!" She exclaimed appearing before my body on the seat with a tight embrace. I remained frozen for a second before she buried her head into my shoulder. "I'll never forget this! Ben!"

I wrapped my arms around her and embraced back. I didn't know what I did, but I felt good. I was warm and so was she, what more could I want? Funny, I fought her seriously and killed her, yet I have her in my hands, crying onto my shoulder. This was peaceful.

"What did he do?" Flutters asked as she neared us, a smile spreading as she felt the joy in the air. I loosened my embrace but she didn't, she held on tight as she sniffled a bit. I caressed her mane gently as I gave her the courage to speak up. I was smiling on the outside as well as the inside, but inside, there were more realizations going on: She's never lived in this world, and being alive for only a few days, she probably doesn't know too much about anything but what she has seen from me. Strike kept her eyes closed through the embrace as she slowly let out a shaky breath of air.

"He permanently sealed me into this world, I can now…do what I'm doing…whenever I want…"

I grew my smile just a bit before I realized she was meaning in terms of leaving my body. I looked down at her and asked with compassion and thought in my voice. "Is that good enough?"

She looked up at me with her puffy eyes and had no problem nodding immediately.

"More than enough, I managed to escape your body with the little one thanks to what you did to Yuson, but it would only have lasted a while before we got erased from existence…but now…I'm alive…I can do this more now!" She joyously expressed, forcing me to brake mentally and physically as I reverted my eyes into hers rapidly.

"WAIT! EREASED FROM EXISTANCE!?" I asked with a huge worry taking over.

She picked her head up quickly and stared at me with horror as she looked around her sides to not find no one. "OH NO!"

I was about to launched myself from the seat, no way I just lost the little one! I placed my arms down the arms of the chair and picked myself up a bit but I was paused the sudden mumbling coming off my right. I stared directly at the pink pone on the table eating cookies with a look of depression.

"This has no flavor…" The little one spoke up dropping cookie crumbs all over the place. I froze and became almost embarrassed by showing such a fear again as she looked down to the crumbs she dropped and used her magic to clean it up. I shivered a bit before letting myself fall back on the chair and chuckle to myself as I looked at Strike to hadn't hopped off me, but she wasn't embracing me anymore.

"Oh, phew," I giggled as Strike nodded in agreement before hopping off finally. I aimed my hand over to the little one and proceeded to do the same as strike. "I'll do it to you too."

"YAY!" She exclaimed dropping crumbs from her mouth. She looked down at the crumbs before frowning. "Aww…" She groaned as she used her magic again.

I performed my magic once more, damn did it feel great to do so as well. She glowed as bright as her smile as she finally became one with this world as well. She smiled as she picked up a cookie and bit a chunk off before losing it, seems she gain the ability to taste after my magic did its thing. Looked like she orgasmed from the first bite and passed out, although, she just rolled off the table and landed on the floor with a thud.

"Ow…" She hilariously expressed abruptly before Trixie worked her magic to stand her straight. "There you go." She giggled as she let her roam freely.

I stared before smacking my head onto the table and sighing. What was happening? I had no clue but I was morally accepting of it. I'm starting to realize my own thoughts, _this is a problem_. I got the attention of all ponies as I reached over to grab a cookie, lazily letting my head lay on the table as my arm did the work.

"Ben?" They all asked.

"Daddy?" The little one asked.

"Yeah?" I asked back to their concerned calls. They looked at each other before giggling nervously, it seems my tone of voice answered their worry, now it was time for them to come up with a new question to avoid the embarrassment of letting others know they were worried about me. The obvious move. I picked my head up and munched on my cookie as slowly waited for a question.

Among my small group, Strike was the first to smile as she gave me a question.

"Can I have one?" She asked, indicating the cookies behind me. I looked back and smiled as I brought the tray up to her face. The cookies were still surprisingly warm and still gooey to the core. She picked one up with her magic and sniffed it before smiling.

"…This smell, it's…sweet…" She whispered as she ripped the cookie in half with her magic and slowly slipped one piece into her mouth. She experienced the wave of orgasmic pleasure as she chewed and giggled, smiled widely before eating the other piece. She squealed as she finally swallowed the piece of chocolate delight and picked up another one.

"T-this is amazing!" She exclaimed before I had to stop her from leaving nothing but crumbs on the tray.

"Calm down! There are more guests in this household!" I chuckled making her swallow the lump of chocolate in her mouth and sigh.

"Fine."

She looked towards the floor, collecting her thoughts as she licked her lips of the chocolate residue left.

"So…you're Strike, I've heard of your name before, but I've never really met you. Hi." Flutters greeted with a smile. Strike picked her head up instantly and turned.

"Ah! Yes. You. I mentioned how you are your own bearer of your own counter-side!" Strike said, with a serious gaze as she exchanged it between all of us, making sure we got the message. That was confusing. At first, I was under the impression that it took a different entity to change personalities, although, now it seems that that isn't necessary. Flutters can do it from her own body.

"What does that mean?" Flutters asked ahead of me, a smear of worry showing up from her now dropped smile.

"It means you don't change your body, the Flutters that was fighting out there last night was you, but a split version of you, in other words, it was the violent version of you, that desires a fight and challenge. Although, the ability to use magic and levitation is granted by an external source."

"Flutters!?" I asked, not believing it fully. Knowing Flutters, I'd object to any idea of her having a violent side, but then again, I've been surprised before by these ponies, what's stopping them from doing this again. And then the part of her having an external power source, was obvioulsy K doing his demon soul split.

"Me? Violent!? Fighting!? No…no-no…you have me mistaken." Flutters replied with a whisper, realizing her voice was going above her levels of conversation. Strike nodded before giving her a slight punch on her chest, it wasn't abusive, but it wasn't gentle neither, it was friendly slug. Flutters recoiled slightly, rubbing her chest gently, wondering why she'd been hit, and why Strike held onto a smile.

"I've seen enough of you to know you're not the violent type, but, desperate times can mess somepony's mind up so much, it brings out the monster in him or her." She replied, looking at me from the corner of her eye. I stared back, her words were wise and heavy. I could relate to that well, from the past to what happened last night, there was no hiding the fact that she was obviously signaling me as an example.

Flutters turned to me before looking at herself and holding her hooves up to her chest. She was nowhere near that Flutters from last night, and I took that as a good sign.

"It won't happen again…will it?" Her voice carried this fear that was typical of her, yet that only made me more settled: A worried Flutters, is the Flutters I know.

Strike shrugged with a smile before shoving a cookie into Flutter's mouth with her magic. "No, it's you, last night you were probably lost in trauma, explaining why you so easily lost it. it won't happen again, until you need it." She reassured with a giggle as seeing Flutters blush as she chewed on the delectable treat.

Flutters smiled as she swallowed the soft pastry. She picked her head up and sighed with her hooves on her chest in relief. "Thank you, so I'll be fine then! Thank goodness."

Strike giggled and sent a "You're welcome" before turning over to me. She had something to pick with me, I know so by the look from earlier she gave me. Although that look from before, didn't match this one. She smirked, not as in trying to give me a run for my money, but as in trying to make me nervous about something.

"What is it?" I asked looking at her from my seat. Her smirk gained a slight concern and her ears pointed straight up.

"You just can't stay away from ponies, can't you?" She asked in a cocky voice that made me shift a little in my seat. I had nearly forgotten how she could easily see from inside me and through my eyes. I wasn't going to summit to that, especially when we were in such cheerful moods.

"Well shit, how can I when I'm surrounded by them daily? Not that I don't enjoy their company though." I pointed out with a chuckle, aiming a finger at her so she could catch onto what I was saying.

She giggled before nodding. "I'm glad, just don't forget about me, alright?"

She requested that with a message hidden behind it, yet it wasn't that hidden, it was visible enough for me to read it. I smirked as I gave her a wink.

"I gotcha." She flustered over a bit, rubbing a hoof on the other as she gave off a small blush.

"Thanks," She returned before chuckling nervously and looking up at me with more in her mouth than before. "And- he paused to take a small breath of air-I'll always be with you too, promise."

I felt like squirming out with an " _Aww_ " as she increased that blush, her eyes were no different from that of a child's. Yet, I understood how seriously she took her words, so I resisted taking it with a grain of salt. I smiled to make sure she knew I was grateful for her words, but I also made sure to give her a clue that I wasn't fully agreeing with her words by straightening my back and getting a bit serious.

"You don't have too, you can be like K and wander about with the world of the living…" I offered, but she began smiling and nodding before I finished my offer. I came to a slow stop she I waited to hear her out, seeing as she seemed to have already thought ahead.

"Oh, I didn't say I wouldn't do that," She grinned before facing that daring look towards me and letting it turn into a thankful smile. "Hmpf, but…I like being around you."

I didn't need anymore, she's already given me enough to understand she's got something going on towards me, although, I just don't know how much. True, I do have many relationships. True, they might go too far. And true, they are each unique. But, I'll never truly be able base the most important one, it's too risky.

I was getting lost in thoughts again. I quickly blinked back into the reality of the present and smirked at the dual-colored eyes before me.

"Funny, I killed you before," I reminded her, leaning my head over to the little one getting entertained by Trixie's display of common card tricks, a smile printed across my face. "And now we're friends. As ironic as it was for me in the past, it true, you'll never know who you're gonna become friends with."

Strike smiled towards the smooth wooden floor boards, before looking up and agreeing with her gentle smile.

"Right; my killer, my master, my friend." She implied, nothing but cheerful delight in her voice. "As far as I know, I don't think anypony could ever have a relationship like this one we have."

She slid these words that unite us in her sentences. She said one in her last sentence, which was "we" and there was no reason for it to be overlooked by me. She claimed those words with no regret, but she did claim them with a blush and smile.

"Guess that makes you unique." I expressed, letting her hear what she wanted to hear. She couldn't help but giggle as she nodded back.

"You too."

I lowered my head with a smile to show my sympathy. "Thanks."

Time lapsed by and Strike was now inside me again, but not before having at another load of cookies only leaving nine left, which was still more than enough for the other guest, who had now joined us a few minutes after the disappearance of Strike. Flutters had served herself some of the latte, which was not as warm as before, but still warm. She sipped slowly before turning and thanking me for the beverage, she seemed to find a liking towards it.

"Thanks." I thanked before turning over to the guests that had gathered around the table who eyed me suspiciously as they connected the dots with me and the little one, who still has no damn name! I tried to ignore the stares but it seemed that I couldn't eat without someone staring at my every jaw movement.

"Uh…Is something wrong?" I asked.

They all exchanged a stare towards each other before Rarity giggled and turned over to the two pegasi and used her persuasive tone of voice to direct the message towards them slowly. I closed my eyes, waiting to the reaction that was expected.

"Foster parent!?" All three of them, Trixie, Spitfire, and Fleet, exclaimed.

 _There it is._

"Wow! I didn't know!" All three of them exclaimed with near to amazed tones. _Oh? I didn't expect that though_. I opened my eyes with a strong urge to ask why they weren't as surprised as the rest when they first figured out, but I kept my mouth shut.

"Why didn't you tell us!?" Fleet exclaimed looking down at the little pone sitting on another chair next to me. "Hi! What's your name?"

"She…uh…doesn't have one." I answered hoping this didn't lead anywhere it shouldn't. Fleet switched over to me and raised an eyebrow. "Odd…I'm sure they should have a name for them to be adopted in the first place?"

I smirked and looked over my shoulder to the window showing a patch of grass.

"Well, I didn't get her from an orphanage, instead, she crashed landed into front of this house, right over there." I said pointing my finger out the window and over to the area of interest, where all the action took place some time ago. Everyone in the room turned out the window before getting back to me.

"Crash landed?" Spitfire asked this time. I turned to her and nodded.

"Yeah, assuming it was a danger I rushed out to greet myself with the most guard dropping face ever. Then, some conflict happened and I took full responsibility of her after that." They all looked at each other with no clue on how to piece together all the information. And this was why I hated explaining some things: either it'll never make sense until seen firsthand or it's too hard to believe in general.

"Wait-wait-wait! This is so confusing!" Fleet placed her hooves around her temple and rubbed her nerves, trying to make sense of the information.

"I know, but to make it make sense: that monster I fought, Yuson, he created this baby pony and another one, who I currently inside my body-"

"INSIDE YOUR BODY!?" All three of them cut in like a blade, stopping me in my words. I felt something part from me before a smile made its way onto my face. I knew what to expect now that I had given someone the freedom they desired, in this case, I knew I could have my point proven.

"Yeah, that would be me." Strike's voice emerged off my side, I looked over to her and smiled.

"H-holy Celestia!" Fleet and Spitfire shivered as they stared at Strike and Strike stared back with a grin. I couldn't help but chuckle, it's almost like K making his grand first appearance: confident but not serious.

"Yup." She chuckled back before turning to me and nodding, giving me a signal to explain. Now explaining might be easier.

"You see, Strike, that's her name, and the little one, where created by Yuson to serve his bidding." I explained.

"Bidding?" Spitfire intervened.

"Yeah," Strike answered stepping up. "But bidding would only have lasted before he erased us from existence, which was once we fulfilled his task, then he would just make more servants and do the same."

"So…what happened?" Trixie advanced on the topic, scooting in from her seat. I looked down to the dual-eyed pony and caressed her mane, to see if it was still warm but more importantly, comfort her. It was still warm, and I got a small kick out of it too, feeling some life fill my still slightly exhausted body.

"He happened!" Strike exclaimed loudly, almost as if no one had gotten the clue that I was the main one here. "I tried to kill him to get back this little rascal for Yuson, but he…well, he was too powerful, and I ended getting myself killed."

"You killed her!?" They all asked me, forgetting I was the one who's been in the right this whole time, and that she tried to kill me to begin with. The little pony hid a little under the table as she peeked at us all from the edge. I placed my hand to my heart and gave the "I beg your pardon!" gasp.

"Now what's this!? I was protecting her!" I played along, aiming my hand at the hiding pony, before crossing my arms and shaking my head. "And don't ignore the fact that if it wasn't for my brutal action, you wouldn't even be seeing these cute faces!"

I aimed my hand to the little pony before going to Strike, who flustered a bit and blushed under the role as example.

"Y-yeah," She agreed with a nervous tone before shaking it off. "But after that, his demonic entity, aka K-"

"K?" Both the pegasi asked from the other end of the table. I been at my limit of explaining and now I was losing it slightly, K was a whole new explanation that needed him around to make any sense.

"Damn it!" I cursed. "How does no one know K before I introduce him!? K is my demon, he looks slightly like me and has a great charisma, he was the one who played the electric guitar with me during that concert, and the one who fought with Yuson while I rejuvenated."

"Oh Celestia," They both giggled shaking their heads.

"What?" I asked annoyed by the response. They waved their hooves as if to not make a big deal out of it and brush it off to the side.

"Here I was thinking you had a twin, guess no double the fun?" Spitfire giggled amused by her own humor. I was amused as well, but then she was wrong about K, there is a lot of " _fun_ " when it come to him, she just doesn't know it yet.

"If by that you mean what I think you mean, then you're wrong," I began, making her turn up to me and perk an eyebrow. Flutters quickly placed both her hooves on the table in agreement. "Exactly, K is equally as exciting and fun as Ben, well, at least for me he is, can't say no to any of his playful antics. He's hard not to love."

She blushed slightly as she though back on what she had said, but didn't object or regret anything. _Damn, Flutters is amazing_.

"You see there," I chuckled aiming a thumb over my shoulder to Flutters. "I couldn't have said it any better myself."

"Yeah, and K transferred me into Ben, with his demon-granted magic, later on he did the same for the little one." Strike finally finished quickly snatching a cookie with her magic from the tray and joyfully eating it with her eyes closed. All ponies turned to her as she finished the treat before she opened her eyes to noticed the concerned looks.

"My-my, seems like you've been through a lot." Rarity exerted, before every look of concern turned into compassion and the ponies nodded. I turned around to see if this was truly the case and as I predicted: it wasn't. Strike shook her head before chuckling.

"Yeah, but Ben always puts on an entertaining show, where it be on the battlefield or the bed, not shying from the fact that last night was entertaining with you two." She giggled throwing the spotlight on the two pegasi in front of me. Although, they weren't the only one with eyes burning through them, Rarity and Flutters also gave me the eyes of disbelief.

"Ben, a detailed explanation please!" Rarity demanded before Flutters turned over to me. I froze with smile on my face as I reminded myself about last night again, damn, sleep and a blowjob was probably the best part of last night.

 _Detailed she said?_

"I had fun with two ponies last night, one taking my shaft down her throat and the other getting her pony hole toyed with by my tongue, then my shaft exploded and there was semen all over her face and down her throat. Then we went to sleep."

She stared at the wall, blinking her eyes gradually as she let the images I revealed scar in. Her look was worth it, she was asking herself if she'd heard right but she knew well she did. She turned to me within seconds, burning red with either anger or embarrassment.

"I…I DIDN'T SAY BE EXPLICT ABOUT IT!" She was actually both and angered and embarrassed. How hilarious and cute. Although, she had set herself up for such an array of storyline.

"Ah, but you said "detailed" Miss Fancy." I came back at her before she covered her face with embarrassment. Flutters was able to relate so much she couldn't really disagree with my words, but she could easily look away with a smile. I turned to her and smiled as we met each other's gaze and silently exchanged some internal laughter.

"Why must you put such scenes into my delicate mind?"

I picked my head up and laughed it up. There is no way Rarity has a delicate mind when her voice is so mature and seductive. "Delicate mind?" I asked, clearly trying to disagree. "For all I know, you might dream of a special somepony who makes you want to touch yourself at night."

Her breath escaped her mouth and she puckered up her muzzle as she brightened up like a flare.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

"The one who makes you drool in your sleep." I pressed with the tease. Her eye twitched sternly before her horn sparked a small amount. My eyebrow shot up with curiosity as I stared at the unicorn blast her mouth off at me.

"YOU HAVE NO EVIDENCE OF ANYTHING!"

"Oh, but I have common sense Rarity," I responded with a mellow voice, cutting her off before she could lose it anymore. "Believe me when I say that I've been lonely before to the point it turned me into what I came to this land being, but after I met y'all…well, I owe you and your friends more than my life."

That shut her up pretty well, and placed her back in her seat. I smirked at her reaction. She slowly drifted back down into her seat and gave a tiny smile, shaking her head.

"Y-you and your way with words! Making a mare blush and fluster like this, you romantic." She shamed with a giggle. I chuckled back.

"And you making me open up so much, and shiver with every word of your mature, seductive voice. Rarity."

We both exchanged a smile before she realized she had begun staring and looked away abruptly. _Cute_.

I turned over to my left to see how all five ponies where doing, although all that was left was three of them: Trixie, Spitfire, and Fleet. I looked around looking for the other two but they were nowhere to be found, they probably went back inside of me for some reason.

All three of those left looked awkwardly at each other, trying to catch of glimpse of each other's eyes but too afraid to look at them directly.

"What happened?" I asked, trying to break their odd silence. They turned to me and giggled as they waved their attention from the matter with their hooves.

"You sure?" I asked again.

"You know everyone in this room knows?" I added. They sighed before looking at each other and shrugging, telling each other they got nothing to lose.

"Uh…we were wondering if this could stay between us all?" Spitfire asked, obviously referring to the obvious. They had nothing to worry about when I'm around though, I could keep to myself well.

"Sure, no problem." I assured them but they were still skeptical. Although, I'm a firm believer in that, There was no shame in being sure about anything.

"We have a reputation we'd like to take care of, so please, especially from Dash." Fleet continued. Of course she'd mention Dash, I already took note of her story telling from the first time I met Vinyl.

"Oh yeah, she can't really keep a secret very well, can she?" I smirked. They smirked back with nods.

"Exactly, and we have a personal connection with her as well, so we wouldn't want to get tormented by her teasing."

Hmm…she wouldn't really tease when she could also be the victim. Rarity also joined in the conversation on the same stance as mine, although she was obvious suspect by her odd chuckle.

"Don't worry about it dears, your secret is safe with us."

Both Wonderbolts looked at her suspiciously, they obviously had something in mind to tell her. Spitfire nodded slowly before clearing her throat in a stern and raspy way, making Rarity jump a bit and become nervous.

"Better be Rarity, you also like to gossip around a lot too." Spitfire warned, her tone between a threatening and playful tone: not a pony I'd mess with if I were Rarity. Rarity smiled nervously and nodded.

"R-right!"

Fleet arose from her seat and hopped off onto the floor. "Great! Now we should really get over to…" She took a small pause before looking over to Spitfire.

"Wait. What do we do?" She asked.

Spitfire giggled before shaking her head at such a question. It seemed she'd aleady come up with an idea, but was waiting till now to reveal it.

"Why not hit the hot tubs!?" Spitfire excitely revealed. Fleeet did a spiral as she flew into the air and squealed with joy and disbelief.

"REALLY!? It's been so long!" Spitfire smiled at the response and gave a simple nod.

"Sure!"

"YES!" Fleet exclaimed before turning over to me and nervously pondering how to dismiss herself. "Uh…"

I lifted my hand and showed them the door.

"Enjoy it."

She skipped straught to the goodbyes and waved with their wings. "Take care!"

"You too!" All three of us at the table wished back.

With that, they left along with Trixie, leaving only us few on the table, looking at each other with a smile, wondering what to begin with.

"Nice latte." Rarity complimented. I thanked her for her words inwardly, but now that I could easily think back on things, those moments of seeing her get strangled make me wonder what would happen if I had been too late or too weak. _Goodness no._

"Thanks." I lowly responded, broadcasting my drowned tone. Rarity picked up on it quicker than Flutters by surprise.

"What's wrong?"

I looked up at her and aimed a finger towards her neck, making my worry clear.

"How's your neck?"

She looked down to the floor from her seat almost depressed by the thought. Yet, within seconds, she picked herself up and firmly positioned herself on her seat. "Oh, it's fine darling."

"Damn," I cursed. "You had me losing my mind yesterday, and you don't need anything?"

I was being my new self, trying to make up for my mistakes with favors. But I didn't this new way of being, in fact, I endorsed it. The joy my friends feel is my own.

Rarity placed a hoof to her chin and pondered.

"Well…can you come over and help me with some orders at my boutique, it's going to be tiring after what happened?"

Hearing the word "Boutique" made me want to squeal of joy. Oh, the tiny memories that place made within minutes of being there. Now, I anticipate even more fond memeories to be made there, hopefully, better than Luna barging in and trying to end me.

"When?" I asked.

"This afternoon?" She offered. No problem for me, that timing was perfect.

"You got it!" I winked with a snap of my fingers. She giggled in response with a small blush. "Thanks…"

I heard Flutters step down her seat almsot instantaneously with Rarity saying her thanks.

"Oh, Flutters-" I quickly said, trying to not make it seem as if I forgot about her.

"Don't worry about me, I've got a lot of habitats to attend to after what happened," She revealed in her casual whisper-like voice. I nodded slowly in agreement before she jumped at the sound of an alarm. She shivered a bit before rushing out the kitchen and checking on the alarm clock on the wall.

I curiously leaned back from my seat and gawked at the clock's glowing numbers. It was a digital alarm clock.

"So it seems this world isn't really that far back," I whispered to myself, remembering the electric lamp posts in Canterlot. I gawked only a few more seconds before the shy pegasi reappeared off the corner of my eye with the saddle that held items on either side.

"I'm off!" She exclaimed in her quiet tone.

"Alright." Both me and Rarity dismissed.

Now we sat alone, me and Rarity, so many possibilities but only one was reasonable in the end.

"Wanna get a head start?"

"I thought you'd never ask darling.

K had gotten back to his room only to find that everyone had awoken at the same time, each asking where he had gone to, and all equally embarrassed to find him at the door with a smile and asking, " Did ya miss me?"

Derpy smiled while Chrysalis and Starlight tried to find the courage to speak to one another.

"Uh, good morning?" Starlight greeted with a nervous chuckle. Chrysalis looked at her nervously as well but she managed to pull off her manners.

"Uh, yeah, good morning." She greeted back before K chuckled as he walked over from the door over to them. "Nice, now we can get a move on!"

All three on the bed looked up at him with confusion all over.

"What!? To where!?" They asked, opening him to elaborate. He picked up his guitar pairing it along with Ben's, and his wooden wonder of a sword which he strapped around his back diagonally. Along with taking the small amulets that reveal the princesses and Chrysalis's emotions and pocketing them.

"To Ponyville, it's a lot more peaceful there, and it seems like my ideal place to set up home." He answered before taking his pouch of bits and Ben's. Chrysalis and the bed gang looked at each other before Derpy and Starlight smiled and agreed to it, leaving Chrysalis alone in doubt.

"W-wait…I-uh…"

K turned to Chrysalis before smiling. He already knew about the doubt but he knew how to comfort her as well.

"Come on, I'll take you out for something to eat too, just you and me before we go." K persuaded with a smile making her blush which she didn't want to in front of Starlight. With her fears of Starlight watching, she was surprised to find out that she was actually blushing herself with a warm smile.

Starlight winked before she grabbed Derpy's attention and both trotted out the room. Depry a bit hesitant before Starlight offered a dozen of Muffins.

Now it was Chrysalis and K, and Chrysalis was not letting her opportunity slip by.

"What will we eat?" She asked, her blush gently messing with K's mind.

"Anything you'd like to try, I've always time for you."

Chrysalis smiled in embarrassment, she couldn't help it when K was so romantic and chill about everything. He was perfect in all ways.

"T-thank you,"

K chuckled as he placed his unoccupied hand on her mane and both began moving out the room. K's hand dropped to his side as Chrysalis enveloped herself in a green glow and decreased in size.

"How much tighter is that pleasure temple of yours gonna get?" K chuckled as he opened the door before getting a giggle out of Chrysi.

"For you, I'd go to my underaged changeling days."

K thought about it nervously before shaking the word underaged away.

"Uh…lets stay legal for now."

"Alright K, but when you want to try…"

 _Does this world have any laws against underage activity? What the fuck am I thinking!?_

 _Although, she's techinally mature since just morphing into the youth level._

K ran his palm up to his forehead and shook away any weird thoughts.

" _Damn, Chrysi, you got no restrictions. Do ya?"_


	49. Chapter 49 - A New Equestria

#49

"Yuson…gone?" He asked, looking away from the one before him.

"Yes, killed by that mortal he brought over…"

Through the shadows, he picked his head up and looked down onto his messenger, aka, his closest ally.

"Well, I'll be," He chuckled in relief before smiling past that darkness that concealed him. "Without a God of Despair, we can finally have one less thing to worry about."

Despite the slight increase in charisma between the two, there was still a dryness in the air that thickened with every thought of Yuson's death. It was a sign of great things to come, but, they knew well that those great things won't come until after tragedy.

"That's relieving," The one on the lower ground agreed seriously before sighing and indicating the town of Ponyville with a map. "But even with that, these ponies don't really realize their danger, even when it's hidden right in front of them."

The one within the shadows expected this to be brought up, and so he was ready. He picked his head up higher than he'd ever done in over the past hundred centuries, shocking his friend to the point of gasping and backing a great step. Questions ravaged his friend's head over why he'd moved so much; _could it be he's finally going to do something? Is he playing a prank?_ These questions had never been more than just dreams of hers. She'd awaited since the day she sealed herself, along with her friend, from the tragedy of war.

"How long has it been since our we sealed ourselves?"

There was a huge moment of silence as the trembling soul used her magic to spawn and open a book. She nearly ripped a page from the trembling as she fidgeted for the last written page in her book of documentations in her life. She licked her lips as she found the page were the feather (pen) ended and read the top corner, almost completely worn out and with a drop or two of blood, her own to be more precise.

"L-last time w-was o-one-hundred f-f-fifty-seven thousand centuries ago, b-but w-why are you a-asking?"

The hidden one closed his eyes before smirking and feeling the same level of anxiety within himself. He was now afraid of telling, hoping he didn't inspire an emotional heart attack from his friend.

"Well now, all I hear is "This world this!" and "This world that!" from you and your sources. I've been yearning to see it for myself." He chuckled. His friend gulped loudly as she tried to contain her smile, but there were somethings that even she couldn't control. These unknown sources of hers were honestly just newspapers she'd managed to slip through her sealed world, since paper was the only delicate material that could easily pass her seal without getting vaporized.

"You have?" She asked, referring to his yearnings. Dodging an eyebrow, he looked down at his friend once more before nodding. There was no reason to lie, especially to his best friend and the only one of his friends still alive.

"Yes! And now that Yuson's gone, we can actually finally return to our world!" He rejoiced excitedly. "Don't tell me you forgot the reason we're in here?"

 _Our world_ was such a huge statement, considering they'd both been in hiding in their sealed world, who only the holy _Mother of the Two_ would know where they might appear breaking the seal to this world. Apart from that, there was one problem that obviously came to mind, a sad truth that is hard to swallow, a truth that both their traditions would have never allowed.

"Wait, Sting," She called in a quick and alarming voice. Sting turned to face her, his eyebrow still unleveled. They looked at each other for a second before one looked away and sighed.

"Our friends…"

Sting watched as his friend looked towards the floor and shook her head. There was something about seeing her so down, it wasn't like her, she'd always be the one with the grin and putting faith into everything, despite her title being the opposite of faith. "Yes…that was centuries ago…thanks to your magic we managed to freeze our aging, so yes…they are gone…"

His friend felt that harshly as she rubbed one hoof on the other and looked away hurt and heavy hearted.

"But still," Sting restarted with an uplifted tone. She picked her head up to look at him and watched as she waited to hear some positivity. "They died by Yuson, and they wished for our survival, and so they are thankful from beyond this world to you."

She smiled slightly before nodding, accepting any piece of optimism to make herself feel better. Among thoughts, she jerked her head slightly as she reminding herself she was so close to her dream and quickly picked her head up high and pointed her chest out.

"So…are we going to?"

Sting closed his eyes and smiled.

"There is a new world out there, we might not fit in so well."

"OH!" His friend rapidly responded, her with sharp canines showing, which no pony in the world centuries ago really grew fond of. She rapidly made a newspaper appear, edition seventeen of the new year, before showing him the front headline and picture. "But that mortal that was brought over also has his own Demon for a friend too!"

Sting's eyes shot open before he quickly moved out of his shadow, finally exposing himself in all the light of the dim room. He trotted over to his friend snatching the new paper from her magic and reading it as fast as he could remember he could still read. Indeed, it was picture of two strange beings, both similar looking, one with sharp canines, cat-like eyes, and darker skin, clothes, and over all, vibe. The other seemed normal enough and tame, although, his grin was unsettling and tempting, the grin before a fight, when one knows the battle will be hard but won't back down: _A Challenger_. The picture was taken right in Canterlot, as so the description provided along with the one with the glory of taking the picture. _"And ze moment, was captured…"_ A quote from a popular photographer _Photo Finish_.

Sting rapidly rushed to the next page, coming up to this normal looking being again, although now, he held in his arms a pegasi, rainbow mane and tail, and beautiful shade of blue. He read along the tabs to reveal the names: _Ben, Rainbow Dash, K, and Fluttershy_. He slowly lowered the paper before looking to his side at his messenger, who he could now refer to as his friend with the tight-lipped mouth.

"Why…WHY IN THE NAME OF TARTARUS DID YOU KEEP THIS A SECRET FROM ME!?" he asked, his breath so thin it was almost a squeal. She shrugged and quickly snatched the newspaper back and shoved the headlines in his face,

"Because…just look at them! Those aren't ponies like us!" She pointed out. Sting frowned back as he snatched the paper back and shoved it in her face with his magic.

"OF COURSE, HE'S NOT, BUT HE KILLED YUSON! AND LOOKING AT IT CLOSER!" He pulled back the paper and looked back at it before chuckling almost as if insane. "HE DID WHAT WE COULDN'T DO, HE'S BASICALLY THE MODERN VERSION OF US!"

"Relax, I just snagged this edition, it seems as recent as just a few hours ago." She assured him before taking the completely wrinkled paper and sighing at the distorted faces of her and her friend's hero.

"Wait…you mean…" Sting asked back, slowly trying to get the main point. She nodded before flashing her grin.

"Yeah, this hasn't even been a century, decade, year, month, week or day ago, this was a few hours ago."

Sting froze in place before growing slightly insane at the thought he had actually just seen a picture of modern Equestria. If there were fluorescent lights and by the looks of it, a way to capture a moment on paper without paint, then there was about to be a huge difference in time.

"This…this…" He mumbled before switching to his partner in a swift move. "Jade!"

She looked at him off the corner of her cat-like eyes. "Uh-huh?"

"We…we must escape this seal and enter our true home!"

There was silence from Sting as he waited for a response from Jade. But she only stuttered her thoughts as she turned to him fully and gulped loudly in the silence.

"What!?"

Sting quickly became agitated at the realization he'd been missing out on so much life, that now he's going to suffer so much when he realizes the pain of seeing a new world. "Jade! There…THERE IS NO WAY I'M GONNA MISS ANOTHER HOOF-FULL OF CENTURIES, WE'LL JOIN THIS ONE! AND FIND THAT BEING "BEN" AND HIS FRIENDS! LIVE AMONG THEM LIKE WE USE TOO LIVE IN OUR TIME!"

Jade fell back on her bottom and shivered. "You're…you're serious!?"

Sting rapidly nodded and trotted up close to her and gave her the most necessary hug he'd given her. A mixture of so much emotion was a demon's down fall when it came to holding back tears, although in the presence of her best friend and only partner for the past centuries, this is what she had ever wanted.

"Yes! We can go as soon as right now for all I care!"

"You…you…"

Sting pulled back from the embrace but still kept his hooves on her shoulders as he looked her dead straight in the eye and took a heavy breath of realization as he wanted to make sure his words weren't just out of excitement. He knew what would come out would forever scar her mind, and bring up that topic he spoke to her since foalhood.

"And maybe, well finally be able to do what we've always wanted to do…"

Jade stared at his silver eyes and Sting stared back her jade eyes, there was a reason to why he added to her original demon name: Siginato (Sig-in-a-t-oh). The closest of friends, coming even closer. Jade couldn't help but almost tear up completely as she recalled a promise from centuries ago, what made it heavy to accept was that he simply remembered.

There was no way Jade was denying this. It was win, win, win, and win, all the way. She let a tear go down before she nodded with a huge smile.

"Let's go!"

"That's my Jade!"

"Thank you, you have a great fashion taste! See ya beautiful!"

"Uh…yeah! Thanks!" I chuckled as I opened the small cash register and dropped in the _bits_ with a blush. Geez, out of all the customers these had to have me give them my fashion advice, not only that, they had me watching them trying on every outfit I recommended. It would have been fine, if they didn't do it a foot away from me and brought there tail up so high in every pose.

Despite some awkwardness, I was doing fine. I've never ran a cash register but I've always seen the people at restaurants and stores do it. Then being "real" came in handy with these dress recommendations. _Damn I think my eyes diverged so much were they shouldn't have…and I think they noticed, fuck me._

"BEN!"

"YAAA-RARITY!" I yelled back, morphing my initial shriek of terror into a sensible word (Rarity). She looked pleased, maybe even more than pleased. "Yes?" I asked in an awkward chuckle. She picked me up from the collar and adjusted my button-down she gave me as soon as I walked through the doors. A nice common white button-down shirt with a beautiful design of ripples and silky feel to it.

"I hear you've been giving advice on what a customer should buy?"

"I don't know if I'm in the right or wrong…which one?" I asked with a nervous smile. She giggled before unbuttoning the top button closest to my neck. _I was wondering how long I was going to have that button connected_.

"Oh darling, you're like a blessing in disguise." She complimented before letting me go and taking a seat down next to me on this cash register area. "Thanks, although, it's pretty awkward when they make you watch them try on those dresses, geez." I chuckled pressing my palmed onto my face and rubbing out the playful stress I felt.

She smirked before spinning her rotatable seat towards me and giggling.

"What's the matter, can't handle a few flanks in your face?"

A tease? I picked my head up with a blush and smirk as I chuckled. She really would ask something like this when I'm so lost.

"Shh," I played along placing my finger over my lips to make her shush up quickly. "They got me off guard! At least I tried to not stare!"

"Oh Benjamin, you stared right through the fabrics!" She laughed making me squirm a little. There was a strange thing about hearing my name being used like that, it was honestly way more embarrassing than it seemed before, she could at least have used the Latin version of it, if she knew it that is.

"Oh Celestia…" I blushed sinking slightly into my seat: an office chair that reclined almost to the point I was 180 with my back and thankfully, it was just the right size. Now that I think about it, I could easily have just stared without knowing, I do have that habit. It was funny while embarrassing at the same time.

I must have come off as actually embarrassed for Rarity to have somehow rolled over next to me with her seat, which did have wheels under the legs. I sighed before smirking, as I turned to face nothing specifically, just the wall so I could avoid looking her in the eye.

"There's no shame in it, it's natural for a stallion to look at a mare like that, same as a mare does to a stallion."

I didn't catch that last bit where she strangely eyed me until I turned to her and saw she was referring to herself when she said _same as a mare does to a stallion_. Despite the observation, I sighed and continued speaking whatever came to mind out of awkwardness.

"You know, I use to believe pervert was just a lame word to describe someone who thought of sex or implied a sexual action, now I believe that a little more, despite it being used as an insult." I smirked before turning to her, now giving me a perked eyebrow before she placed a hoof on my arm. There were stages going on here, first she joins me, then she moved over to me, and now she's touching me, oddly gently.

"So…you're thinking about sex?" She asked, no stutter or jumbling of words, she was just straight to the point. I picked my head up a little before chuckling to hide the shame.

"It's kinda hard to not think about it when I just had three varieties of flanks shoved in my face." She looked away and nodded, she seemed to have expected the answer but she didn't seem to like it by how awkwardly she agreed.

"A reasonable answer…" She sighed, disappointed by the outcome of that. I nodded with my own sigh before trying to shift in my seat a bit, but out of the blue, received a forceful push back down by her magic and hoof. I turned to her and bobbed my head slightly, indicating her to speak up for what she was doing.

"What's up Rarity?" I finally asked when she began dazing again. She flustered and looked away before taking a deep breath and burying her hoof deeper into my arm, although her hoof was oddly comfortable and soft.

"The store will be at a business break for about an hour…" She began before my smart mouth got ahead of me and filled in the cocky attitude that I was well known for.

"Oh my, ain't that a coincidence?" She didn't pay heed to it, she was too in her head to listen to me. She didn't pay attention to it at the least, thankfully even. Instead she went on with what she wanted to say and leaned in closer from her seat, by now it seemed she just wanted to hop onto me.

"I never did thank you enough for saving me last night- she tightened the grip of her hoof on my arm -would you mind if I do it now?"

My mouth didn't go off this time and with good reason: it knew when to shut up. I gulped as I let out a nervous chuckle and hoped for the best.

"I guess…there is nothing wrong with it."

K hadn't noticed it until now that Chrysalis had not turned into the pony he saw when he first encountered her in Canterlot. Instead, she was in this pure white color, with light/faded blue color for eyes. It was at sight to behold, both by K and the ponies around as well that couldn't help but have a look. But, both sitting down together in this fancy restaurant was enough for ponies to get the idea who she was with, and knowing K after his display last night in both the stage and battlefield, ponies knew their place. Although, the two weren't paying any heed to their surroundings since K had put a conversation between them, and now Chrysalis had joined in, finally feeling comfortable with him in the opposite seat in front of him, and a variety of meals between the both of them on the table: located the edge of the restaurant, by a huge glass plane.

"You got all this?" K asked, impressed by how her order made his look puny. After all, he'd only asked for whatever everypony has for their mornings, and so he just got a donut and some decaf.

Chrysalis nodded as she studied what she had in front of her. She had warm soup to one side, that looked like it varied in multiple spices, a cold beverage, which smelled potent and strong like cider though it looked clear as water, and small deserts to the side. And with no surprise, first thing Chrysalis took was a desert: a square, chocolate-covered slice of cake. K studied carefully as he watched her munch down on the treat, a smile only waiting to emerge.

"You know, you have very similar eating habits to Celestia's?"

She paused and looked up at him a slight worry in her eyes.

"What? How?"

K rolled his eyes as he took his first bite on the donut before looking at it curiously, it tasted good, but it could've do with some more _sweet_ in it. K snapped out of his curious glare before smirking.

"Guess I'm similar in a way too." He added as he bit the bread he approved of and sipped from the carton cup he'd been given. Chrysalis didn't take the next bite, although she kept the piece of chocolate delight close while the odd comparison still lingered.

"What way?" She asked once more. K licked his lips as he placed both elbows on the table and aimed his grin towards her.

"Both you and Celestia have an odd addiction to sweets."

"Oh…" She expressed before going silent. It was awkward still, she hadn't really gotten used to hearing _Celestia_ so often in a casual way with no occasion of conquering or overthrowing. K nodded to that response, he was still a bit lost over why this grudge still went on, but he didn't like how it got the negative reaction.

"Sorry…" He apologized redirecting the focus from Celestia to his donut, taking another bite. Chrysalis squeaked a little, almost as if she was going to react to his apology but stopped herself, but not quick enough. She blushed and covered her mouth. K giggled inwardly as he sipped his decaf and raised his eyebrows as a tease.

"Oh?" He placed his carton cup down and slouched. "That's new."

"Shut…up," She blushed before taking another bite from the cake. K's shoulder movements indicated he was laughing inwardly and enjoying everything, of course he would find joy in this, he knew the struggle of hers to be out in public in disguise. Too distracted by each other, none of them noticed when a random unicorn had popped up next to them with a smile all too wide.

"Looks like you too are having a fun time."

K's response was a nod before flicking his hand up and greeting the visitor.

"What's up?"

Although, Chrysalis response was with a bit more anxiety. Odd, she'd never really had any trouble dealing with normal ponies, why is it so hard now? But for the sake of fitting in, she made the effort and didn't shrink completely into her seat.

"H-hi…"

The unicorn smiled towards her and chuckled. "Aww, don't worry about me, I'm just here to ask if either of you've seen the _times_?"

"Uh, I think it's probably around ten or something," K responded looking out the window to look at the sun. The unicorn chuckled before shaking his head.

"No, not that time," he shuffled through a bag that hanged off his back and pulled out a newspaper with his magic and passed it over to Chrysalis. Chrysalis flinched away by response making the unicorn swiftly jerk the paper back followed by some apologizes.

"Oh, Sorry! I…uh…sorry, here you go…"

He gentle replaced the paper in front of her, and this time she took it carefully with her magic.

"T-thanks," Chrysalis thanked, opening the paper and viewing the contents up close, trying to hide herself.

"No problem, sorry for scaring you like that," he apologized before sighing at getting no response from her. He slowly nodded, accepting that he'd probably be better off not making things worse and turned over to K, who scratched his head while studying Chrysalis's odd reactions to things.

"Oh! And you must K!"

K moved his eyes down to him before following with his head. "Uh-huh."

"Cool! I saw you singing last night! I've never heard music like that before, I mean, I've never heard music so…foreign and new, like…like…dang, I can't even explain it!" K smiled and nodded as he took his coffee and sipped before swiftly snatching a pastry from Chrysalis's side of the table.

"Well, we called it rock from the 70's, 80's and 90's, but I'm guessing what makes it unique is choice of words am I right?" K asked looking at him, knowing that's the right answer. The unicorn nodded with a smirk back.

"Yeah, the words you chose are so powerful by themselves, and it's the fact that the lyrics are so well composed. Sometimes they go from soft to powerful, or from powerful to soft, and sometimes they just remain powerful. Celestia, and that instrumental! That's other worldly!"

"Oh boy, Hey, Chrysi! Look! I have a fan!" K called out to Chrysalis making her slowly lower the newspaper, asking herself if she was the one who was called. Chrysalis was at a loss for words, K using that name in public was just mad in her mind, and in front of this kid.

"Wow! You even have a beautiful name!" The kid complimented making Chrysalis turn to him before she lowered her guard. There wasn't much she could really do, apart from respond, yet she couldn't shake off the feeling of a deep pain in her chest, almost like guilt or fear.

"Thanks," She pulled off the best poker face she's done since she first went incognito. "That's kind of you to say."

Both K and the kid looked at her before looking and each other and giving off a smile. The kid was in a cheerful mood now, he wanted to hear a kind response from her after scaring her earlier, and now he got it.

"You're welcome, uh…Chrysi!" He smiled before rummaging in his bag and pulling out a paper agenda and properly dismissing himself. "Take care you two, enjoy the rest of your day."

"Oi, kid!" K called him over once more. The unicorn turned to look at them over his shoulders and bobbed his head once. "Yeah?"

"Have a good one!" K cheered launching him three bits which he easily caught with his magic. He nodded with a huge smile as he placed the bits in his pocket and get back some chuckles.

"Thanks!"

He left with that, happily trotting away with a smile and probably an agenda of things to do in his day, seemed he was in early teens by what he acted like. Chrysalis smiled a bit as she lowered the newspaper fully placing it on the table.

"How can you be so kind?"

K looked over to her and shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess I have this mindset of _if you don't wrong me, I won't wrong you_." A bold and wise thing to say, but it went differently for Chrysalis obviously. Unlike K, she was always the anti-hero, the antagonist of a period in time, the avenger for a problem that was her own doing, she had a different view on it.

"What if I was wronged? What then?" She asked, hoping for an answer that would give her some relief or at least support, but K wasn't an easy one to persuade when it came to justice. He was a neutral view, and so was his answer.

"Are you sure you're the one who was wronged?"

She stared at him before looking away, thinking about it as she snuck some more chocolate pastry into her mouth.

"That's deep K."

K smirked a bit as his mind filled in what his mouth would say but refused to, instead he licked his lips as he took the pastry he stole from her side of the table and mixed it with the decaf in his mouth.

"I thought you'd be use to _deep_ by now?" K chuckled, finding another way to phrase his words. Chrysalis smirked before giggling a bit and nodding.

"I can see why so many are fond of you, your charisma is unmatchable."

"Really? Hmm…I guess that's something, you know, I did try to be more of an anti-hero type character," K admitted with a smug grin, his arms perfectly crossed on his chest to resemble his character. Chrysalis's pure-white ears perked up with interest, and her eyes leaned towards him.

"You did?"

"Yeah," K responded truthfully and with a good spirit in his voice. "But that just didn't work out so well, I've always followed Ben's mindset with my own persona, but these ponies…they got something that makes them almost impossible to cause harm too."

K was true to his words, his lowly dim eyes showed his case and so did the way he loosely gripped his drink which by now was a few minutes to going completely cold. Chrysalis thought over his words, she'd never really considered her true desire as far as the ponies go.

"…I never really ever wanted to kill them…" K looked up to her, looking down at her food and slowly nibbling at piece by piece. She didn't know whether to feel glad she didn't think that way, or if she'd just wasted her time thinking she'd conquer Equestria.

"Has anyone ever?" K returned with a flick of wrist. Chrysalis bobbed her head from side to side as she listed out the only two she had.

"Yuson, and as far as I remember, wild beasts." K thought back to Yuson, but now he couldn't feel angry in any way, all he felt was that horrible memory. With a bit of worry in mind, and no response to that, he detoured from the answer to his own question.

"Hmm…how'd you feel that night?" Chrysalis looked up at him and closed her eyes as she turned away to rid the images. She could still see Derpy in her state and wishing she had her nearby her once more, it felt more like a responsibility now to have her near. The paranoia of seeing her injured once more was heavy, and it easily put Chrysalis in a state of worry.

"I've never see a pony look so hurt…it was…depressing." She answered lowly, and sick to the point she placed back the cream-filled bread, and went for her heavy drink. She sipped only once before shaking her head at the thought of last night.

"Yeah…" K admitted with equal displeasure.

"But you acted differently."

"Huh?" K looked up at her again before scratching his head curiously, signaling he wanted more detail. Chrysalis nodded as she aimed her drink at him, bringing the attention to him mainly.

"You were the only one there to actually feel enraged, you were…almost blood-thirsty, not in the maniac way, more in like the vengeful way."

"I've never been blood-thirsty, thank all living things for that, although I wouldn't have rejected seeing his." K squeezed out as he fiddled with his fingers, showing a small sign of minor anxiety.

"And what was wrong with your eye, and half of your body turning almost dark in essence?" Chrysalis persisted. Although, now K was a bit more involved, he knew what she meant by _dark essence_ and _something wrong with his eye_ , but the answer wasn't so obvious. K sighed as he placed both elbows on the table, now having enough room to do so after Chrysalis nervous eating spree.

"I don't know how to describe that," He began before pausing to think about it for a second with his hand covering his mouth and chin fully. He removed his hand and overlapped it on the other hand, placing himself in a serious pondering pose. "I suppose it's like when you're so full of emotion that your magic just starts to go off, but that's just a guess."

"You don't know?" Chrysalis asked her head tilted to one side curiously. K looked at her and shook his head.

"No, I've never really let myself go to absolute anger," He assured her before getting that look as if to have one more thing to add. "Although, Ben, now he's a different story."

She nodded with him on that one. "Right, he let hatred take over and he…well ended Yuson for good." She was right to agree and about Yuson, but she was wrong about the cause. K's eye twitched slightly at the thought of hatred, that was something out his league, something he's only let roam free once and it ended in the death of many back when Ben still stood on earth. He still hated himself for what he did that one day he let go of the chains and let Ben roam with hate, it fucked him up so much.

"No, Chrysi, he didn't let hatred take over." He corrected her, a great amount of seriousness shrouded over him as he rubbed his hands on his face to rid the stress. "There is a huge difference between hatred and anger."

Chrysalis was all pure-white ears as she listened to him intently, waiting for an explanation, she had to for him to be so serious. K fidgeted with his hands nervously as he answered the questions going off in her head.

"Anger just pushes you to break limits and gives you that adrenaline to keep going, it's pure emotion." K labeled licking his lips from going dry. His partner gulped as she sipped nervously from the glass.

"A-and what does hatred do?" she asked, giving him a taste of her worry. K closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them, looking out the window they sat next to.

"…It corrupts…it blinds you from reality…it's a fear of mine…" K openly admitted, he was serious, no doubt in Chrysalis mind he was warning, but warning up to what? K took his first deep breath of the night and shifted a bit in his seat, a slight bit more uncomfortable. He knew he has tried to warn Fluttershy of it back when they swapped bodies, but he couldn't get the message across then, and Ben misunderstood it as a threat from himself (K).

"Wait, what do you mean?" Chrysalis asked hoping K would open up some more. He turned his eyesight to her before his mind and body followed. K looked around before leaning slightly over the table making Chrysalis lean slightly back. He bit his tongue at the thought of actually telling someone about his main role in Ben's life, and his true meaning, but he felt safe enough to tell her, he had trust in her.

He opened his mouth to speak but only air came out. He clenched his teeth together and took in a deep breath again. "I'm…I'm…" He bit his tongue for stuttering his words and screamed mentally _JUST FUCKING SAY IT_! "I'm basically hatred with a mind of its own, I was born out of it."

"Uh…hatred?" Chrysalis asked, making sure she was following along. K nodded with some relief she wasn't at all stunned by it at the slightest, but he wasn't done yet, he still had to explain why he's telling her this, which was a real trip.

"I can easily consume hatred and deal with it," he explained before placing his hands where his heart would be. "I was made for the soul purpose to keep Ben's hatred in chains, and storing it inside my own body."

"Huh? Wait…are you telling me your only reason for living is to rid Ben of his hate?" Chrysalis asked, feeling quite stunned at this point as K nodded slowly and mournfully. Chrysalis gulped once more as she took that deeply and felt a great deal of sorrow for him, she didn't know this part of him, and now that she did, it hurt.

"When I was born, I remember I was still in the old world, but more importantly Ben was hanging upside down from a tree by his legs. I could vividly remember how through Ben's eyes I witnessed so much death while he was hanging, there was nothing he could do to stop it. But then and there, I felt a hug tug on my arms and realized I had a purpose, before that point I was blind to everything, I knew nothing, like a newborn baby. Then I felt the tug, and my mind was fucked with all these memories of Ben's that were just pure hate and I couldn't see past it all, and since I thought that hatred was the path of truth…I let go of the chains…"

"W-what happened?"

K looked towards her and shook his head.

"He killed like there was no tomorrow, I couldn't stop it, the chains had begun pulling so hard they nearly tore off my arms. It wasn't till Ben was satisfied that the chains loosened and I was able to grasp them again. He killed thousands…because of me…"

K had an odd way of responding to that, he grabbed his hair and pulled on it forcefully before letting it go and shaking his head. Chrysalis looked at him in a bit of pain, she'd never seen him to stressed, it hurt to see.

"You don't have to blame it on yourself, look at you now, you're no longer that…right?"

"Right, over the time in Ben, I realized Ben always had a way of reassuring himself that he could still make friends and get married, but I hated the thought. I hated it because I was blinded by Ben's hate, his hate was my hate. It was only when he finally went home and looked to a framed picture of his parents, that all hate disappeared from my body and his, there was peace at that one moment. I was…happy and so was he. That moment, all the memories of hate fucked my head up once more, and drilled in so deep. I had been lied all my life to think that hatred was right, and now I finally knew the truth, the memories revealed the true Ben. I grew a mind of my own that day, I watched Ben closely wanting to meet him in person one day, but I never did until…the day he died."

"What!?"

"He died…in such a pitiful way, but…what I didn't understand at that moment, was why we was at peace once more. And…and…Fuck, my head!" K gushed out as he folded his arms on the table and let his head fall into his arms. His head had begun to bulge in pain.

"K…" Chrysalis whispered out before he picked his head up with his poker face smile and wafted his hand.

"Don't worry about me-" He didn't get to finish that lie. He jumped at the sudden motion of the table violently shaking and lifted his hands off of it. Chrysalis stood with both hooves on the table, using her hind hooves to stand high than him, while he stared in almost petrified fear.

"How do you expect me not to!?" She yelled making everypony turn towards them. "You shouldn't…you shouldn't keep things like this to yourself!"

Was in a twisted shock. He'd never found himself on the edge of fear but now he could easily feel it surround him as Chrysalis continued shaming him. He trembled out of straight fear.

"Does Ben even know how important you're to him! Or does he even know what your purpose it apart from being a demon!?"

K looked dead scared in his seat looking up at her. His mouth opened but it shook too much to even get anything out. In the end, K managed to let out the most high-pitched answer he'd ever given as he swallowed back the heavy words. "N-no…"

Her hooves weakened and trembled as she lowered herself slowly, staring at K as she did so. A regret surged through her, from what it looked like, K had never been told anything personal, or that personally would hurt him. "K…I'm sorry…" She apologized hoping she hadn't hurt him too badly, seeing him go down like that was just painful.

K looked out the window before signing. "Thank you," He shot through her before looking down at the food and smirking.

"I'll tell him, I just don't know how he will take it."

The one across from him smiled at his smirk and placed a hoof on the table, as if to reach out to comfort him. "He's your friend, isn't he?" K turned to her hoof and placed his hand on it, gently grabbing it and cradling it as he nodded.

"Damn straight."

Over in Twi's neck of the town.

"Hey Spike?"

"Yeah, what is it Twilight?" Spike responded looking over his shoulder before turning around to face Twilight shut the door to the library.

"Should I show Ben my castle?" She asked turning her to tiny assistant who, in the end was left in a small pause as he pondered it. He didn't mind having his new friend over and give him a tour, but of course he needed consent from Twilight.

"Uh…well…I see nothing wrong with it, he's technically been in it already, would you like to give him a deeper tour?" Spike redirected the question back. Twilight stared at the construction going on to only to minor parts of the town, since luckily, most of it was still there, and leaned her head to one side as she chose to admit it.

"Yeah, I kinda _want_ to." She put emphasize on that word "want" which gave Spike good enough reason to smile and approve.

"Well, bingo!"

"But I feel wrong about it in a way…" Twilight quickly contradicted, throwing Spike back a bit on his thoughts.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Twilight looked over at Spike before sighing towards the town of active ponies.

"Well you might not know it, but ever since he got here, he's just been getting bashed with non-stop events, there isn't a single moment's rest in his life…for all we know, he might just be getting his poor soul tortured by anypony at the moment…

"Last time I checked sis, you weren't a verified Dentist." Belle stared us down with a good reason. Rarity remained stuck with all her hooves now standing on my chest, which without a doubt felt breath shortening-really- while I was at an obtuse angle with my back on this office chair.

"Yeah, Rarity, what's with all these lies, I'm heart felt." I played along being silly me again. Honestly, I'd be lucky if I escaped this without her stomping me heavily on the chest from my immaturity. She glared down at me with confusion and outrage while I glared at her with my serious poker face, praying on the inside I don't get a hoof sized hole in my chest.

"And last time I checked, the Dentist doesn't kiss their patient for more than a minute." Belle brought up being Ms. Obvious, and arousing my playfulness. I wasn't the one who had anything to lose here, besides the air in my lungs. Belle had these eyes that were just perfect for a detective, she looked like she could throw all facts into the fire and just bury anything into the ground. Rarity didn't get that from her look and quickly fired back with her rapid responses.

"He was asking for advice in the subject!" Oh? Was I? I didn't even have to turn to face Belle to get my objection out. I was playing with my mouth and without my brain, I deserved that hoof to my chest.

"GAH! You lie!" I quickly shot back before she shot her eyes down at me.

"BEN!" Rarity exclaimed, giving me the spotlight, before I nearly got that hoof to my chest, luckily, I forget how quick I can react. I caught her hoof easily and held it with my one had as I continued with the playful act.

"RARITY!" I exclaimed back, giving her the spotlight, trying to give off the hint that I was still playing _tease_ with her. Although, it seemed neither she or Belle could get it. Impressed, most defiantly, but equally hoping I didn't harm any feelings with this.

"BOTH OF YOU!" Belle responded, giving us both the spotlight.

"HUH!?" Rarity exclaimed back, while I just reclined to a full 180 and looked at her upside down waiting for her to say something that we could both benefit from.

"Get a room."

 _Oh_ …not really what I had in mind, but it'll help in the future.

"Oh, hush up!" Rarity finally gave up, hopping off me and back to her seat. "You'd do the same if you liked somepony enough."

There was some truth I could relate to in those words but her sister didn't have the same idea. Belle gave her a cocky look followed by attitude as he shrugged and looked away.

"I'm too young to have anypony to love."

I rapidly shot back up from my 180 to a 90 degree before turning over to the tiny pony, who now that I get a closer look at from here, it obviously a lot smaller than she looked from my memory.

"Yet you speak like you knew about it by experience?" I returned making her widen her eyes slightly before blushing and looking away. I felt like I hit jackpot, the cutest relationships are those of the children, they're so awkward and playful it's a joy to watch.

"Hmm…okay, maybe I do have _one_ male friend who I like…a lot." Rarity's ears shot straight up like a dog's when it hears a twig snap. I might not have ears to perk up, but I have a curious mind that just got flooded with curiously.

"Oh? Who?" We both asked with no time to waste. Our voices together sounded like an odd mix which side tracked me slightly, it was hilarious for a moment considering what we were asking: now I'm the gossip dude.

Belle blushed brightly with her smile as she bobbed her head to one side and another just stirring us up to the final answer. Both I and Rarity were all ears as we slowly leaned in as she twitched an ear and choked up a giggle.

What followed…just wasn't what I expected. As if I had enough to worry about, now I had this. She raised her hoof up, and all I saw was the palm of it as I slowly began realizing: it's me. I must have undergone a breakdown internally, since I was now the one bright red. I was frozen to the chair as I stared down at her giggle, but I knew I wasn't going to be frozen too long.

"You, Ben-Ben…" She shivered as she now named me something I haven't been called since fourth grade. Ben-Ben? Oh Christ-yes, Christ is necessary in this one- how can she make this anymore harder to take in?

Even if I asked myself these things, I had a different feeling separated. I felt embarrassed, true, but the feeling of overwhelming cuteness balanced it out. And the main reason for that, was because of her embarrassment to say it and that name she used: Ben-Ben. Ben-Ben was somewhat nostalgic, it's what I like getting called by girls who didn't want to fully say my name, it never failed to make me blush back then, probably explains why it worked now.

Rarity rolled up next to me, and gave me the look that was magnetic to my eyes. The moment I locked my eyes on hers, I was reminded of what position I had just placed in and jerked my myself away from Rarity and put as much distance between us.

"I swear I haven't done anything!"

Being too direct wasn't a good idea on my part, it didn't get through to her, instead it made her more suspicious.

"She's my little…little…sister…"

Those two "littles" where enough to give me the clue I was in deep shit I needed to get out of. Although, my embarrassment got the better of me and I busted a move only Rarity would pull off, and now that I think about it, the tables have so easily turned.

"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME!? I DIDN'T DO NADA!" I blurted out, hoping for some mercy to my damaged view but she was already sternly eyeing me down, shaming me with her eyes of disappointment. I was sinking deeper into my seat as Rarity closing in on me.

"Stop it sis, he's my friend!" Belle reappeared, trying to support me, letting me sigh in relieve, but it wasn't what I needed at the moment. I wanted her to clear my name of the situation I couldn't get rid of, although, it seemed she wasn't trying to. She was trying to protect me from insults instead of killing the source of the speculation.

Rarity had no reason to deny what her sister had said but the obvious situation made everything out of her come out as an outrage. "He's mine too!"

"Sibling rivalry is dangerous, I recommend we stop this immediately!" I begged fully but that wasn't ineffective. I felt some magic slam me back down onto my seat. I quickly looked up at Rarity almost trembling at the sight of my body being forced down onto the seat by her magic.

"AND WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!?" She shouted my way before I somehow phased through her magic and shook it off leaning forward on my seat, a small spark on her horn as her magic retracted.

"RARITY! PLEASE! I'M INNOCENT OF ANY ACCUSATIONS! THIS IS A MISUNDERSTANDING!"

"Exactly sis, Ben is sharable!" What sounded like hope ended in what I just didn't want to here. I swung my hand across my body and locked my body up as I felt all veins in my body swell up in all my desperation.

"NEIN! STOP MAKING ME SOUND LIKE A…just clear my name Belle!" For the sake of not introducing new vocabulary and not getting too stressed, I paused and reverted to relaxing in my chair, still straining my voice a small amount.

There was a small moment that Belle took, which threw Rarity back a few. Belle seemed to have lost train of thought, and now it seemed her confusion was affecting Rarity, yet I kept myself focused on clearing my name.

"Of what?"

I paused and blinked a few times before my agitated side spoke within me. _OF WHAT!?_ I blinked one final time before realizing I was actually at the edge of that question. I balled a hand and hoped I proved a point with my gritted teeth.

"Don't play with me like that! I haven't done nothing in any way to any little one, you hear!?"

Maybe I was a bit too stern with that, she flinched slightly depressed by my response. I did kinda raise my voice to a point it sounded as if I was really pissed. I wanted to apologize but I couldn't, considering my name wasn't yet cleared.

"Alright, I'm sorry…don't get mad! Please!" She begged almost as if I had really meant what I meant deeply, which I did, but I didn't want to her to become scared of me. I refrained from speaking out and let my body relax in the seat, I undid my hands and let my body hang there for a few seconds, before chuckling and shaking head with my eyes closed, trying to let free all stress.

"I'm not mad, I was nothing more than embarrassed to be honest Belle." I apologized in code in that sentence making her lighten up, I knew she smiled pasted my closed eye lids, although I still had something to warn her over.

"But…damn it kid, you can't just go saying things like that by joke!" I lectured her. I couldn't tell what reaction that got, but I knew something happened, and not what I wanted. A silence roamed, as if both of them stopped to glare at each other in confusion. I opened my eyes and looked at Belle and Rarity, both in my sights, in my own confusion.

"What?" Belle asked. This wasn't a misunderstanding type of _what_ this was a "what's wrong with it?" type of _what_. I shifted in my seat a bit as I looked over to Rarity, who wasn't lecturing at all about what was asked. _Huh?_ I straightened my back on the chair and looked at both of them, switching eyesight for a few moments, before I got enough clue to know they were both asking the same.

"…It's not right for kids to be involved in any acts of…whatever we argued about," I unsurely stated, a hint of confusion in my voice. I was now beginning to ask myself if I was in the wrong, although, I was using common sense… _right?_

"What? Says who?" Rarity answered making me freeze into a near perfect pose of shock. _What the? How? What? Who? When?_ So much was running through my head as I began slowly feeling stupid and the mbarrassed equally.

"I…uh…" There was nothing here to hold me up. "Me…apparently…"

I placed my hand on my head and rubbed my temple as I pondered if I just made myself look stupid, or if I was still in the right. At about that time, I felt a tiny snap of magic off my right. I made myself slightly dizzy with how I spun myself in the chair, but I braked with the rubber of my shoes and paused looking straight at Belle who had a smile that was all too innocent.

"You have a strange code Ben, but I guess I already hurt your brain enough, I'm sorry."

I stared at her as she trotted away from me. _My code is strange?_ "no…I don't…" I whispered, hoping to defend my code and mind, although, I was already to the point of saying "Fuck it" and calling it day.

"You okay darling?"

I didn't pay heed to Rarity, Belle was distracting me as she trotted out the room but not without leaving a wink and impression on me. "Heeellloooo? Ben!?" I slowly looked up at her before shaking my head.

"I'm scared…"

She took it as me just being silly and spun me around on my chair to face the cashier.

"Come on you! We UNFORTUANTLY- she made sure Belle heard that one -lost our break, we'll open in a few."

I looked up at her before sighing and reaching for my side. I didn't feel anything and placed my hand on my lap. _I forgot my blade…how could I?_ I crashed the back of my head onto the seat's head cushion but, there a slightly huge exploding sound when I did so. I let my head absorb that before I picked myself off the seat and scratched my head, looking over to Rarity.

"Did I do that?"

She shook her head with worry when an almost blinding light it up the whole world outside through the window, followed by a darkness that completely enveloped the world. _NANI!?_ The world seemed to return to its normal state before a scream arose, from Twi. It sounded urgent enough for me and Rarity to stare for a second and rapidly rush towards the door.

"HEY, WAIT FOR ME!" Belle rushed after us.

"The…library…" Twilight whimpered as she saw how all the windows were just shattered inward and the books inside and all things had been tossed around like ragdolls.

"MY EARS!" Spike groaned as he stuck his claws into his ears and rubbed out the ringing.

"…Dang it, just our luck to ruin a library upon arrival…" Sting whispered sternly to Jade, before Jade nodded and stepped up to Twilight to issue her apology. They didn't think the explosion for breaking the seal would be so harsh.

"Umm…we're so sorry, we didn't know our arrival would cause such damage." Jade apologized before Twilight whipped around sternly and was about to shout back before she paused and stared. There was something off about them, and she could feel it; their looks, their scars, and especially this odd pony's features.

"…you two…seem familiar…" Twilight whispered, lowering her wings as she tried to get a closer look on them. Especially this bat alternative to a bat pony: no wings, and a horn on her head but other features looked the same. Jade looked back at Sting and both shrugged.

"Huh? I don't think we've ever met?" She responded before Sting came up from behind and nodded.

"Yeah, and…" He stopped instantly upon a closer look at her. Wings and horn were the first things he saw, before Jade equally took in a gasp.

"Alicorn?" he whispered before looking up at her and bowing down instantly. He hadn't realized what he was seeing before and reacted too late in his head.

"Your majesty, we didn't realize who we were speaking with, please forgive us!" Sting begged equal to Jade who said everything in unison with him. Spike quickly dashed over and stared at the bowing ponies before looking up at Twilight who was just as equally confused.

"Uh…you don't have to apologize…"

"Huh?" Sting asked. "Aren't all alicorns a result of training from royalty?"

Twilight was slightly dumbfounded, but found it in herself to respond to such a question, which she never really focused on.

"Well, I guess Celestia's teachings did make me who I am today…" That name rung a bell, a heavy, hollow-steel bell in the head of the two bowing. They looked at each other off the side while still bowing, but slowly they stood up from the position as they gulped heavily.

"Celestia? Isn't that…" Sting asked leaving Jade to finish the observation.

"Yeah, a daughter of the queen!" Jade agreed with a shock that was too much for her face, it made her want to hide and bury her head somewhere where she could think of it.

Twilight had a mental stroke. Queen was a word so popular in Equestria, but when used in that context, it was 100% confidential to all ponies. Twilight didn't know much about it, due to how secretive it is, but she knew, that if these ponies knew, there were only a few explanations. None of which convinced her.

"Daughter of the queen?" twilight asked before the outrage filled her and clouded her mind. Who!? JUST WHO ARE YOU TWO!?"

With a huge yearn to call guards or even eliminate them herself on the spot, Twilight back stepped, bumping her library before Spike followed her lead. The town's ponies began making a crowed, and Sting and Jade had become a bit anxious about what was happening.

"OI! TWILIGHT! WHAT HAPPENED!?" A familar sight called from afar, sprinting his way over from the distance waving his arm in the air. Sting and Jade looked and widened their eyes at the sight.

"B-Ben!?" Sting asked in a mixture of emotions ranging from joy to fear.

"OI! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENED!?" Tye counterpart called from the opposite side, a bright pure-white pony by his side as he sprinted his way over from the distance. Jade looked over in the other direction, while Sting remained loyal to Ben, and couldn't believe the sight neither.

"K…" Jade asked in the same mixture of joy and fear.

This was about to be the most mind-fucked meeting ever.

 ** _Thus, on comes a new peice of adventure, which will lead to heights of unimaginable proportions. Could be death, could be new strengths, only the story knows. Damn, this story is almost a year old, and I don't know how to feel._**

 ** _Thank you if your still reading, you guys- and gals -make me glad to continue._** ** _Next time: "As strange as a situation might be, from a challenge, I'll never back down!"_** ** _"Same as you Sting!"_**

 ** _"Hmpf…alright then…show me the strength you used to kill Yuson! Go as far as you can, don't worry I can take it!"_**


	50. Chapter 50 - Foreigners

#50

Celestia had frozen in place along with her sister as they both looked at each other across the table. Their breakfast had gone from casual to peculiar, due to a presence, two to be exact, they couldn't see but feel. It wasn't menacing or weak, but it was awfully familiar and unique: a true mind-bend.

"There…there aren't two K's…right?" Luna asked lowering her glass of water. Celestia replied briefly with a "No" which sent a chill down her sister's spine. "T-then that means another demon! We were lucky K wasn't a crazed murderer, but what about this one!?" Luna asked in a rapid manner, jumping ahead to be pre-cautious. After what happened last night, everyone was on high cautions, even Celestia. Her eye twitched slightly before she finally gave up on eating and abandoned her seat to look out the window, a window which gave her full view of Ponyville from a distance, it seemed calm enough to the naked eye.

"And as far as I can remember, there's only one Ben too," Celestia added before turning to Luna. "This is urgent, for all we know, we might be on the breaching point of another predicament!"

"Oh no! Uh…we should…" Luna began before slowly stopping hoping she wasn't getting to ahead of herself, but Celestia was already in that mindset.

"Even if I have been hard on many, it's for a reason, a reason I must protect!" Celestia affirmed before trotting to her sister and looking down at her. Luna nodded as she stepped down from her seat and sighed. As much as Luna wanted to be safe, she couldn't help but whimper at the fact there was no peace for anypony, human, and demon.

"Can we have one day's rest? A day to spend with our friends?" Luna softly asked.

Celestia looked down and watched carefully studying her sister's deep eyes, which were not hiding anything behind that shade of blue. She'd be lair if she didn't feel the same way; She smiled over to Luna with a new idea in mind. Celestia giggled before turning over to the window once more, this time followed by Luna's sight.

"If it turns out this whole thing was just a fluke," She began, looking to the abyss. Luna's eyes widened with hope oozing out of them as she stared at the sun on her sister's flank. Celestia knew her sister was going to break out in a smile, it was a matter of just pushing it.

"Well, let's just say, the only royal business we have is what we always do," Celestia commented before turning back to face her sister with her cheeky smile. "And we can do that from where ever, so maybe seven nights?"

Luna's eyes breached a breaking point as she smiled with no limit. Seven nights!? Was all in Luna's head, to her that was outrageous, never had she ever heard of such freedom, from her sister, that is, at least when she's sober.

"Y-you mean a week!? A week of time to spend!?" Luna squeaked in her joy, making Celestia smile warmly and nod, giving off her motherly impression.

"Yes, we'll just have to find a place to stay over there-

Before she could even finish, Luna had already whipped out a bag of bits out of thin air and undid the knot on top.

"YES! I'll book something right away!"

Celestia paused quickly before using her magic to lower the bag of bits and bring her attention over to her eyes. Luna slowed down yet her smile persisted, but slowly began fading with the attitude Celestia began showing.

"Calm down," Celestia asked of her before lifting a hoof to indicate Ponyville through the window. "Only if this is a fluke or nothing dangerous at all, remember this is serious."

Serious didn't faze Luna, her shield of joy was actively blocking out the negative and encouraging the positive. Her smile arose back to its prime and nodded without control, Celestia only staring in worry, wondering if her sister was having a seizure or losing it.

"Yes! Yes! I know!" Luna replied, turning anxiously to the door. "Can I at least…

Celestia gave up and nodded with a smile.

"Fine, go get your things."

Luna charged out of the room only leaving behind a set of words that gave Celestia a reason to chuckle about.

"THANK YOU, SIS!"

The scene was obviously intense with Twilight thrown into a defensive position against two very interesting individuals. One was a pony, a unicorn with a light blue-like the sky-colored fur with only a lighter shade of blue for mane and tail, green eyes- the type girls really like- and, to my surprise, he had a goatee, which I'll admit was so fucking cool, it perfectly matched his mane which looked like a punked out teen's. Now to the main piece, his "cutie mark", which sounded weird on such a badass looking dude, but his mark was like a Yin-and-Yang piece, if the Yin-and-Yang was a sword and shield. He held the sword with him, which must mean his passion is in the art of swordsmanship or war…I don't really know. And now, his partner was of the opposite sex and unique in her own ways, really, REALLY, unique. She was dark in fur, and just slightly lighter in mane and tail, which were both cut to a shorter length. That in itself was mind bending, since I know that women who cut their hair like this usually want to come off as strong, or they do this for battle, so that they don't get easily grabbed or distracted. And now the interesting things: her eyes, equal to that of K's, except hers glowed light blue, her tongue, snake-like, like K, her teeth, sharp like K's. There was a pattern happening here, she was resembling if not a female counterpart of K's. I documented this in my head. Next was the cutie mark, the real trip, she was the shield to the sword of her partners cutie mark. The Yin-and-Yang was complete.

I looked at K across from me and he looked at me with a shrug: he was clueless as well.

"What's happening?" I asked breaking the silence. The two new ones in front of me picked their head up as if to respond but Twilight got ahead of herself and aimed her hoof at them.

"These two…they're weird!"

"Now that's not very nice Twilight," I redirected the attention back to her, but she only got up and frowned. Shit, she's serious. "LISTEN! THEY JUST POPPED OUT NOWHERE, EXPLODED, AND RUINED THE LIBRARY! NOT ONLY THAT THEY SEEM TO KNOW SOMETHING THEY SHOULDN'T!"

Huh, that really sounded serious but I couldn't find anything of malicious intent in the two next to me, emotionally and physically. Especially when they just listened to themselves getting criticized.

"Please! We beg forgiveness! We never meant harm, and we have a reason for knowing what we know!" The male spoke before his friend nodded. "Yes, we're not criminals, we came looking for two individuals, so very-very important to us!"

I looked down at them before crossing my arms and nodding in their support, they seem harmless and regretful. "Come on Twi, you can't be like that, you didn't treat me this bad when I first popped up out of nowhere." I defended using my intuition which told me these two were innocent of everything. She looked up at me before signing and lowering her erected wings down in a guard dropping manner. Before she could give us any more lecturing, she looked around the town at the audience that stopped what they were doing to have a look.

"Sorry about the disturbance, please continue with your day!" She directed the town, before a series of sighs and mumbling arose, seems they expected something more from this. The two ponies next to me looked up at me, as if studying me carefully, probably were. They were oddly getting my attention the more they stood next to me, it seemed as if I was slowly discovering something, but whenever it was near to getting solved, it restarted.

"You okay?" I asked, honestly hoping they were, they seem slightly shaken up after what happened. They nodded with smiles of gratitude as they chuckled, making me wonder if there was ever any danger. I surveyed them closer as they paused and looked over to K, who had groaned at their nod.

"Damn, you had me teleporting form Canterlot to Ponyville for a fluke?" He asked with a sigh. Although, he quickly began chuckling and smirked, eyeing the two ponies devilishly. "But what I found is better than expected."

The pair become intrigued and turned to him before the demon-like pony lifted an eyebrow with her hoof towards him. "You know?" She asked making me raise my own suspicions, _what did I not know_? Twilight and Chrysalis- I could easily see through that disguise- stared curiously as K squeezed his knuckles together with the other hand, cracking them in a daring manner.

"A demon can sense other demons, you should know that." K said in a voice that was only loud enough to be heard by only all of us who were around. I swallowed the saliva that had gathered in my mouth and nearly choked on it before I received magical pats on my back. I had nearly forgotten that Rarity and Belle had followed me, but they closed in on me from both sides, worried and curious as K cupped his chin with hand in a pondering position.

"You…YOU DO KNOW! YOU HEAR THAT STING!?" She excited turned to her partner, with a smile that a child would pull off when overjoyed. Sting, nodded with a smirk before turning over to me and nodding a strong one towards me.

"And you're Ben, nice to meet you." He held out his hoof expecting me to shake it. I did, but not without giving my him my obvious confusion. The way he phrased my name was strange, I'm sure he could easily see that I was well-known name but the way he said it made it seem as if he had some business to discuss. "How do you know my name? I doubt we've ever met."

"You killed Yuson, something we couldn't do way back one-hundred fifty-seven thousand centuries ago…"

K wad the first to choke before I followed.

"Did you just say one-hundred fifty-seven thousand fucking centuries?" K asked before I add my own remarks. Part of me wanted to say no to the fact of that many damn centuries, but then the fact he knew Yuson's name, when it was only confidential between us who knew him personally, gave me reason to believe them. "Holy shit…you aren't lying, are you?" I was too shocked to say anything else.

"Yes, and princess Twilight, that's why we know about the mother of princesses Celestia and Luna, we knew her personally when she was just a filly-

"SHUT UP!"

I felt the magnitude of that instant screech as I pondered if Twilight needed some serious domestication.

The two guests looked down as if disappointed by Twilight's rejection of their knowledge, but they weren't lying, it was in their eyes and tone of words. I frowned as I stepped ahead and made my foot firm on the floor.

"Twilight!" I yelled hoping to get her attention. She looked up at me, shocked by my tone, which was rather serious once again. She met my eyes and she staggered a bit in place, I made sure get my point across visually and verbally. I felt all eyes, next and around me lock on tight as I stared her down.

"I know it's probably hard to hear something so outrageous, but you can't just ignore a situation like you're doing!" I lectured her making a few head next to me nod, that being Chrysalis and K. I sighed and turned to look at all my company. "Plus, I'm sure we can just have a drink, sit down and discuss this over a table…no?"

She thought about the offer before closing her eyes and nodding forcefully, it seemed she had hoped for my word to support hers by how she became low and defeated. "Twilight?" I asked hoping to get her to look up at me, and tell me what's wrong.

"I just want a break from all this…" She responded opening her eyes towards the ground.

"Twilight, I'm-

I couldn't get anything out before she intervened.

"AND FOR YOU TOO!" I stared at her as she shook her head in disappointment and held onto a sour feeling in her head. "Dang it Ben, all you've been doing since you got here is running here and there! I feel like you've probably grown tired of us already!"

That hurt like a punch to the spleen, she was stressed out enough already, and was breaking under it. But, I won't ignore the fact she's blaming herself along with her friends for the sake that I've been active like a mad man these past few first days. And it hurt, really badly, in simple terms, she feels like she'd been a bad host but on a grander scale.

"Damn it Twilight, I haven't grown tired of any of you, I never will." I assured her. She looked at me, and in her eyes, I could see the objection, she didn't want to believe me. I closed a fist and showed it to her. "The reason I've been so active is because I was getting to know the place, and all the residents, and to this day I'm sure I haven't seen the best out of this world!"

When I thought I had ended that problem, all I recieved was growl before a freight train of words bombarded me.

"DOES THAT INVOLVE YOU KILLING A GOD, KILLING A HELLHOUND, FIGHTING WITH CELESTIA, AND SEEING A FILLY GET KILLED!?"

She pushed the buttons, Scoots really pushed it over the edge. I was enraged on the spot, I felt like swinging my hand across her face, but I restrained myself from doing so, although my surrounding ponies and demons stepped forward as if to stop me from doing anything rash. I tried to clench my teeth but that was useless when I was already letting my lungs rage.

"WELL FUCK ME, IT'S BEEN A ROUGH COUPLE OF DAYS YOU KNOW!? I exclaimed. She flinched incredibly quickly and staggeringly in fear, but I wasn't going to let her tell me what I was going to let her define my life. "I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU SINCE I GOT HERE "I don't mind!" AND "MY LIFE WAS SO FUCKING MISERABLE BACK THEN" BECAUSE I WANTED YOU ALL TO KNOW I WAS OVER THAT LIFE AND DECDIED TO GET INTO THIS NEW ONE! IF I HAVE TO KILL A GOD, THEN BELIEVE IT I'M KILLING A GOD! IT HAPPENS TWILIGHT! DON'T ACT LIKE IT WAS MY CHOICE!" My voice cracked at the need for air at the end and but I quickly took the sliver of air to finish what needed to be said, by now, Twilight to so backed into the wood of her library it she almost trying to run away.

"And Scoots…I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING! I WAS FROZEN TO THE GROUND!" I panted out before coughing at the low air in my lungs, it felt as if my lungs had shriveled up: It hurt to cough. "Damn *cough* shit happens…as much as I wish it was different, I just can't ignore it *cough*"

I had my hands on my knees as I tried to find my breath. I felt some support on my chest from Rarity and her sister, as well as the two new ones and Chrysalis, I probably looked like I was on the verge of busting my chest open with how it bounced back and forth.

"Calm down Darling, I'm sure she got the point." Rarity advised as she used her magic to lift my head to look at her. I've never seen someone so defeated like Twilight right now, she seemed to have been put in her place, but now it didn't even feel right.

"Yeah, Ben, you're scary when you're angry." Belle warned me with a look of deep worry which was the line for me, I had to say something.

I sighed as I picked myself off my knees. "Sorry Belle, I don't mean to be scary in any way around any pony…" I turned to Twilight to see her studying me as if she'd forgotten who I was for that small moment.

"Twilight…" I gulped loudly as I reached out my hand hoping to get her hoof in it, but she was too scared to even reached and avoided it. "I'm sorry for being so hard on you, please Twi." I begged hoping she'd take it, but she just remained motionless. I could feel everyone staring at me and her with worry as I let my hand fall to my side, she refused.

"Fine, I sincerely meant it, but if you don't want to speak…then I'll wait, just know I feel like I've always felt about you, I like you." I bit my lower lip as I backed off and sighed rubbed my face in desperation feeling either stupid or just pissed at myself for being too hard. As soon as I turned away I felt my hair rustle and my clothes flap around, she's gone. I looked behind myself before closing my eyes and squinting hard, trying to convince myself she just needed some time to herself.

"Fuck me…"

"Don't be so hard on yourself Ben, like you said, shit happens, it just depends on how you deal with it." K consoled me with a pat on the back. I appreciated the gesture and nodded before reminding myself I had something important at hand.

"We're so sorry for causing problems between you and Twilight, we never meant for anything to happen." Sting apologized as I turned to him, but he quickly realized I wasn't mad at all, I was disappointed though. I shook my head and straightened up.

"Nah, no worries my friend, but you honestly got some crazy explaining to do, so why don't we start with that?" I asked with a small smile to bring them up in spirits. "I'll check on her later, I promise, but at the moment, how about we get something to drink? And discuss your story?"

They looked at each other and whispered something before nodding.

"Fine, but only if you tell us how you killed Yuson, we need to discuss him urgently as well!"

I looked down at them trying to remind myself of those few events that led up to his death.

"If you don't mind us asking." His girl asked for him making me shake my head. "No, not at all, I just needed to take a moment to remind myself of the unfortunate events that led up to his death."

"Yeah, I know, as a god of despair, he killed our…" he paused quickly before shaking his head and any ideas he had in his head of revealing anything to me. "How about we talk over that drink, any gin or rum?"

"Not in reach, I didn't even know we had that! But we have highly alcoholic cider!" K offered before Chrysalis chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure it'll do."

The two ponies chuckled with a nod.

"Funny, that was the Queen's most beloved drink, right Jade, oh that nostalgia…" Sting chuckled, maybe getting slightly depressed by the feeling of centuries upon centuries of memories. His partner, who now goes by Jade, giggled in agreement. "Maybe explains why she was always so…" Jade looked us off the corner of her eye before giggling in embarrassment and waving her hoof.

"You know what? Never mind."

"Rrriiigggghhhtttt…." We all exaggerated, even Chrysalis of all high spirits joined in before we enjoyed a laugh. Jade and Sting smiled at our gesture and laughed it up a bit as well. Although, now I had a new thing to think about: " _What was the mother of those two princesses' like?_

They died their laughing to a smile and gave them to me.

"Thanks for being so kind, we were honestly afraid of being, how should I say it?" Sting pondered before shrugging. "Rejected."

I smiled with a nod.

"No worries Sting, now how about we go and talk, I'm sure we all have somethings to get off our chest."

He had no objections and by the looks of it, K already had a wine-like bottle of cider with him at hand. _Just how the hell does K whip shit out like a magician?_

"I'm glad you're so…understanding, I thank you for that." Jade thanked me, stopping me from walking. I turned back and smiled.

"No problem."

"…I'll find Twilight, I think I have an idea where she might be. Oh, and I'll get the library open for you…uh…despite the mess." Spike assured making us all turn to him and almost gasp at the sight, we'd forgotten he was here to begin with.

"Woah…a baby dragon…" Jade whispered to Sting before Sting nodded with an impressed grin.

"Yeah, he's so cute!" He chuckled.

Spike sighed as he waved goodbye and began on his way.

"I'll come with you!" Rarity interjected, quickly trotting up to him with a smile making him red on the spot.

"I-uh, s-sure!" He agreed, turning away and inhaling some air, looks like he needed it. His new ride-along giggled as she used her magic to push him slightly from the back to get a move on. " Don't get any funny ideas." She smugly smirked down at him making him straighten his posture and nod excitedly quickly.

"Right! Right!"

I waved as well as my little man began walking away in an awkwardly fashion, must have been Rarity's effect on him, funny little guy he is.

"See ya, little man!"

He turned back with his claw in air and with a blushed smile.

"Later, Big man!"

 _Aww…he remembered._

After a few minutes, we finally found ourselves situated inside of the library, it was really messed up inside, looked like a hurricane blew by. But, luckily enough we had Belle still here to help us all organize the place, even if we did place things in the wrong place and threw away the shards of glass from the windows. Although, I learned something new while watching everyone do their business: Chrysalis is highly interested in literature, especially the ones that focus soundly on spells and enchantments.

"Hmm…a nice arsenal of spells you have here Twilight…" She whispered flipping through the pages of a purplish book with a drawing of a horn for the cover, _go figure_.

I, K and the two guests turned over to her before she lowered the book and chuckled.

"Whatcha fine now?" K asked. This wasn't the first time she's tested a spell from that book, the last one was a rapid lightning bolt which K easily absorbed with his hand, and the one before that was literally shrinking herself down to a filly size, which made K oddly uncomfortable. Chrysalis grinned as she closed the book, finally placing it down, she must have only jotted down the ones she wanted.

"Some…useful thing…" She bluntly answered making me question some motives, that grin of hers persisted.

"Huh? A useful thing? How so?" I asked with a play-along smirk. K bobbed his head in agreement as he whipped out his cider bottle and placed it down on a small table, before pulling in sofas, chairs, and couches from all other the room around the table.

She opened the book once more before nodding.

"An endurance spell." She cleanly revealed. K froze in place and slowly turned to her before turning to me and the guests. "Uh…don't abuse that spell, I need to be able to walk straight afterwards, got it?" he said aiming a concerned finger at her.

"Feeling kinky, are we?" I chuckled as I let myself fall onto the sofa he brought over and crossed one leg over the other, _I am the godfather_. Chrysalis shrugged with a smile as he fixed the book of spells back on the shelf. K filled a glass with cider and lifted it high as he sat down on the couch Chrysalis was on. "She is, I'm just having an innocent drink." He chuckled.

Chrysalis shrugged to that as well. "Sure, but who started all this?"

K shot the glass down and placed it down before pointing a finger towards me.

"Oi, it was Ben and Luna across the room from us going at it, and you were the one who wanted it." He defended himself calmly exposing me at the same time.

"What!? You've already had intercourse with one of the princesses?" Sting asked placing down his glass, which he only managed to fill half way before the obvious disturbance. I checked on Sting, he didn't appear too outraged so it was safe say so.

"Yeah, but nothing really extreme, if you know what I mean." I admitted making him exchange a look between Jade and himself before getting back to me. "Ah…so that means you've met their mother, right?"

I picked my head up curiously and shook my head. "No, they only rarely mention her, I'd think they'd be more connected, but no."

They looked at each other again before finally filling his glass fully and handing it over to her his partner, who kindly appreciated it. As he filled another glass, he eyed me off the corner of his eye.

"Is that so…so you haven't deflowered her then?"

I jerked my head a bit as the impact of that question, it kinda drilled in deeply and shamed me in a strange way. I haven't done such, and my reason was? I don't fucking know. Should I have? My first time was to AJ, which I don't mind none what so ever, but now I was feeling as if I missed an opportunity when I actually had Luna in bed.

"No…like I said, nothing really extreme." I sighed. K and Chrysalis gave me the shocked look as if not expecting that answer and scratched their heads.

"You haven't?" They both asked me, and I shook my head with a simple answer. "Nope."

"Huh? So just head? Sixty-nine? Fingering?" He asked with no shame and a leg crossed over another like I had mine. He actually hit that right on the nail, we did all that, and deepthroat, really, really, deep, deepthoating.

"Damn, you spying on me?" I asked him with a smirk.

He shrugged with a grin. "I got intuition."

"That explains why you haven't seen the queen, but when you actually get to it, you'll see her first hoof." Sting assured me giving something to look forward to, I like meeting new ponies since there's so much variety, and this being the queen gives me a reason to reach for it. Although, having to deflower Luna would have some obvious consequences considering she's princess and all. I'll sort it out later.

"How can you all just speak like this? About such an embarrassing topic?" Jade asked, finally having a say in something. I shrugged as I filled my own glass and turned to Sting to see his reaction, he shrugged like I did and passed the attention to K, who kept his grin on as he leaned back on the crouch relaxing his body.

"Well, you got three dudes and two cuties in one room, I'm pretty sure what we say in here stays in here, so no worries." K calmly explained before a shadow appeared over his head and he slowly turned up.

"And a filly! Don't forget about me!" Belle reminded him, K only smiled as he shifted a bit.

"And a filly, don't forget about her." K chuckled reaching his hands over his head and lifting her over his head and placing her on the floor. She joined me on the sofa hopping onto my lap. As much I liked the close company, I was getting uncomfortable again. I completely forgot about the conversation from earlier, but her making herself comfortable on my lap, triggered my memory.

I sighed as I looked down at her. "Is it safe to talk about this in front of you?"

She pouted immediately and frowned, obviously annoyed by my question. "Ben, I already told you there's nothing wrong with it!"

Nothing wrong with it my ass! As mature as she acts, which it odd in itself, there has to be a limit somewhere, and if there isn't, then I'll deal with it then, but I have my own ideals and this one was an important one.

"S-sorry, I just…find it weird." I admitted, not letting myself break out into another rant like the one from earlier. Even if this was how I felt, it seemed Belle just couldn't get it, she groaned, probably not wanting to argue with me anymore. "I'm-

"Oh yeah, it's illegal in our world until they were eighteen, to have sex that is." K supported, intruding my apology, _I completely forgot he also knows about the past world_. This time, it got some heads up, especially Belle's, who shifted around towards me to face me with a look of pity.

"Oh…so that's what you meant by if it's _alright,_ your world has you believing that it's wrong." Belle finally realized. I appreciated that she finally understood, but I still have to deal with the problem of why its legal here. "That's basically it." I agreed before Chrysalis giggled from her end of the room.

"It's illegal if their infants, but breeding can start as soon as a pony can understand what it is and can accept consequences." She informed me, whipping out a book of Twilight's and floating it towards me, specifically on page ninety-four.

 _Pg. 94 - Equestrian Law – Section B 45-85 – Provided by Her Majesty, Princess Cadence._

 _64 – It's illegal to harm any mare, female changeling, or female etc. in or after labor, penalty to be decided by court._

 _65 – Marriage can be declared with as many partners as wanted by a stallion: there is no reverse to it for mares, but it is legal to have sexual affiliations with more than one stallion: no laws against it._

(Skipping down)

 _76 – A filly is able to have sexual interaction as long as it is with her consent, and she's fine with such actions towards her. However, it's strictly illegal to do so with infant or newborn, it's wrong and punishment could escalate from 10-15 years in prison to permanent lock up._

 _77 – Sexual intercourse between parents and offspring isn't illegal, as long as it doesn't break what was said in rule 76._

I could go on reading, but I figured that there was no point since I got all that I needed. The law here was something else. I couldn't believe it to begin with, but with some actual thought put into it, these aren't humans…they're ponies. It made sense to some extent that ponies do breed on a different agenda to humans: and now I was seeing it unfold before me. And it was the princess of love who wrote so, I should take her word for it.

"You see, nothing to be afraid of." Belle assured me making me slightly jerk in place. I was so distracted I didn't notice her reading with me. I looked at the corner of the page and folded it inwards as I placed the book to my side.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said tossing the book back to Chrysalis who caught it mid-air and floated it back to the shelf it came from. We all took a moment to chill out, and after a few minutes of small talk, I chuckled as I ran my hand through Belle's fur and straightened myself on my seat.

"Now you want to caress my body?" She asked, as if I had been denying so to being with. I slowed down to a stop almost about to remove my hand before she actually used her magic to grip my hand. "I didn't say I didn't like it though…"

I chuckled as I began using my fingers to gently stroke her fur and at times scratch a bit of fur which sent her twitching her hind hoof, which I found adorable along with her blush of pleasure.

"Damn, it seems we've been ignoring your story, would you mind telling us now?" I asked Sting and Jade, as I relaxed myself with Belle. They perked up quickly and nodded with a smile. "Sorry, we were just waiting, we are the invited guests after all."

"This isn't really our home, but I appreciate your respect." I said with a smile, making sure he knew this was a friendly environment. He smiled as he looked at Jade and nodded something before turning to us.

"It's a long story, that's very sad and full of despair, but we're here now, so it's safe."

We agreed on that and he inhaled a bit of air.

"Well, to begin with, The Equestrian Empire doesn't look anything like it does now, we didn't have such advanced things that many centuries ago, but it's great to have seen such a change. So, I was born in a small village east of Canterlot – from my time of course – and there I lived up till I was fourteen years into life, before I was actually drafted into the royal army cause of my impressive ability to fight and use magic in highly potent ways."

That rang bells like noon at church, this sounds like my story, in fact, it's almost the counter version of it. K had also noticed, along with Belle and Chrysalis, who all have some knowledge of what I went through, they must have obviously have felt the connection.

"After a few years, I got kicked out of it because I was a too "powerful" according to them, but I knew better, they just didn't want me near the queen since I was her personal body guard, and both of us being young, me and the queen, I'm guessing they though ill of me."

Not so similar after all, I never got kicked out of my role in the military.

"So…I couldn't be near the queen and I…well, I kinda grew depressed after that."

"Did you miss your queen?" K asked picking himself from his slouched position. Sting chuckled almost hurt by that and nodded unwillingly.

"Yes, she was sweet…well, despite her having an obvious problem with wanting to fight me to test her strength." He chuckled before laughing a bit. "Unfortunately, she was easily millions of times better than me with magic, I usually ended up being her slave for a day, you see, I have a thing in which I can't back down from challenges."

Now there was another similar thing to me: challenges. First royal business I did with the princesses was a challenge from Luna, which I proudly dominated, and helped me uncover my hidden talent.

"You loved her?" Chrysalis asked next, oddly not complicating those words like she usually does. Sting looked up and smiled.

"Yes, I did. Although, I never did get intimate with her after the obvious separation."

"…that's sad…" Chrysalis slid by before cuddling with K.

"Yeah, but I did see her two last times…and I hated her for finding me." Sting remarked making us all pause and react equally. The sudden change in attitude came as a surprise and left us asking.

"What!?"

He looked up at us, and thought about it- his words -before speaking.

"She tried to kill me." He revealed almost cramping up from the stress of his words. We were all to stunned to speak, so he continued.

"She came to me, with an army of guards and burned my parents' home, my parents being long deceased, left all their belongings in there and I couldn't salvage a single thing but the ashes. Then, she ordered her guards to just eliminate me on the spot."

This was getting depressing, as so he said, but it was not what I expected by sad, this was actually hurting my chest as he sighed and shrugged it off, it wasn't easy though to shrug off without whimpering a bit. He was getting depressed by the second, and it was no surprise.

"I didn't know what happened after that, I just remember her look of fear as I towered over her with…dead guards everywhere." He almost hesitated but kept himself from doing so. We couldn't find rest in his tale, it was so heart wrenching and full of betrayal it stung, _no pun intended_. He shivered a bit as he revealed what was missing. "I thought it was Jade who had done this massacre, but she was just as surprised as my dear queen was, it was me. I didn't want to kill her, so I actually tried to kill myself at that moment, but it never happened."

There was another similarity, in which I tried to do the same at some point, and it never happened for me neither. His story was amazingly intriguing, there was nothing I could ask about since it was all self-explanatory: I had to let him finish.

"…Then what did?" I asked. He opened his mouth, not giving me any affection or head, as he let a hoof hang on his lap.

"The sword I held to my throat disappeared…along with my queen. She stopped me from killing myself, when I had almost killed her, and eliminated her army of guards. I never understood and I don't understand to this day, after so many centuries."

"She still loved you…" I reasoned, hoping I was right but he shook his head and frowned.

"I just can't believe that, when…when she burned my home and tried to kill me!"

To avoid him becoming any more distraught, I inquired again. "So, what happened next?"

He returned to his seat, staring me down all the way.

"Yuson happened." He said, a drop-dead tone in his voice making us all quicken our breathing slightly. "He tried to convince me that I could kill the queen if I used Jade the way a demon should be used, and if I killed all surrounding villagers."

I swallowed and he looked up at me, as if waiting for me to ask another question. I didn't ask since I already knew what that monster was capable of, I just remained silent. He eyed me carefully as I carefully eyed back, balancing out curiosity, compassion, and seriousness. He couldn't make me ask, so he gulped and looked to K.

"I didn't do it…" He said, before shaking his head in tension. "And…he rampaged."

There was no surprise there, he did so to me as well. I wouldn't down play his tale with mine, so I showed my compassion with a nod, telling him that's what I expected from a character like Yuson. He nodded back at me before shaking his head and gulping.

"He…he killed my friends that lived in the surrounding villages…they fought bravely…yes, they did…but, in the end they didn't make it…they begged me to hide somewhere, but I didn't, I took him on with all the hatred I had."

"Hatred…" K whispered to himself before looking at Sting with some annoyance, as if he'd been offended by his terms. Jade focused on K, she caught on to him whispering that word about and now pondered it herself. I, myself, also pondered it; if K just mentions such a thing so seriously, then it must be taken seriously. _Hatred…_

"I…couldn't win: no matter how hard I tried, he just got stronger and stronger…there was no way of beating a god…"

He was beginning to sound defeated, almost as if he'd lost a fight he wasn't fighting in Twilight's home. In other words, he sounded like he had barely lost the fight, despite it being centuries ago. There was no way I couldn't sympathize him, we both went through the same experience, but he actually lost people/ponies he loved to Yuson.

"As soon as I was about to get decimated from existence, she appeared once more, my queen, and…actually saved me once more…she fought off Yuson to the point Jade had enough time to seal me away with her in a time warp zone. And that's where the story ends, I finally decided to exit the time warp today, and here I am." He said, ending the story so simple, but so understandable it was honestly making me boil with either anger or pity.

"…fuck…" K whispered scratching his head in the stress. Chrysalis just blankly stared at a wall that provided a distraction from the miserable story, she seemed to feel pained by the story as well, as if she'd related it to herself. I looked down at Belle to see her just crying herself to sleep, I repeated my rubbing against her fur with my hand to ease her.

"I'm sorry to hear that…" I sympathized, and did him the favor of changing the topic. "Did you get over her?"

He knew what I meant, and he proved it when he smiled slightly, which was a good sign. He turned to his partner who stared back at him with her own smile, I could easily see where this was going.

"I fell in love with Jade…she was there with me from the start of my birth and is still here with me, she saved me from danger and we fought together all our life. As much as the queen meant a lot, I had someone more special with me all along." He said making her blush and maybe me as well, it was cute and such a thing to say after a saddening story and reality. K smiled along with Chrysalis as they watched them. Belle giggled as she watched them as well.

"I like that." Jade responded calmly. I had no objection to her, but all my compliments went towards him and his perseverance.

"Yeah, I'm glad." I expressed with a smile, glad his relationship had worked out so well.

We all shared a drink and toast for him which was provided by K. I had no problem with it, but I did with K's excessive chuckling as he tried to drink down his drink. I turned to him with a confused smile over my face, he turned to me and smirked as he reached out his hand.

"Hey Ben, have fallen in love with me yet?" K chuckled from his couch making me chuckle back. Oh, I knew well we was just waiting for the perfect time to ask, after seeing Sting get along with his demon so well, it was only a matter of time before his jokes came up.

"Hmpf* I think I love you enough to tell you, I can kick your teeth in if you try me!" I smirked back with my fist in the air, aimed towards him in a playful way. He cocked an eyebrow before sending a fist to the air as well and grinning.

"Feisty bastard ain't ya!?"

"I'd kick your ass any day!" I taunted back with my grin. He quickly turned the tables against me and went wise-ass on me like he'd done so many times before.

"Don't get too cocky, you may be more powerful, but power doesn't alone win the fight."

I blinked and actually thought about it before I realized he's being smart. "Ah, you smartass!"

"Looks like you two get along." Jade smirked. I and K looked at her before we looked at each other and collided our hands together, giving each other a tight squeeze, almost like how body builders greet each other.

"Ha!" We both grinned before separating and returning to our seats.

After that small laugh we all shared, the seriousness arose again as Sting eyed me carefully again as he's been doing since we first met. This time there was no story to stop me from asking and I went for it.

"You seem to be studying me carefully, might I ask what for?" I asked. With almost an immediate response he picked his head and aimed a hoof at me, as if he'd been waiting for this opportunity.

"I must ask! For the sake of my friends and mine…" He said, making me prepare myself for anything. He gulped before shaking away in hesitation.

"How did you kill Yuson!? I must know!"

A silence arose. I stared at him seriously and he stared back equally, all eyes from the room had been diverted between me and him. A gentle breeze anonymously picked up in the library as the silence lasted for what seemed like hours. I wanted to see the motive in his eyes, whatever it was; anger, regret, evil, etc. but all I saw was myself in his eyes: someone who wanted to know their mistakes, only to find out they can't be mended.

I continued stroking Belle's fur calmly, there was something about Yuson now that made me calmer: either he was dead, or I wasn't the one who had to truly suffer loss. I sighed in pity for him as rested my arm on the arm rest of the sofa.

"Like you said, he is immortal, but only an extent-

"An extent?" He asked less rash than when he first asked. I nodded.

"Yes, I fought him with K and Flutters, another one of our friends-

"Don't be like that Ben, we couldn't even dent him, let alone put up a fight like you did." K interrupted, alerting me of being too modest, which I was trying to do to not belittle Sting's attitude, but I guess I have to be honest, still, K couldn't just write himself off like that.

"You two still gave me enough time do think of something, save Rarity, and not to mention provide the way to kill him. Don't tell yourself you didn't do nothing." I corrected him, he just nodded silently before leaning back onto his seat and waiting for me to continue.

"Right, back to where I was," I said looking back at Sting and Jade, they were highly anxious to listen in on the retelling of that night. "Yuson is immortal but that doesn't mean he can't feel pain, I managed to do some damage when he was off guard, I cut him into pieces, severed his head, arm, etc. but nothing killed him."

"T-that's impressive…no pony could even come close to touching him…" Jade admired before Sting nodded almost not believing it. I felt some strange feeling my chest as I began again with the story, almost like a gentle surge of energy or anxiety, but it made my hand twitch slightly.

"Well, I was desperate considering he held hostage half of Ponyville- this town -so I had to be quick to free them." I said before looking away from them to recollect my thoughts and stop staring so intently. I turned back, and they were ready for more. I cleared my throat and exhaled.

"So, after endless attempts, K brought up an option." I revealed turning to look at K, wanting him to continue for me so I could breath and stop my hand from twitching. He got the hint and leaned forward, aiming a hand towards them and getting their attention.

"Yeah, there were two thing we could do. One being- he lifted his hand with the bowie blade and showed them -I could've pull of a seal and sealed him away in something." K said, before that hit Jade harshly. She looked at her hoof trembling slightly as she watched her answer reveal itself. K looked at her before shaking his head.

"This technique isn't easy Jade, it works with normal mortals but with immortals, it requires a great deal of spiritual aura, for all I know, I might have died on the spot trying to do so." K said, giving Jade a peace that she could resort to. Sting was thankful that didn't happen during his days, but he still had the question of how Yuson came to end, and K was already to respond.

"And the last option was to consume the god's core, his heart in other words, the center of their strength." He finally said, putting the peace on the table between us all but Sting and Jade. As if disheartened by such a revelation.

"His…heart…" Sting asked, trying to hold something behind that expressionless face of his. I nodded, finally joining in. He gulped as he hyperventilated and began getting outraged.

"H-how did you even get his heart!?" He asked, his voice becoming heavy.

"I…" I would have answered right away if I knew how to. How do I explain such a happening in which I had his heart to begin with, but then hesitated, and then I gained some strength to finish it off? I gulped as I thought hard on it, but in the end, I only managed to agitate him.

"HOW!?"

"Calm down…" K warned using his hand movements to guide sting back onto his seat. _Fuck it then_.

"I used a technique that gives me a boost in all attributes; speed, strength, and power. I used this to overcome him and slice off his left arm, along with the chunk of flesh that had heart in it."

He calmed down, finally hearing an answer, but I let him know this wasn't over with my frown. I was both agitated by him rushing me and the memory last night. I forget that this all happened so quick that it just breezes my head, but when it comes back to mind, it's like PTSD. He watched me as I stopped stroking Belle and looked away to a blown-in window.

"I thought that was the end of it…but no."

They picked their heads up and listened as I turned to K to see if he could assist me again in telling but he was just as Sting and Jade where: listening.

I sighed. "This technique of mine, it's new and I haven't gotten used to it yet, and…it backfired on me that night."

Sting took a heavy inhale, before letting it out equally as heavy.

"I became paralyzed as a side effect, and I was placed into this game by Yuson: so simple, yet so difficult." I swallowed hard as I looked back up at Sting. "I could save this filly named Scootaloo, if I let go of the heart, or she died."

Sting paused as he looked down and to Jade, who gave him the "expect bad news" look. K and Chrysalis were highly intrigued as they listened to the piece of the story they didn't hear. And Belle was equally listening because of her friend's name being thrown in there.

"Like I said, I was paralyzed by own technique, and try as hard as I did, I couldn't open my hand." I said opening and closing my hand to show them. Their eyes widened as they finally realized where I was getting with this. "He grabbed her tiny head, slowly twisting it to one side as a timer for how much time I had to let go of his heart…I cried, I begged, but it was no use. I don't know how she died, either he twisted her head clean off or just broke her neck, I don't really want to know, but all I remember was an orange feather land in front of me."

"NO! SCOOTALOO IS STILL ALIVE! I SAW HER THIS MORNING WITH DASHIE!" Belle quickly objected, hearing her friend die was a horrible thing for her take in, and at her age. I nodded with her turning up to my audience.

"You're right, she is alive…it's not that Yuson spared her though, she did pass away." I said. Belle looked up at me, crying in the deepness of the events I described, she obviously believed her friend was alive, but she found it hard to accept she did die.

"So…what happened?" Sting asked. I didn't know how to explain this piece to him, it was just blind rage from this point.

"This is the confusing part, I don't really know how to explain it." I said, quickly bringing the questions. But before they could bombard me, K stepped in with a calm response.

"I'll explain."

I turned to him, thankful he was picking up on where I left off. Attention was diverted to him and I just stroked Belle's fur again to sooth my feels. He cleared his throat before answering.

"In all the shock of the moment, Ben couldn't react, he'd never really seen anyone die that he cared so much about when it was so easily preventable…in other words, he raged." Sting and Jade turned to me as I bobbed my head in agreement, he got that completely right. Chrysalis eyed me carefully off of K's shoulder, I turned to her and she gave me the signal that there was something up with how she looked away. _Odd?_

"But, what wasn't expected from his rage was this strange aura of pure light, and sudden increase in overall power-"

"Pure-Light Magic!?" Sting rapidly asked, causing us all to lift our heads, mine especially went high.

"Yes…" I quickly agreed with him but the obvious question arose. "How do you know about that?"

He looked at me almost as if he'd run out of air and was reaching for it.

"HOW DO I KNOW!?" He rephrased making me raise my hands, clearly lost. I nodded once more, and he laughed an almost terrifying laugh, he clearly had something to say now. He stuttered horribly as he tried to overcome his outrage and in the end just let me hear it.

"PURE-LIGHT MAGIC WAS THE MAGIC THE QUEEN USED! ALMOST UNMATCHABLE IN STRENGTH!" He cleared up with outrage, trying to get me to see the obvious rarity of the situation. Oh, I knew what the magic was from Celestia, but I completely forgot this guy has known the queen very-well, he might just give me a better explanation of the power.

"Well, I know that much." I filled in, making him turn to Jade, who just stared at him. He shrugged, over-exaggerating his movements, still in a small trance. He managed to calm himself with some yoga-type breathing, but it was calm until he opened his mouth again.

"Just how…just how in all of Equestria did you get your hands on such power!?" He asked, and I shot him down with the "I don't know", which he rashly shot back.

"NO! YOU AQUIRED THAT STRENGTH, AND THE ONLY WAY IS IF IT'S DIRECTLY GIVEN BY THE QUEEN! SO, YOU'VE MET THE QUEEN FIRST HOOF!"

Damn, with his serious tone, I might just have to check myself, but there was no need. I've never met this queen of his, nor have ever acquired anything of "power" from anyone. I hated being the stubborn one, but it was necessary.

"I don't even know what she looks like! And there is no way I've meet her or received anything from her!" I persisted, shooting him down. He argued a few more times and for each one I replied with the same answer.

"You're kidding!?" He asked nearly blowing a fuse.

"No." I calmly answered for the fifth time, hoping this was the last time. He gulped and turned to K who shrugged with a smirk, obviously amused by our constant bickering. Jade grabbed his hoof and finally he came to sense of mind.

"Then…then…you'll have to show me!" I wasn't going to deny him on that, not when it was probably going to lead to more arguing if I said "no".

"Fine, I'll try, but let me at least finish how this Yuson thing ended."

He looked aimlessly at me before sitting back down, and going bipolar: going from frantic to chill. "Oh right, please go on."

 _Wow, 100 to 0…Huh, crazy bastard._

I chuckled as I placed my hand on Belle, who surprisingly remained on my lap despite the tensions in the room. Thank goodness she was there, I needed something to caress.

"On with the story," I said, with a more cheerful tone. "With this power, I was able to easily overpower him, and with no time to waste, I drove my hand into his chest and just ripped it right out of him. This time, I didn't hesitate in consuming the raw thing and disgustingly consumed."

I actually was too calm in saying that, it shocked Belle, Jade and Sting. I chuckled at their reaction, they were probably expecting me to make it melodramatic but no, I actually realized I need to lift the tone, hence my oddly calm response.

"Oh…" Sting chuckled trying to follow the mood. "You drove you claws into a god's chest and ripped his heart out, that's as normal as washing cutlery."

I stared at him with a smirk. "Ya."

"What happened after that, you say?" I restarted being a bit more spoiled, which quickly put Sting in his place and made him frown slightly. I shrugged at his response and wafted one had towards him. "Okay then, I'll tell you, he deteriorated from existence. After that, everything returned to normal, everyone came back and best of all, and I still thank all things in the world, that even Scoots came back to life, back to normal in all ways."

"Wait what?" He asked getting off his seat, I looked to him and bobbed my head in agreement.

"Okay, I was acting a little like I dick, sorry about that." He quickly shook his head and placed a hoof on my leg, trying to get my attention. "Huh?"

"I meant, what was that last bit of Scootaloo coming back to life?" He rephrased and this time it became clear his question. I paused before a I tilted my head curiously and slowly nodded. "Yeah…Scoots came back to life…"

"Does that mean my fellow villagers did too!?" he excitedly asked. I could feel the hope radiating from him but I knew with K already giving him the look of disappointment, this wouldn't end in his favor.

"Sting, it pains me to tell you this mate, but I promise you'll still be happy." K assured before Jade looked up at K and nodded to herself. K and her knew directly what the answer to his question was. Sting turned unwillingly but hearing the "happy" portion made him. "What?"

K scratched his head before signing with both his hands together in pity and moistened his lips with his tongue.

"Listen, your people-I mean ponies, died in vain in your era by the hands of Yuson, so they were…left behind during that time- I could already see the pain in Sting's eyes as they lost hope -they might have come back to life, but since they're from centuries ago…I'm sorry to tell you they died of old age in the past."

That was painful, even for me, so it was no surprise Sting would have clenched his teeth at that huge bomb K taped on him. K isn't the bullshitting type, so I knew to trust his word, but sometimes it was too heavy to deal with, in this case, I just looked away and hoped for the best, as Sting ripped at K.

"Wha-WHAT!? HOW…HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO BE HAPPY AFTER THAT!? IS THAT GOOD NEWS FOR ME OR YOU-!?

K had his hand aimed at Sting, quickly stopping him from ranting his anger at him.

"Yuson's death has freed them, they no longer have to endure everlasting suffering…" K was delicate, but he knew how to give the message with any words of his choice, in this case, both me and Sting felt a wave of positivity, that was still deep in a pool of depression.

"What…?" He asked, his eyes going low and losing their spirit to argue.

K looked out a shattered window, his face only showing the compassion with his serious glare. "When someone or pony dies in vain, they live that pain for eternity, until they find a way to get rid of the source of their pain…in this case it was Yuson. If they were crushed to death, they feel that pain for eternity."

"What…?" He asked once more, but this time he was hurt more than before, there was a whimper in his voice, and a watery reaction from his eyes; he was breaking on the inside. K smirked at his reaction as he turned to face him.

"But since Yuson is gone…that pain doesn't exist for them anymore."

Sting was stuck between choosing that his people(ponies) had found peace, or to believe they were actually dead in the past. He clenched his teeth as I could see him let one slip out his eye. "How…how do you know this!?"

I could have answered this one, but K was self-explanatory by his name and title. K held onto his smirk as he aimed a finger at him. "I'm a demon, and I have what you can call pre-installed data and know-how in my head."

K looked at Jade giving her a wink to assure her that Sting would be fine, he gave me a similar gesture with a grin, to which I refused to acknowledge until I saw Sting smile or show some positivity, and I'm sure he wasn't far off from one too. He stared at the floor before using a hoof to wipe something from his face and sniff back his sorrow.

"So…they have peace?" He smiled warmly to the floor before turning to me with that smile. "I guess my thanks is to you, it seems that…everything is right now, thanks to you."

I stared at him, thinking to myself how guilty it felt to get the thanks from a hero. Sting was a hero, despite him giving me the thanks, which was humble of him, but it was like a needle through my chest: I didn't want the credit for something he was supposed to do. I looked up at him once more before realizing his smile; it was a smile that I would get from someone like K, and I've only ever known two people to give that smile: K and Dad. I nodded as I smiled back, we both got a message through just our smiles, that the power of two dudes, we knew how to speak in silence.

"Alright, but take time to mourn your friends, for all we knew, they might just watch us from another world…but can I ask just one more thing?" He took my words with gratitude as he nodded and I understood that nod fully, you see there's a history to the nod, when a man uses it, it means you got a connection, unfortunately, I don't get a woman's, but I from what I've done while here, it just means "okay." Once he got his nod through, he took in some air as he inquired about the question.

"So, what's the question?"

I didn't need to hide the question, so I just flat-out aimed a finger to his female friend. "Why do you have a demon?"

He was a simple guy, he turned to her and looked back with a shrug. "Uh…I was born with her, if that makes sense?"

"Uh…no." I mocked before locking my eyes on him. "Come on, there has to be a reason!"

He smiled as he gave a shrug again. "I actually asked Jade before, but she doesn't know either."

"She does." K suddenly inputted twirling around a glass of cider before drinking half of it and turning to Jade, who had shriveled up emotionally and physically. Sting slowly turned as she did the same turning to him.

"Jade? you do?" He asked, not really making a big deal out at the moment, but by the look of Jade's, it might just evolve.

"Yes…" She responded avoiding eye contact despite her body facing him. Sting quickly placed his hooves on her shoulders, and with an almost ecstatic voice asked her. "What is it!?" The only reason I could think of him being so overjoyed was the fact it would only make him come closer to his girl, and that was fine by me, all the way, but when K clears his throat to speak, I get to speculating.

"Same as mine."

We all turned to face K but only I, Sting, and Belle let out our confusion. Sting was curious about his partner, and me and Belle were lost over what K meant: at the moment, I just believed he was my guardian Demon born from inside of me, but now, it looked like that might get more insight. "What!?"

K didn't even need to breath or think about it as he looked to Chrysalis, who subconsciously gave him a nod. "To absorb the hatred, you produce and consume it."

I remained speechless as I watched him go into a painful stage, in which he gulped as he shifted on the couch. Sting looked back at Jade, but this time he was not as overjoyed as before and dropped his hooves from her shoulders.

"Jade…?"

I abandoned Sting's conversation to hear the one I was put in, Chrysalis listened with me, and Belle tried to help the couple opposite of us, as K refused to give his eyes contact. But despite not looking at the others, I couldn't help but listen.

"That time you kill all those guards of the queens…I let go of your hatred, and let it roam free…"

"Jade…"

My eyes widened slightly as I looked down at K sitting on the couch and sat my own self down, pondering if my conversation would be the same, to which I had no doubts it would.

"Ben…I did the same back on earth with you, when you killed all the people, children, terrorists…that was me letting go your hatred run free, I let go of the chains that held your hatred together, and…you know what happened next."

"…" I was silent on purpose, I needed to let this play out in my head. K was looking like those times he was serious, and I couldn't help but feel for him. I didn't look up at him as I thought deeply about my response to that: I didn't fault him for anything since I was accepting of what happened back then, yet he made it sound as if he was reason my life was so miserable.

"Don't be sour Ben, he's been wanting to tell you this for some time." Chrysalis intervened making me lose focus and look at her, my mind still racing to find out why this was taken so seriously.

"I was born inside you and forced to believe that hatred was everything, so I actually let you roam loose with hatred consuming you, explaining your everlasting grudge with the war. But, when I saw you just wouldn't give up on your dreams of peace…I changed."

Now, he was getting somewhere, and now I was edging closer to the edge of my sofa and leaning to him.

"I was lied throughout my existence, so it was hard to take in so much joy when I decided to accept your true, pure self. You're the reason I'm not a rampaging demon, you showed me what it's like to have a stronger spirit, you're…" he paused at the end of that as he tried to downplay it in his mind, but it was too hard to downplay, his look of pain showed as he tightened his fists. He gave one final breath before Chrysalis tapped him with her hoof.

"You're my inspiration, my icon."

If he thought I was going to be pissed or at the slightest a bit pitiful, he was miles wrong. I knew my place now, and it was to give him the message I had conjured for him.

"I'm glad you told me, I didn't know that much about you…and I'm not pissed or anything about what happened back then, it's life, and don't forget, I ended up better than I was before, I got a lot to thank you for too."

That was a shocker to Chrysalis and K equally, theu stared at me as I smiled at them.

"Ben…" He gulped as he frowned, trying to hold something back. I ignored it as I continued, hoping I wasn't agitating him.

"And remember, I don't own you, we just share a bond, you hear? Go do what you want, it's a free world with no rules for you, no one to stop you from doing what you want to accomplish. Fuck, I just want you alive and well, that's all, do what makes you happy, I never had you jailed in so don't live by that belief."

I might have been too deep with that because by the time I finished I saw a glimmer of something in his eye that made me drop my mouth wide open. I stared at him, my body frozen in place as he finally let me see it, he hid his face in his elbow and sniffed back what was coming out.

"PLEASE DON'T CRY!"

"I'M GONNA CRY!"

"COME ON! A DEMON DOESN'T CRY!"

"THIS ONE DOES!"

I watched him lose himself to his emotions, and felt almost as emotional; never have I seen him break down this much. "Damn, you really got a reason to cry." I stood up and moved over to him, patting his back as he buried his head into the couch's arm rest.

"You're the closest friend he's ever had, so to hear you say that must mean a lot." Chrysalis answered, and I had no choice but to actually feel joyful pity. If K was with me throughout my time alive, then I was all he saw, I was the closest he had to a friend: that reasoning just made me feel wrong for trying to stop him from crying.

"Yeah, you're right Chrysalis," I nodded as I leaned against the arm rest, wondering what to make up for conversation as K calmed down. "Uh…seems you two get along very well."

I'm glad I chose that topic, since she couldn't help but crack a smile as he placed her hoof on K's arm.

"Yes, he's very eccentric and…just special, in a good way."

I had no doubts in my mind about any of those words and agreed. "I'm glad, just like K, you've changed as well."

"Not really…" She responded making me sigh. "We've all changed Chrysalis, me, K, those two, the princesses, Belle."

There was some silence as she stared at me, and I stared back. I realized this was actually going to be a long stare off if I didn't react, so I gulped as I waved my hand. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her daze away as she looked down at K, shyly letting me know something as she patted K. "…it's weird…speaking to you."

I picked my head up slightly in confusion as I looked to a wall before getting back. "Huh?"

"I don't know, you're just…I haven't spoken to you much. I feel like I should know you better, you being K's place of birth, and overall…parent."

"Parent…" I whispered to myself before looking at her and agreeing with the rest. "It's hard, you know? To get to know others when so much has happened."

"Yes, I know, but it feels like you two and Derpy, are the only ones I can actually be around safely…without this disguise."

I had to agree with her on that one bit, but I had some words of wisdom for her.

"I don't want you to become insecure, but sooner or later, you'll get discovered even if seems like you won't, you already have approval from the princesses, and for your sake they haven't said anything to the public, maybe because of what you did before, before I came here with K." I cleared my throat as she stared at me seriously, I couldn't see what she wanted to convey with her look but I knew there was some heavy pondering behind those eyes. "Don't worry, I won't give you hard time, on the contrary, I'm glad to see you again, it's hard when you have so many friends but have to choose between the ones to hang out with."

I'm guessing that change in direction was a good move judging by her slight smile.

She shrugged, downplaying my message. "I guess…"

"The smile of yours agrees." I smiled back making her look away, shaking her head. I liked the reaction, same as every time I try and play the romantic, there was just always something to this attitude that made me use it so much, maybe the reactions.

"Whatever!"

"Fine." I held onto my smile as I looked up to see Belle smiling as the hugging pair on the other couch exchanged a few words. I whispered to myself some words before drinking up another glass. "I once asked myself how much crazier my life could get-I chuckled inwardly in both some pain and joy-damn, Twilight was right, I need to hang out some more."

We settled once more and happily chilled with a few more drinks, just speaking about what has been happening since they were gone, that is as far as our intelligence let us, Belle ended up giving the best run down on what was new. And Chrysalis enjoyed the books she read, while K had fallen asleep, crying does that to everyone, even a demon.

"So, Ben…you say you fought and gave Yuson quite the challenge."

I looked up and chuckled as I tried to avoid bragging, but then the sudden appearance of such a statement doesn't go without a question. "Yeah, and what's your question?"

"I like your direct response," He smirked before turning to Jade, who was at the cheerfullest I'd seen up till now, and turned back. "And since you responded so directly, I'll give you my direct answer."

I shifted a bit in my seat to face him as Belle cuddled on my lap. Judging by his tone and smirk, I could sense the question about to arise. "Okay."

"I want to see your magical ability, what you are capable of." He smugly said, speaking as if he was of I higher class than me. I keep my look the same as I ran a hand over my ten percent grown out beard and picked my head up at the realization his smirk has turned into a white grin.

I placed my hand on the arm rest and flashed him threatening look. "Against what exactly?"

I felt the whole room change, it began competitive and Sting was just the reason. With his spoiled response.

"I misjudged you, you're pretty good at seeing through ponies, I'll give you that," He flashed a look towards me, it was as if I was looking at K trying to fight me: he was a challenger. He pulled off the grin and his words followed. "Me, I'll be your opponent, do you accept the challenge?"

We stared at each other before I looked down at my lap and realized I was missing my sword, to which I knew this guy had no clue I had one, so the stage was ready for a nice beat down. "As strange as a situation might be, from a challenge, I'll never back down!" I said, finally revealing my grin making him widened his eyes slightly in surprise.

"Same as you Sting!" Jade quickly mentioned. _I hope I'm not the only one who realized how similar we actually are_.

"Hmpf…alright then…show me the strength you used to kill Yuson! Go as far as you can, don't worry, I can take it!" He taunted before I nodded.

"You better be able to take it, I don't want to have to force myself to stop."

Oh, I could easily see we were friends from the start, this guy's attitude to everything was just amazing, but I would like to see how long he could hold onto that. He extended his hoof out, and I knew this was the change to seal the deal, and I reached out. As soon as my hand touched his hoof, I quickly felt my hand slap me right up the face. I stared at my hand before looking and seeing Sting had also been victim to his hoof.

"No, you won't do such a dangerous act."

"Celestia!?" I quickly turned around to see a cheerful Luna and Celestia giving he the "seriously" look. "Oh…"

"So, I see, we've found the source of the demon and holder," She sighed in relief as moved over to them. She glared a look a look at both of them before that motherly tone came out. "A pleasure to meet you."

Sting and Jade were frozen in place, wondering how this ever came to be. If they knew so much about the queen, aka the mother of these two then there was no doubt, this was gonna take a while. To my surprise, it seemed Luna had taken the pleasure of joining me instead of introducing herself and giggled.

"Hi."

"Hey Luna," I greeted before nearing her in for a small bit of context. I lowered my voice so I was the only one she could hear. "Listen, these two ponies are special, it seems you two know one's a demon and the other is the owner already, but these two are victims of Yuson's wrath, they come from one hundred fifty-seven centuries ago, and they knew your mother when she was just a filly. They're trying to fit into this modern Equestria and I would appreciate it if you didn't give them a hard time."

There was a breif silence between us before Luna backed away from me, staring at me, checking to see if I was serious.

"Sister…" Luna called for Celestia.

"Yes?" Celestia answered. Luna hopped on a couch and sat down.

"We're going to need to sit down, and have a talk…a long one."


	51. Chapter 51 - Heavy Encounters

#51

When Luna had sat down, I knew we were in for some amazing storytelling, followed by great reactions and that's exactly what we got. The princesses did what I expected; gave their condolences and questioned his relationship with Jade and the queen. The queen section made eyes go eyes go wide from the two princesses as they began hearing out Sting's relationship with their mother. They asked question upon question and even asked some trivia to make sure he wasn't kidding and figured instantly he wasn't.

That was about an hour ago, and now I sat alone with Luna on a bench, just waving off all ponies who came to greet as K, Chrysalis, and Belle went about the town, purchasing, hanging out, and having a good time, and as for Sting and Jade, this was an amazing learning experience. It was almost as if the town had become a farmer's market for the day, open shops everywhere, which just gave the place a home-like atmosphere, which was great for me and Luna alike.

"Wow…it's hard to believe mother was actually a filly at one point in time, she always seems so mature all the time." Luna said, still trying to take in what Sting had told her. I looked over at her with a relaxed smile. "Hmm…considering she's thousands of centuries years old, I'm finding it rather obvious she's probably immortal."

Luna smirked. "You think? Funny thing is that she never ages, so she's just as beautiful as she was all those centuries ago, just like me and my sister."

I wish I had some sunglasses so I could have lifted them off my eyes and just fired the question at her, but instead, I had to settle with straightening my posture on the bench. "Like you and your sister? I get the beautiful part, but if you never age…then…"

She giggled at my sudden curiosity as I tried to get somewhere with my knowledge, as cute as she was, I was gonna have a hard time believing the facts if I was right. I blinked a few times before nervously clearing my throat. "Uh…if your mother is as beautiful as you are…and she doesn't age after centuries…then that leaves the possibility of you being-"

"Well, you got that far, but I'm sorry to tell you that I can't actually tell you my age." She said, a smile on her face which told me she wasn't trying to be mean in any way. But, despite her sudden statement, I was persistent. "Excuse me?"

She shrugged with her innocent smile. "The accurate age is confidential, even to you."

I wanted to call bullshit but instead lowered the heat of my curiosity and settled with just asking for a hint. "Well, I have no doubt of that considering you are a princess, but can you at least give me a range or hint? I would like to know at least a minimum, as far as I know, you're a mature alicorn with an older sister."

She thought about it before smiling again, this time she had something to answer with.

"Alright, fine." She said with a smirk. I felt myself feel small as she straightened her posture on the bench and for the first time she actually towered over me. _Well_ , _she was perched on the bench like an obedient dog would, not trying to be offensive_. This sudden feeling of her towering over me with that smirk immediately revealed something about her maturity: it was greater than mine, in age that is.

"Well, everypony knows about my thousand-year imprisonment on the moon, is that enough?"

I was speechless, despite having told myself she was obviously older, but now I was just more confused than ever. Her age was one thing, but being imprisoned on the moon for a thousand years? And as if that wasn't an indication she was older than a thousand years, then it was that she'd been involved in some heavy crime or abduction to be imprisoned. And then the _MOON!?_ I thought she controlled the moon, just how the hell did she imprison herself there!? I looked away for a few seconds before coming back at her with my painfully executed smile.

"Princess, if you aren't the most confusing tale I've ever heard, then I don't know anymore. At least your age won't surprise me anymore." I chuckled running my hand through my hair, trying to avoid a headache. She looked away and came back with her chuckle. "Don't worry about it Ben, my story is just full of ups and downs, like yours."

I looked over at her and smiled. "Good to know we have something else in common."

She smiled widely, her eyes closed in the joy. "Yeah!"

I leaned forward as I watched the town's ponies interact, it was normal enough for a sunny day.

"Oh? You're growing facial hair!" Luna excitedly noticed as I felt a hoof on my face rub up and down.

"Huh?" I rubbed my hand on my face subconsciously and smiled shyly. "Oh, yeah, I did just shave before I got moved over to this world, it's coming back."

"No kidding," She said before looking around cautiously and leaning into whispering range. "I'm sure sis would like to see you with a beard." She giggled mystically into my ear, sending some ticklish shivers down my back. I chuckled as she leaned away with that smirk and looked at the town.

"I do fancy seeing you with one too." She added.

I turned to her, questioning it mentally, before nodding.

"Alright, I'll give you the Captain America special!"

"Captain A-mare-rica special?" She asked, obviously confused by such a foreign term. I just chuckled and rested my head against the bench.

"You'll see, hey, do you know where we could get some ice-cream?" I asked, looking up at the sun before turning to Luna, who I hadn't realized was closer than she first was when we took our seats.

"How about we wait a bit, then get something, I like being here."

"You know, we can just get our ice-cream, come back and sit here again?" I smirked making her tilt her head to one side before leaning to the other and smiling.

"Alright," She hopped off the bench followed by me. "What flavor do you like?"

I shook my head as I placed my hands on the back of my head. "Honestly, in this heat, I'll take any flavor, but I like Chocolate, in general."

She turned to me and gave me a smug look.

"Dark chocolate?" She giggled making me look down at her with nothing but an uncontrollable smirk. I knew what she meant by it, her tone of voice and the context made it clear as day what she wanted. She eyed me a bit deeper as she panted. "Cause I'm melting in this heat!"

Damn, if that wasn't the most creative thing I've ever heard; I couldn't say no to such a one-liner. I couldn't help but chuckle at such creativity but it seemed she was just beginning. She leaned in giving me a slight shove. "Or do you want Vanilla flavored? I think you'll find that one quite satisfying." She added with a wink.

I was feeling a strange pressure build up inside of me which made it hard to swallow and breath slightly, and with the heat, my embarrassment for getting messed with by words was just potent. I wouldn't blush, I managed to bite my lower lips as I admired her usage of words. But she did ask in the end, and I had an answer ready for her.

"Can I get those two flavors mixed?" I chuckled before she cheerfully smiled, her ears slightly wiggling as she happily trotted with a lighter step.

"I'll ask!"

I had no problem understanding what she meant by that, and so I picked up my pace to make sure she didn't just trot away with her cheery mood.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Rarity and Spike reached a conclusion as they forced themselves to a stop and stared at each other. Their constant looking had ended in failure and they stopped for an ice-cold refreshment of lemonade, it was through the break that they had a huge pause and actually considered the facts. One of the facts being, she teleported with a huge wind gust, which doesn't usually happen. Two, being that she wouldn't have fled the scene when she was so intrigued by two unknown ponies. And three, she wasn't at either of the locations Spike best believed she would be at. All factors added up to one conclusion that had Rarity a bit annoyed, if not furious.

"Are you telling me she didn't teleport!?" Rarity asked making Spike hide beneath the table at seeing her so frustrated and nodded. "She was just telling me about her spell that lets her move souls…if that has anything to do with anything." Spike's voice was low and fearful, saying that small bit of information seemed like it would have they done the world of a difference before they exhausted themselves. Rarity sighed as she shook her head and forced Spike up with her magic and sat him down on his seat to look at her.

"Well, you were honestly worried about her, I can't stay mad at that," Rarity said with a smile before sipping from her straw and looking at her little friend, who was now calm at seeing her smile. "So…if she didn't teleport, that leaves only three options."

"Right," Spike agreed putting up three fingers. "Shapeshifting, possession of a pony's mind, or that soul transfer thing."

Rarity smirked as she agreed. "Yes, but you could eliminate Shapeshifting unless she turned into a grain of sand."

Spike lowered a finger. "Okay, that leaves two, soul transfer, and possession of a pony's mind."

Rarity placed a hoof under her mouth, trying to figure out some context clues to help her figure it out the mystery. Spike raised an eyebrow as he semi-folded in one finger. "Don't you think that if she possessed a pony's mind, then it would have been obvious?"

"How do you figure?" Rarity asked making Spike placed his elbow on the desk as if having the upper hand in this case. "Well, she couldn't have taken over the strangers, and Belle is too childminded for Twilight, and Ben and K, no way she'd try to possess them."

"Alright darling, then that leaves one option, and I was actually expecting it to come to this one." Rarity sighed as she got off her seat.

"Huh? You did?" Spike asked hopping on down and following her. She turned to face him with a nod before seriously eyeing the center of town. "Yes, she used it on us once, if I know better, there's nothing stopping me guessing where she might be."

"Really? Who!?"

Ever since Luna had gotten her ice-cream, I felt weird, I didn't ever anticipate feeling this strangely jumpy. I actually never licked my ice-cream, I just chewed it down, but boy was seeing it something else. I trembled slightly as I tried my best to focus on my ice-cream and not on Luna's tongue as it swirled around hers, but that was easier said than done, as my eyes would constantly just look over for a glimpse before diverting back.

"Ben, you know I can read your mind, right?"

I turned to her slowly as I trembled from the head, down. She had that look as if she'd been knowing what I was doing for a while now, and it was no surprise she did. I chuckled and shrugged as I chewed down my ice-cream.

" _Sorry, it couldn't be helped._ " I mentally stated, hoping she'd read that psychically. She smiled as she gave her ice-cream one long lick, even making a slurping sound, in the end, to make me slightly tense up.

"Seems every stallion has his mind between a mares' legs."

I let out some air in instant objection to that, everyone who's a man or of a male nature knows that when the girl they like is this close, the mind will instantly react the way it does. And as ignorant as it might be, that goes for females too, hence why Luna was tempting my perversion of her.

"You know I just heard all that too?"

I looked over to her and nodded. "Of course, you did."

"Not that you're in the wrong though, on the contrary, you're wise to think of such things, you don't meet many stallions with that mindset."

Well, at least she had the decency to admire me for that trait. I smirked as I just chewed the last remaining bit of my waffle cone and sighed in relief. I was actually surprised when she asked if I could get Vanilla and Chocolate flavors mixed, of course, if she had read my mind back then, then she would have known what I was actually thinking back there.

"But I did, and did know, but Celestia was nowhere to be found."

" _Luna, stop reading my mind, or I'll get K to read yours for me!"_

"Okay…but…." She said with a giggle as she looked at me. I turned to her and was quickly obscured by a dark shade of blue as Luna leaned from her side of the seat, which was nothing between us, we literally made contact with our bodies sitting together. I felt a slippery warmth slide off my lips and mustache which left me in paralysis as it happened. Once I felt her back off of my face, I licked my lips by default, and touched my mouth with my hand, trembling as she made me blush a mighty powerful one.

"Wha…what?" I asked, confused and embarrassed as I couldn't stop licking my lips with my tongue, I looked like a lizard doing so. There was the sweet flavor of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, that strawberry flavor being Luna's. She blushed slightly as she licked her frozen treat and giggled.

"You had some Celestia and Luna on your face." She said with a smile. I could pass out of embarrassment as I felt the motherly presence clear her throat. I shook violently as I turned to look at the blushing princess of the sun and buried myself in my seat.

"As far as I remember, it was physically impossible to be on Ben's face and get licked off."

Luna blinked curiously before looking behind herself at Celestia. She was behind the bench all along and I was just now realizing it. Whatever happened to me sensing danger when it's near? I looked at Luna who only held a smirk on her face as she licked her ice-cream, which only made me just imagine what was about to happen.

"But what if I were to sit on him?" Luna asked with a blush and daring smirk, to which I was almost ready to shrivel up and hide under the bench. I didn't want to see Celestia's reaction, nor did I want her to see how red with embarrassment I had become, so I turned away, praying for a way out.

"You have no shame, do you?"

"There's no one around to hear us," Luna claimed looking around herself as she did so to prove her point. That was true and gave me the confidence to actually look back at Celestia, but upon seeing her look, I wanted to ask myself if we really were alone. She cleared her throat as she neared us.

"What about Twilight?" She said before Luna looked around again to double check, clearly, she wasn't here. I, on the other hand, had a strange feeling she was near, considering the earlier predicament, but I as well couldn't see her around.

"Uh…she's not here sis," Luna assured before I gave my own input, despite it still being slightly jumpy. "Y-yeah, I don't see her too."

She flashed a confused look to Luna before giving it to me and letting it sink into me. "I'm surprised you don't at least feel her."

"What!?" I frantically began feeling around myself and around the bench with my hands, supposedly looking or feeling for Twilight to which I knew she had a high magical capability, but no. I looked back and shrugged, and Luna followed with agreement.

"Really? Fine." Celestia said stepping back a bit and igniting her horn. I stared at her as she frowned slightly and shot a beam at me, which kinda stung as it attached itself to my chest but then it was painless within a millisecond. My body faintly glowed of her aura before she suddenly yanked at the beam of light with her horn, almost as if she'd caught something, but whatever it was resisted to come out. I was a bit fearful now and placed my hand on the beam.

"Do you want me to pull?" I asked before Celestia smirked. "I'd appreciate it."

"Okay," I said before taking a deep breath, getting a grip on the beam of light, which felt like I had grabbed a curtain, with a sudden exhale of all air, I followed through violently yanking at the beam. A wave of force shot me off the bench onto the ground as something went in the opposite direction. I leaned up and stared aimlessly at my chest.

"Woah…" I whispered picking myself off the ground and dusting off. I looked at Luna first, and she was just wide-eyed as she looked at something behind the bench, in the direction I yanked. I followed her lead and met my eyes with Twilight a few feet away just a bit tipsy from the sudden launch. Celestia shook her head as she picked her up and carried her over to us with her magic, gently placing her down and straightening her body posture. I stared at her as she looked around herself, before shyly greeting.

"Hello…"

I sighed as I greeted back. "Hey, I was wondering where you disappeared to." She looked over at me before looking away, probably still upset over our debate.

The princesses turned to me, realizing there was some backstory to be told as I smiled. "What happened?"

I sighed once more as I kept my smile, my smile coming from seeing Twilight again. "We had a slight argument, and she disappeared, although I never knew where to, I do now."

"Oh, is everything okay?" Celestia asked. Twilight looked towards the ground as she rubbed a hoof on the other and shamefully nodded.

"Yes- she turned to me -I'm sorry Ben for giving you a hard time, I was just a bit anxious and shocked at the moment." She apologized. I had to agree with the hard time part, but in the end, I did think about what she said and it made sense when I wasn't aggravated.

"You were right though," I returned, and she quickly picked her head up. "I do need to rest and hang out more, I have been very active, and some of those active moments were very out of hand-hoof in your case," I admitted making her slightly smile; the tensions have lowered. The princesses looked at each other before shrugging at our slight exchange of words, just accepting it as what it is.

I let out an exhale of air as I took my seat in the bench once more, feeling my legs weary from the earlier portion of embarrassment, which I had hoped wouldn't be brought up, but the story doesn't always go how I want it. Twilight blushed slightly as she looked at Luna, in which Luna froze her eyes on her.

"Uh…I can't ignore what I saw…so it's true, you do have something for Ben."

"Well, I don't fancy that as a surprise, but surprise!" Luna giggled with her gentle blush as I sighed and decided to join in with a chuckle, this blush was already out there, might as well get used to it. Twilight smiled softly before nodding.

"So, what about Celestia?" She asked making me look up at Celestia who blushed slightly, as it seemed she made the effort to downplay the situation.

"Um…Twilight-

Nice try, but I got the upper hand in this situation.

"Don't worry, I'm sure since imminent doom has now subsided, we have time to get closer." I smiled making Celestia smile back with her blush nicely portraying across her face. Twilight lightened up with a smile followed by a nod.

"Ahh…seems we are now at peace," She sighed in relief before she sucked back that relief and turned to Luna. "And…just what did you mean by Ben having some _Luna_ and _Celestia_ on his face?

Luna's eyes rolled slightly in a teasing motion as she turned to face them, and I just looked at them off the corner of my eyes as Luna giggled.

"Well, you see, since it's warm, Ben said we should get ice-cream, and I agreed, asking him what's his favorite flavor, he said chocolate and I asked him _Dark Chocolate_ because I'm dark like the night and I was sweating because of the heat of the day. Get it?" She cheerfully explained, no more shame or embarrassment, she was proud of her creativity to come up with such a line. Twilight and Celestia exchanged an embarrassed look before smiling at the humor of such a thing to say.

"…uh…and Celestia?" Twilight giggled, making Celestia pause her sudden smile.

"Oh, and I asked him if he liked _Vanilla_ , obviously referring to Celestia! And he said he'd like both mixed together! So, we went and asked for both vanilla and chocolate ice-cream for him, and I got strawberry flavored! I had Ben thinking all kinds of things with it!"

Celestia blushed as she admired me asking for both flavors, but she still founded it awfully embarrassing. "I admire your creativity." She giggled before sighing as we all shared a moment to settle in with each other.

"Do you think those two ponies will be fine?" Twilight asked before Celestia and Luna nod ahead of me.

"Don't worry, I already told them they could move into Ponyville," Celestia responded with a smile, making Twilight smile. "Great."

I relaxed my head against the bench once more before Twilight looked around.

"Oh, and Rarity and Spike left to find me!" She exclaimed, trotting off before looking back. "I'll go get them! Bye!"

I waved a goodbye, my head rested on the bench before it hit me; if Rarity and Belle are not running the Boutique, then who's? I shot up and hopped off the bench facing the princesses as I dusted myself off some more. They stared at me as did my best to unwrinkle my shirt.

"I need to get to Rarity's place and help out with the orders since Rarity is gone in search of Twilight, I guess I'll have to fill in!" I said as slowly walked away, waving a hand with an urge to sprint. They smiled as they waved their hooves.

"Alright. Take care! We'll see you later!"

"Yeah! You two take care too!"

They watched as he left their view and wandered off to a turn, never once doubting his constant fascination. Was there magic involved with his consistency to be special? They didn't know, but they did know he just wandered off, and they couldn't tell when he'll pop up again, hopefully soon.

"Huh…he does look very busy all the time." Celestia sighed taking a seat with her sister on the bench.

"Yeah, maybe explains why he hasn't had time to question reality." Luna agreed turning to face Celestia to her left. "From my view, if I had landed in a land of humans, I'd be shocked out of my mind to the point of breaking down, and I'd pray to come back."

Celestia had to think about it for a second and cleared her throat. "But Ben had no one to go back to if he did wish to go back, no one to pray for or love. His parents are deceased, which was probably the only closest connection he had to a loving being…"

Luna, saddened by those harsh words, looked away, feeling discomfort. "Unfortunately, it's true…hey…sis?"

Celestia turned with a similar feeling of depression. "Yes?"

Luna looked up at the pleasantly sunny sky with a few stray clouds and sighed.

"How much do you think Ben would sacrifice to have his parents back…his family?"

Celestia looked at her before up at the sky, wondering what that meant and if she was trying to offer something, which was highly doubtful. "From what I know, Ben isn't afraid of extreme measures, so I'd say he has the emotional stamina to go as far as it takes."

Celestia cleared her throat once more as she quickly changed her depressed tone and uplifted it to a curious one. "Why do you ask?"

Luna smirked slightly as she trembled a little.

"I don't know-she paused while staring at the sky as a cloud covered the sun for the moment- I just thought, if Yuson brought Ben's dead body over from his world and revived it…is it possible to do with, if only for a few hours-

"You're getting too far ahead of yourself, I know how much you want Ben to be happy here, but we can't just go thinking the impossible."

Luna looked over to her and gulped.

"Just a thought…"

Wow, I arrive back here and I'm already giving advice. As I picked from the variety of colorful fabrics, the pony who was pacing around curiously, obviously nervous about something, glanced looks at me before jerking her head quickly away. I looked back at her before reaching my hand over my head and plucking out a fancy dress that I was confident would bring out the pure-blue color in her eyes.

"Well, this one matches your mane and brings out the shine in your eyes…" I tilted my head curiously as I watched her shiver. "You okay?"

She remained silent for a few seconds before I snapped my finger to see if she was listening, and she jumped in place. I extended a hand out to stop her from shaking. "Woah, calm down, what's the matter?"

She looked up at me, assuring herself she was okay, before exhaling a shaky breath. "S-sorry…it's odd talking to you…considering you just saved all of Ponyville…" She said trying to look at me, but I guess my height got the better of her and she just looked to the side.

"It's almost an honor…"

"Oh…" I said, before looking at her and smiling. "I'm flattered, but honestly, you're the first to actually mention what I did last night…that isn't intimate with me that is. I'm actually curious about that now?"

She looked up at me before shaking her head.

"Oh, I'm guessing it's because their busy fixing the town, but last night, once everything was over, the whole town followed you to Fluttershy's place…you were praised. Everypony asked those around them, "Isn't that the new guy?" and whispering, "Who'd a thought it…".

I looked at her, the dress I selected just idly a hanging in my hand. "I…didn't know that…thank you." I looked out a window before licking my lips to moisten them from the odd dryness of the air. She smiled gently as she neared me.

"Thank you too, I'm sure ponies are just nervous to approach you, I sure was," She giggled, looking at me directly. "But, you're sweet, and look like a good stallion…"

She paused quickly as she looked off to the side with a blush. "I'm sorry, I really don't know what you are, so I shouldn't label you a stallion."

I chuckled as I shrugged. "I don't care, whatever is easier for you."

She smiled once more. "Well, you're a stallion fit for any mare, whoever gets to have you is lucky."

I smiled equally and exposed a toothy smile that I couldn't hold back, I also couldn't stop my blush from reappearing, it never really got time to disappear from earlier. "Thanks!"

She was pleased with herself, and I was too as I just remained idle, taking in the positivity before reminding myself I had a job to do.

"Oh, the dress! What do you think?" I asked as I brought it down to her so she could analyze it. She looked at it before using her magic to pick it off my hand and placed it against her body and using a mirror to see how the outcome would look like. After a few checks, she smiled as she nodded.

"Perfect!"

I smiled with satisfaction, satisfied with my sharp eye for dresses. "So, what's the occasion? you mentioned something fancy."

She turned to me brightly and hopped with joy. "A date!"

I picked my own head up as I became curious. "Oh? This must a special occasion if you're choosing a beautiful dress…if you don't mind me saying."

She giggled shaking her head, nearing me a bit more so that other customers wouldn't listen in, not they really paid attention for that matter. "Not at all, the thing is that he's taking me to Canterlot, and he's never been this serious and nervous about a date."

She whispered the end of that and I quickly perked up.

"Tonight's the night then?" I asked and she nodded.

"I hope!"

"I wish you the best!"

She nodded as she brought the dress up to my face and I grabbed it, quickly jotting down the type of dress it was on a small notepad that Rarity had given me earlier. "Alright…oh…" I whispered as I scratched the back of my head. She turned and inquired quickly about my sudden expression.

"What's wrong?"

I looked at the notepad and bit my lip as I wondered what to do. "Uh…Rarity is the seamstress who takes measurements...but Twilight is looking for her currently…" She smiled as she neared me a tab bit closer.

"You can do it!"

I picked my head up as I placed the pencil in my hand to my mouth and thought about it. I didn't want to say no but I didn't want to screw anything up, it was a hard decision to make. "But I haven't done it before…"

"You can learn, the first pony to ever do anything had to experiment too!"

I looked at her before sighing as I flipped through the pages of my notepad and coming upon a page in which I jotted down quickly " _Measurements_." She's right! All that can go wrong is a fucked-up date and ruined chance at intimate relationship…I'm fucking up.

I looked around my area before looking over to the office in which Rarity goes into most of the time and dashed off. "I'll be right back!"

I searched the entire office, and finally came out with another notepad in which I was able to find the main parts of the pony anatomy to measure, and boy was it not what I wanted, but what I needed to know. Main parts are; chest, behind, waist, hooves, length, width, and height. I looked at the notepad as I walked out the office feeling like a person who's finally found out their true calling, hoping my confidence hid the fact I was quivering inside. If I was female this would be much easier, it would give me an excuse for doing what I'm about to do.

I whipped out a measuring tape-roll and opened a door to a private room. We both stepped in as I calmly surfed the page which thankfully had pictures to go along with it, gave me an easier image of what I'm about to do. She joyously hopped on a comfy stool with a semi-soft cushion on it and made herself comfortable. I smiled slightly at her joy but when it came to my own joy, I was more nervous than anything at the thought of failure and the obvious physical touching.

I moistened my lips again as I locked the door and knelt down on my knee to get her parallel with me, I spun the rotatable seat to face me along with her with her.

"Hi." She giggled making me chuckle in embarrassment. "Hi."

I undid the measuring roll before looking up at her, wanting to warn her before I do anything. "I…uh, don't have magic like Rarity would, so I'll have to use my hands, so I might be a bit more physical compared to Rarity."

She wouldn't let that cheerful mood of hers go, instead, she embraced it with her blush.

"I don't mind, I'll be happy to be your first learning lesson!"

I was shocked by her strange attitude, but I needed some positivity, so I took it with a smile.

"Thanks."

I decided to begin simple and began with the chest, wrapping the measuring roll around the circumference of her upper body as I held my pencil in my mouth. I was firm but gentle in doing so as I gripped the end of the measuring toll and read the numbers before jotting down in my notepad. In the glory of finally getting something down on the notepad, I didn't notice how I was being suspiciously eyed.

"I take it you've touched a mare before, in bed."

I picked my head up as turned over to her before gulping. "H-how do you know?"

She smiled differently from before as she slightly shivered. "The way you touch…it has a strange feel to it, almost as like a sense of nervousness to be around somepony and a sense to protect…like my lover."

I was baffled and looked away to see if I could make sense of her sense. I gulped as I turned back and inhaled a deep breath of air. "I'll never understand how females are able to get into males' minds and find out so much," I said as I shivered putting the measuring roll on her body again. She giggled making the process of taking measurements harder.

"Now, once you get intimate with somepony, you'll know what to expect from her."

I chuckled as agreed fully.

"Believe me, she _literally_ reads my mind! I'd be lucky if she doesn't catch me fantasizing about her or anyone else." I openly said before I hearing her laugh making me give up on measuring and laugh along. "I think I should have kept that to myself."

"Don't worry, I won't say a thing."

I chuckled as she cutely smiled, and I closed my eyes to relieve my stress.

"And next on the list, the _Plot_!"

"Excuse m-

I didn't realize I would be looking at her flank as I opened my eyes and gulped. I blushed uncontrollably realizing how close I was and leaned away. I stared for a few seconds, staring at her cave before looking up at her smiling back at me and looked away. Rarity was so fucking right when she said I couldn't handle a few flanks in my face, but this was ridiculous.

"Don't be nervous, we got enough time before Canterlot night." She whispered making me almost shed a tear of embarrassment as I grabbed the tape measure and gripped it tightly. _Did Rarity have to go through this too?_ _Why did she have to whisper that?_ I was afraid of putting hands on her again, it felt almost like taboo now, and but if I didn't I'd just run the risk…OH, FUCK ME! WHAT DO I DO!?

I finally mustered the courage within seconds to put hands on her but was probably too forceful in the effort as I was greeted with yelp which sent my hands rocketing back to my sides and almost making me roll to safety.

"W-WHAT'S WRONG!?" I asked as I shivered with the tape in my hands, almost wanting to use it as a blanket to cover myself. She shivered as she turned to me with that smile from earlier, rotating her seat towards me.

"I…I didn't think you would actually touch me there…" She said with her tail between her legs making me slowly turn to my hands: Wet…wet with I don't want to fucking know. I rushed my hands behind myself as I blushed heavily and looked away. _HOLY BALLS!_

"W-what!? I don't know! I-I'm so-so sorry!"

"Well, you did say physically, but not like that."

"I don't know how that happened, I'm pretty sure-

You know? I've gotten used to ponies just shutting me up, and this time it was with magic. I looked up at her as she giggled inwardly and neared my body to her with her magic, my body heating up like a furnace chuck full of burning fuel.

"He-he, but I don't mind it."

I shivered so much I felt like I could break physics and faze through the floor. I swallowed heavily as my hand floated its way to her mouth and she licked two of fingers clean of the odd syrup.

"And I hope you don't mind me…when I ask if you could teach me about stallions…"

All that ran through my head was the song lyrics.

~ _Any way you want it, that's the way you need it!_

 _~Any way you want it-_

Followed by the obvious _OH FUCK!_

 ** _I thought I should add some funny encounters, but I don't know how to finish this scene. Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy future updates, and give me any tips I need. I kinda like this scandal at the moment, considering I have a creative way to end this encounter with the customer. Adios._**

 ** _I would appreciate if you, the audence, could give me any ideas for future updates. Of course, I'm still full of ideas, but it still need to know what the fandom likes so…ya know?_**

 ** _And for extra news: Manchester United have signed:_**

 ** _-Frederico Rodrigues de Paula Santos_**

 ** _\- Diogo Dalot_**

 ** _If you have no idea what the hell I just wrote, don't worry about it._**


	52. Chapter 52 - The Beginning of Tragedy

#52

"Wow! Really!?" She asked, content with the offer I placed on the table. How did this ever escalate to such a decision?

"Yes! YES!" I exclaimed pushing my body to the wall with my head nodding furiously. She thought about it before nodding in agreement, and my blood went from cold to hot with embarrassment. How could I ever agree to do something so wrong? I won't, and the thought of doing something like _that_ was wrong, and I wouldn't let it go unnoticed. I sat down on a nearby stool as I glared at her.

"Damn it woman, if this is the big night, then why would you choose to be unfaithful!?" I asked, trying to be serious but not to the point it was frightening. She glanced at me smiling widely, which was enough for me to almost frown, but I held it back for civility reasons. "What's with that smile?" I asked, gulping heavily.

She neared me once more, which was just something I had become used to, but I couldn't stop my body from flinching away from her. She paused before sighing. _What? Why so sad all of a sudden?_

"Why are you avoiding me?" She asked with that new saddened look on. I paused almost immediately and looked around the room to see if something would put me back on track of what was happening; First, I'm friends with her, then I'm ready to get down with her, then we're back at friends, and now we're counseling: What is wrong with my situation?

I tried to speak, but I had mentally confused myself to the point I was speechless. I inhaled deeply before clearing my throat, still thinking of a response but she had begun speaking once more and not in the way I expected.

"Fine! Be that way! I was happy because I finally really got to meet you, and in pony! And…and I really wanted you to be happy!"

She didn't play around, did she? I watched as she made her way to the door before I quickly placed two fingers on my head and appeared in front of her leaving her wide-eyed for the moment. I stared at her and put myself on a knee as I licked my lips, forcing my head to run as many things to say. "Uh…I…"

I blinked my eyes only once as I decided to just pick a random thing out of my endless ocean of things to say. "Please don't leave! I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, I was just worrying for your relationship with your guy, and it's hard to think when I'm aroused-I MEAN teased by you!"

I hadn't realized the moment my hands had grabbed her shoulders, but she was awfully shocked to see me, which was probably a good sign if hadn't terrified her. I looked away before looking at my hands on her shoulders and sighing. If only K were here to help me, he does way better in these situations because if his honest attitude.

"Listen…if I did avoid you, it's because I didn't want to risk ruining your relationship with your fiancé. I don't know if that matters in this world, because in my old one, you'd be shamed for doing such a thing." She looked at me nodding her head almost if agreeing with me finally. This was basically that Belle situation happening again. I shrugged letting out the first chuckle since then. "Well, If I did make you feel wrong, then I'm sorry, I don't mean to make anyone feel bad, it's just my ideals are different."

"No! I know what you mean, adultery is not popular here either."

 _Huh?_ I gulped as I looked at her directly and dropped my hands back to my sides. If she knew it was wrong, then why be unfaithful? What's the point? Why risk it?

"What?" I asked placing my hand on her cheek. "Then, why were you trying to seduce me?"

Thanks to my calm new tone, she smiled as cuddled with my hand a bit before looking up at me. "It's a rather embarrassing thing…" She softly whispered making me feel the butterflies inside my stomach again.

"Really? What?" I asked. She gave me a small glance before rubbing her hooves nervously together.

"I'm still…you know…new to guys…if you know what I mean."

Oh, I knew what she meant, and I could kind of get a conclusion of how this would go. I nodded in agreement, finally getting a piece of information from her and being able to comprehend her. I patted her head playfully. "So, you're just scared, I see how it is."

She looked away before shaking her head. "No, I really want to experience it…" She assured before disconnecting her eyes from mine. "I just don't know what to do…"

That made more sense then what I first concluded, of course someone would be afraid of being unprepared, it's natural. I smiled and kept it as I reminded myself we were discussing the fact she tried to seduce me.

"So, you wanted to use me as a guide?" I chuckled. She had no trouble giving me a nod, but her answer to it was not as straight forward.

"Well, you have slept with ponies before, haven't you?" She accused, and correctly accused. I was a bit stunned into silence, I never did think she'd use the intel I gave her to shoot it right back at me. I chuckled a bit more as I bobbed my head in agreement.

"I have," I admitted before finally getting a creative response in my head. "And all of them were actually just like you, inexperienced."

As much as I had expected that to have worked she turned it right back at me with her suddenly aiming her hoof at me. "You see!? That's what I mean!" She exclaimed, but by now I had found a focus in my comebacks and calmed the tension. I reasoned with her with my nod before placing my hand on my chest, indicating myself.

"But, I was too at some point." I said, giving her my "I'm not kidding look". She licked her lips nervously as she tried to find something to say, but she had stumped herself to the point there was nothing left to say. I was about to dismiss this conversation, but she muttered something that stopped me in place.

"But you have the… _thing_ …and I have my… _part_ …" She whispered a bit embarrassed with herself. I was left slightly at a moment of silence as I tried to piece that together, and how it related to anything, and she was right; I wasn't the one who suffers consequences during sex, it was the female. It made sense to a degree. I let my mind rest for a moment as I just responded, laid-back style.

"And guess what, they go together." I said with a smirk, feeling like a cool counselor. She picked her head up almost instantly and cracked a smile. I lifted an eyebrow before her mouth quickly beat mine.

"Yours and mine?" She asked.

"Yes," I smoothly responded, and she reaped my ear with an "OH REALLY!?" before my mind got back into logical terms. I quickly scowled her and changed my mind in a nanosecond. "-I MEAN NO! You and your guy's!"

She laughed and blushed greatly admiring how I left myself open for such a question. _I really need to begin watching my words_. I sighed before smiling at my error.

"You got my hopes up," She giggled, before I turned over to her and gave her my "unamused" look. She giggled some more before flashing a toothy smile. "Just kidding, but I know what you mean!"

I quickly diverted my look to the same toothy smile as hers and felt the relief wash me over. "Good, glad that's over." I sure was glad, I could finally get this order done with, and wish her luck in her relationship. I got up and walked over to the notebook and did my best to read my numbers, which I hadn't realized were so horribly scribbled. I couldn't differentiate a "2" or "7" from a "1", and it was worse for my letters. I frowned at the handwriting and just ripped the page out, crumbling it up. I'll have to start over and try to not be too nervous.

I sat down on a long stool along the wall, about eight feet long, and crossed a leg over the other as I rewrote my words. Ominously, the unicorn came up and sat next to me on this stool and very close for that matter. I looked at her off the corner of my eye before looking back at the paper and ignoring her as I set my head straight.

"Uh…can I make it up to you?"

I continued looking at my page, trying to figure an idea over how I could get this done quicker. The only thing from her sentence that actually got though my ear was her words, but not her tone. "Yes, pay me my bits for this dress."

"What!?" She asked making my ear slightly ring, before I turned to her with a small frown on, I needed the _bits_ for this dress, this wasn't free. She quickly waved a hoof toward me and blushed. "I mean…I will, but I mean, make it up to you as in…body to body."

I let the notebook slip out my hand and the pencil collide with it on the ground. My mouth hung open for a second before I decided to just forget it, and just ask whatever was on my mind.

"What the hell did you just say!?" I asked being straight to the point and frowning as I waited for her to explain what she didn't get from my answer to her. I was about to speak up again, but I didn't expect to meet her sudden frown. I braked my mouth and frustration, as I watched her open her mouth and with a harsh tone.

"This isn't about making my future stallion mad, I still love him, but before I get serious with my relationship…I would like to at least know something!" She exclaimed and quickly making me feel low and pathetic. I watched her with the same seriousness I began with as she lowered her head at realizing her harsh yelling. "You know, with somepony-I mean you-I MEAN- _she sighed_ -just experience something…"

"Oh…" I expressed before going speechless. She was serious, and always was, but I was a bit narrow minded to realize it. I looked away as I pondered deeply about a decision that was a no-brainer before, but now it had escalated to an actual problem that needed to be thought about.

"And you've been really sweet and patient with me, there really isn't many like that." She gulped with the blush she held this whole time. She glanced over to me and looked at my harshly serious look I had as I stared at the wall at the end of the room. She bit her lower lip as she sat down on the stool, obediently, probably getting the idea from my face.

 _Why must this be hard?_ I gulped and sighed as I looked at her off the corner of my eye and down at the notepad on the floor. She was cute, she was serious, and I guess I'd be just making her day worse if I decided to go blue.

"Well…I guess it wouldn't hurt…maybe?" I said, looked over to her with a smile, making up my mind at last, hoping I wouldn't regret it in the future. The way she picked her gloomy look and transformed it to a sudden joyful expression made me quiver slightly.

"Really!? That's-

There was sudden knock at the door and I rapidly picked up the notepad, pencil and placed the mare on the stool that I was operating her on before.

"Umm…darling, are you alright?" Rarity asked opening the door and peering through, I put on my best face and went with it.

"Yeah, just taking over while you were gone."

The one on the stool turned around and smiled as she waved a hoof, also pulling off the best face she could. "Hi," She greeted before Rarity pulled off a convinced smile and trotted over to us.

"Hello, how may I be of service?" She asked before studying me with a notepad at hand and measuring tape by my side. She almost blushed at the sight and sat down, placing her hooves to her mouth. I just looked off to my sides before smiling back, wondering if she found out what we were hiding. The mare by my side on a stool was beginning to shake a bit, which sent me a small warning sign, but I remained with a smile.

"Do you know how to do that?" She asked me, refering to the instruments in my hand. Her eyes almost gleaming with shine as she watched me raise my shoulders. She quickly manipulated my hands with her magic and gently placed my hand on the measuring tape and my other one on the mare. Both I and this mare just glared at each other with something forming around our cheeks.

"I'll guide you through this mare faster than Dashie runs her mouth," Rarity said before taking a brief pause and blushing. "I'm sounding a bit like Applejack now, oh my, oh my." She giggled nervously as she gleamed a smile that expressed her overwhelming joy.

I remained with my mouth shut as my hand gently forced the mare to sit straight up and placed the measuring tape around her chest. The mare I was working on looked at me with embarrassment expressed all over her, but at least she wasn't alone. As Rarity manipulated me with her magic, this mare was obviously not getting enough of my hand rubbing through her entire body. For some reason, my hand never left her body, it just glided across her fur and began where ever Rarity decided. At some point, she let out a small yelp that I ignored as I found myself measuring her underbelly.

This measuring process was going quick and was starting from the chest and going down. It won't be long before I reach low, and at the rate this is going, and at how she seems to be moistening the cushion she's on, I feel like she won't make it without getting some unwanted attention.

"I still want to see how powerful he is." Sting strongly remarked as he sat with K across him and Jade by his side. In the hot heat of the day, it seemed the best options for cooling down was a refreshing drink offered by yours truly K, who was the only one with bits. At a round table, they all sat with their pair.

Chrysalis cleared her throat before chuckling malevolently, getting all eyes on her. "What's so funny?" Jade asked for Sting as she watched Chrysalis smirk.

"I don't know how powerful you are, but I can tell you Ben isn't a normal being." Chrysalis warned, holding her smirk strong. Sting nodded and slightly frowned as Chrysalis's smirk taunted him. "You think we don't know that!?" He asked almost being rude, which didn't appeal to K who, barely noticeably, twitched.

Chrysalis knew, and she knew that he didn't know about Ben. It almost an act of saving somepony by her part.

"Precisely, you don't know," She responded making Jade frown equal to Sting. Chrysalis glared at them with a smile as she relaxed on her seat. "If you did know, you'd know the danger you'd be in if you decided to actually test it."

"How would you know!?" Sting pushed back, quickly losing temper. Despite Sting's aggression, Chrysalis was a tough one to crack, she lost the smirk and replaced it with a serious glare his way. K had kept his eyes closed for most this time, slouched in his seat, just resting in the shade the umbrella created for the table, but now he had become interested in the conversation. He calmly opened one and looked at Chrysalis to his side.

"Do you?" Chrysalis asked back making him impatient. Sting was on the verge of something and Jade was there to calm him, but clearly Sting wasn't the type to back off an argument. K sighed as he reached his hand down and lifted the covered in cold-sweat transparent plastic cup containing a _Blueberry Burst_.

"I know," K said interrupting their argument and sipping from the iced refreshment in his hand. "And she's right."

Sting and Jade both settled down and looked at K as he glared at them with some level of heavy gravity. Chrysalis smirked at hearing K's voice support her side and closed her eyes as she sipped from her drink. The flavor of the light-blue mixture swirled in her mouth before she took a pause, eyeing her drink, studying the color of it. For her first drink of _Blueberry Burst_ , it was well over enjoyable. "…Fit for me," She whispered before turning to K, the straw connecting her drink to her mouth, glowing a faint blue as she sipped peacefully.

"Ben has a problem when it comes to fighting." K explained before leaning his body over the table slightly. "There's a limit to how much power he can control."

Sting and Jade both glanced at each other before shrugging.

"That's normal, we all have that!" Sting assured him before looking over to Jade and getting the same response. "Yeah, if everypony didn't have a limit, then there'd be chaos." Jade supported before K nodded giving her his attention.

"Right, there would be chaos, but you don't get it." K said before drinking from his drink and staring at Chrysalis as she just watched the discussion with a straw in her mouth. K smirked at her sight and turned back at the two across of him, Chrysalis smiled as well and looked at Jade. Both Sting and Jade looked at each other, wondering what they didn't get? They turned back to K.

"Fine, tell us, what don't we get?" Jade spoke for both. K firmly placed a hand on the table to make his statement important.

"Like I said, there's a limit to how much power he can control," He restated before tapping the table firmly with a finger. "But, he can easily surpass that limit, sometimes without even trying or knowing, explaining the scene he had with Celestia a time ago, in which he nearly killed her."

Sting and Jade flinched before looking aimlessly at the table and trying to come up with something to say. Chrysalis nodded as she placed her cup down on the table, empty. "Right, that also explains how he easily matched Yuson in terms of strength."

"Right." K said before Sting rose from his puzzled state.

"Then…what's the problem, how did he even get close to killing Celestia…isn't that a crime against all of Equestria?"

"His relationship with the princesses is a strong one, and the princesses simply forgave it, but don't take it that Ben wanted to kill them, there simply wasn't enough information to know that Ben would have reacted the way he did." K explained before Sting slammed a hoof on the table.

"Tell me! What's your friend's problem with power!?" Sting asked in a rage, hoping he could once-and-for-all figure out this so-called problem. K wasn't moved by his aggravation, but he did cut to the chase.

"Since Ben can easily surpass his limit of power without even knowing…well…let's just say that if you were to actually take him on a fight, even a friendly one like you want, there's a high chance he'll easily lose control." K explained, sounding more warning with every second of his mouth moving. "And Ben losing control is not safe to anyone around him, remember why Celestia gave each one of you one across the head?"

Sting nodded before his head jerked forward and he rubbed the back of his head staring at Chrysalis retracted her magic. "What was that for!?" Jade asked, sensitive towards Sting as can be.

"Cheap shot." Sting smirked, making Jade slowly lower her tension to embarrassment, she really forgot how it felt to stand up for somepony, then realize there was no need. She blushed.

Chrysalis smiled in amusement as she looked at Jade. "I thought it be entertaining." She answered her before giggling at her trying avoid eyesight.

K chuckled as he shrugged. "Hey, it's better than getting your ass owned by Ben."

Chrysalis chuckled in agreement. "At least you get it."

"I get it…" Sting answered dropping his smirk and glaring at them seriously. K paused as he also dropped his amusement and stared at him. Jade and Chrysalis also followed K's lead and straightened their posture. K stared at him as he was met with a glare that so easily matched his and Ben's, this time, unlike the other times before now, K would take him seriously.

"And?" K asked staring him down, but Sting wasn't affected although the company next to them was as they slightly leaned away.

"But even if Ben is as unstable as you say, I won't let that stop me from taking him on, so learn this Demon, I never back down from a fight, if a fight to the death is what's in place, then a fight to the death it will be."

K was slightly moved by such words, maybe because it was Ben's language he was speaking, but if a fight is what he really wanted, then a fight he'll get. Jade looked over at Chrysalis and Chrysalis caught on quick, finding out this isn't Sting's normal persona. K sighed as he shook his head before looking up and smirking.

"Fine, I'll speak to Ben and try to convince the Princesses to allow you to do that, maybe I shouldn't pass judgement off of looks." K advised making Sting drop his look but not fully. K looked over to Chrysalis and smiled. "Maybe Celestia can make that simulation for the both of you."

"I'm afraid not."

K quickly flinched as he twisted his neck around to look at the royalty, with Chrysalis following. Sting and Jade looked up but only Sting maintained his serious glare. Celestia and Luna stood there wondering the obvious as K bit his lower lip.

"You wish to go against Ben as an opposition?" Luna asked seriously. Sting was a stubborn one, only responding with a single nod. Celestia shook her head before looking at Sting and approaching him, tall and with business in mind.

"If you really think that'll take the pain away, you're a fool." Celestia announced before looking away and getting next to her sister.

K froze along with Jade and Chrysalis. K found it almost impossible to change that expression off Sting, but Celestia easily made that glare of his turn into an almost death-wishing frown. _What pain_? Was what K could think about as he looked at Sting and back at Luna giving him her own glare.

"Don't drive yourself on hatred, from experience, I can tell you it ruins lives, don't ruin the ones' around you." Luna said before looking over to K, leaving Sting to grit his teeth stress out of his mind. K looked at Sting with Jade almost not wanting to believe what Luna had to said. _Hatred_!? _What Hatred_!? Jade asked herself as she watched Sting frown to a point she hasn't before witnessed.

Chrysalis looked at Sting before turning back to Luna and Celestia, both not worried about Sting's obvious distress.

"K." Luna called and K turned.

"Yeah?"

"Tell Ben, he's got one more battle to fight, and to end this sooner and get on with our lives, by tomorrow." Luna informed. K quickly picked his head up in objection, if she was right about _Hatred_ , then then what the hell was she thinking letting this fight go on?

"But Luna-

"I know K," Luna assured him before sighing. "But if this isn't treated…then I don't want to repeat what happened in the past…"

K understood, and so did Chrysalis, both looked down and nodded before looking back at Sting and eyeing him down.

"Oh, and K." Celestia called. K turned, pondering the sudden direction of the day. "What is it?"

"Don't tell Ben what the reason behind this battle is, you must conceal it."

"Why!?" K asked getting up from his seat at such a restriction. Luna and Celestia admired his caution, but they had their reasons.

"I want him to sleep well tonight, but if you want, you may inform him tomorrow." Celestia said coming at him and K easily agreed with it.

"I see, fine, but what about him…" K asked looked around at Sting still not getting over Luna and Celestia's heavy words.

"I'll take care of him," Jade insisted before looking down at him with her hooves on him. "I have too."

K closed his eyes before looking at Chrysalis and sighing.

"Well, you wanna come along?" K asked and with no hesitation Chrysalis hopped off the chair and trotted up about halfway to K before Celestia cleared her throat.

"How about you come with us?" Celestia offered and Chrysalis braked. "Huh?" She asked turning to them.

"We wanted to talk about your cutie mark, if that's alright?" Celestia added with a small smile to show friendliness. Chrysalis blushed greatly as she hung her head low and trotted over to them. "F-fine."

"Come on, it's looks great on you…well the real you at least." Luna complimented making her frown as she turned to K. K was way ahead of Chrysalis as he smiled waving a hand.

"See ya!" He cheerfully dismissed. Chrysalis tried to pull off a smile but it came out all wrong as she tried to hide the blush. If there was any more embarrassment about how this Cutie mark came be, it would have to be from the far depths of Tartarus. "Bye…"

Celestia and Luna smiled as they put Chrysalis in her pony form between them and teleported away.

"Fuck, how did this come to this…?" K asked as he turned to Jade. Jade operated on Sting with some magic, a sleep inducing one since he was nearly fast asleep. "I don't know!" She replied obviously distressed.

"Have you tried to take it out of him?" K asked, referring to the hatred in him. Jade shook her head.

"How can I!? I've made sure to cleanse him of any the moment it appears but there's nothing!" She exclaimed. K stared at her before looking at Sting and sighing.

"Hidden hatred…is the worst…" K whispered before looking at Jade. "Where will you sleep?"

"What?" She asked obviously confused. K calmed her down with his hand movement.

"Find a place to sleep, you need to rest after this, I'm pretty sure there should be some rentable commons around here, and if you do find some-he digged in his pocket before pulling out a few bits, almost twenty-here, that should be enough for a stay or two."

Jade used her magic to lift the coins and make them disappear with her magic. "Thank you."

K nodded. "No problem, but find a place and rest, I need to find Ben."

I knew this was gonna end up being a funny encounter but who would have thought it would end like this? I opened the door for the mare as she walked out with a huge smile, thanking both me and Rarity for the service we provided.

"Our deal is still on, right?" She asked as she turned one last time. I sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, just tell me if it works out, and I'll be there."

She smiled. "Thanks!"

I closed the door behind her, she was the last customer of the day, well, she stayed to the end that is. I slowly turned over to Rarity who was traumatized into staring at her notebook, not really finding out what to think after that period we had.

"Rarity, come on, it's okay!" I said meeting her at the cashier. She looked up at me and shook her head, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"No! It's not!" She protested. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING!?"

I leaned away slightly before smiling nervously.

"Uh, we tried to keep it hidden, but you just completely took over." I tried to reason with her but she quickly just covered her face with her notebook. "I'm sorry! I wanted to help you learn! But look at where it got me!"

I didn't know what she meant by that, I'm sure it got her very far.

"It got you your bits, and it sent a mare happily on her way to a date night, and I did learn something!" I explained trying to convince her she was wrong for taking it so negatively. I heard a small sob as she continued underneath that notebook.

"I run a delicate fashion system, not a pleasure booth…" She whimpered.

I scratched the back of my head as I moved over to a seat and sat down.

"Why must you make this so hard Rarity?" I asked her and she picked her head up lifting the notebook off.

"What?" She asked, almost hurt by my change in tone.

"I know, it was embarrassing," I admitted, being honest about it. The truth is, in that small room, some unforeseen things went down, and Rarity was the pivot of it. Once we finally actually managed to reach the end of the measurements, she was so _turned on_ that her magic interfered with Rarity's, causing my hand to slip into placed it shouldn't be. And Rarity just remained frozen, watching it all go down as I fingered and licked this mare into a mental breakdown. I'll admit, I also got into it, but I kept control as to not forget Rarity was in the room.

"And I'm sorry you had to watch that, getting aroused and not getting off." I sighed before she quickly shook her head. Obviously, she would.

"N-no! I wasn't aroused!"

I looked over at her seriously.

"Rarity, the floor around you was as glossy as a diamond and as slippery as ice, don't lie."

She gulped as she looked away, almost wanting to cry now of how much I was revealing. I looked away before nodding, I was being a bit explicit and worsening the situation. Turning back to her, I smiled as I rolled my chair over to her and bumped into her. She shook a bit as I reappeared under her. Thanks to this amazing reclining chair, I could recline to be parallel with the floor. I was low enough to look up at her and her to look down at me.

There wasn't much I could do to make her feel better, but I could do this, to at least heal those tears of her.

"Can I get a smile?" I asked with my own smile. She looked at me and quickly looked the other way. _No_? I rolled my way around to the other side with the same smile.

"A tiny one?"

She looked away again, this time trying to hide a smile that was slowly emerging from my teasing. I met her again on the other side but this time placed my hand to her silky mane.

"Come on, just one-

I got it. She was on me with her mouth on mine within seconds, and I gave it back to her with my own. She detached and I finally had her smiling, she was cute when she smiled.

"There it is." I smirked and she purred on my body.

"You romantic…"

"For you…"

It was easy to see where this was leading to; the heat, the words, just about everything was in line, it was just a matter of taking it home. Once again, our mouths slowly neared and-

"BEN!"

Both me and Rarity nearly lost balance in this rolling chair but I managed to levitate us slightly off the seat. I slowly floated back down to the chair looking over at K who just randomly popped out of nowhere. He stared at us, as I found myself on the chair again and looked at Rarity on my chest.

"Oh…shit…is this a bad time? Because I can wait outside till you're done…" He awkwardly offered as he just stood there looking our way. Well, at least he was more consensual than usual. Rarity blushed as she shook her head and giggled, trying to dissolve any wrong ideas…which would be right either way.

"No…we were just-

"Messing around?" K added with a smirk, making Rarity go bright as a flare. He chuckled as he neared us and hopped onto the cashier counter, taking a seat. I easily noticed how he shifted a bit in place and looked up at him.

"Is there a problem?" I asked making him quickly smile before chuckling and nodding. There was a hint of discomfort and nervousness in his actions, it was hard to tell, but I got good senses.

"Yeah…sorta…" His words were no different from his actions.

Rarity looked up at me before hopping off and onto her chair, seeing as this was some serious business by K's part, I as well shifted in my seat and straightened my stance.

"What's wrong? Something to do with the ponies?" I asked. He shook his head before looking aimlessly at something in the distance and back at me, recollecting some thoughts.

"No." He simply answered. And I quickly realized there was something greater, his tone, his body language, I understood danger quickly.

"K, what's wrong?" I asked him again, and this time he sighed as he brushed his hand through his hair.

"Listen, I came by Celestia's and Luna's orders, okay?" He said, and Rarity quickly picked herself up. _Luna and Celestia_? I asked myself as I slowly stood up from my seat

"What?" Rarity asked before I gave K the look.

"So, this is serious, alright, tell me!" I ordered. He glanced at me and Rarity before standing up as well and placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Sting is a persistent guy, and he's convinced Luna and Celestia to allow that fight…"

He said that as if it was a bad thing, but on the contrary, I would like some action.

"Oh, he wants that? No problem, I can give him one, what's the problem?" I asked again, pushing his information to the side. He licked his lips as he looked me in the eye.

"By tomorrow…"

Now, there was the problem.

"Tomorrow!?" I asked outraged by such a demand. K quickly backed up and nodded firmly.

"Yeah, the princesses order." He claimed, defending himself.

"ANOTHER FIGHT!?" Rarity asked almost losing her breath. K had to give her the same nod he gave me.

"The princesses want to spend their days with you, while they're on break…" K explained, holding his hands out in defense. I dropped my outrage for joy in the matter of a second. Everything I ever wanted for the princesses was happening, and not a moment too soon. I smiled greatly as I placed my hands on his shoulders.

"REALLY!? They finally decided to take that break!?" I asked him.

K seemed to lighten up by my over-zealous voice and nodded with a smile. "Yeah."

"Well then, hell yeah, I'm gonna fight tomorrow! If the princesses finally get their break, might as well enjoy it while they got it!" I said as I caught a grip on my fists.

"But Ben…" Rarity intruded, and I quickly bounced back to her.

"Don't worry Rarity, I've got you in my sights as well, just hang in there a little longer, okay?"

She nodded with a smile, I returned it with my own.

"So tomorrow?"

He looked at me and nodded.

"Yeah, get good rest."

"Alright," I sighed before turning to Rarity and smiling. "But first, I'll hang out a bit with you first."

"Really!?" She asked with a blossoming in cheerfulness. I nodded. "Yeah!"

"Alright Ben, I gotta go and find something to do, like…" He thought about it as he placed his hands to his head and shrugged. "Find something, see ya!"

I nodded as Rarity smiled my way, there were no words following her smile, meaning she was just glad to see me. We both sat down on our separate seats before accepting the scene.

"Wanna get something to eat?" I offered with a smile. She looked off before using her magic to roll her seat over to mine and hop onto my body. _Oh_? I watched as she made her way up to my face and blushed.

"Can we finish our kiss first?" She asked nearing my face. I smiled as I pulled her in with my hand.

"Yeah…"

K appeared in the middle of somewhere in Ponyville where it seemed that the ponies where just flooding the place. He really had no direction when he decided to leave Rarity's, and now he was in a clusterfuck of ponies.

"BEN!"

K picked his head up before turning around slowly and seeing a familiar face and smiling.

"Sorry, but it's K." He assured before she braked in front of him and awkwardly chuckled.

"Oh…yeah, sorry dude." Vinyl apologized with joy all over from seeing him. She looked over to a place to rest. A bench, very common in this town that's for sure. "Wanna sit down or something?" She offered.

After such a stressful situation, he needed to sit down. K looked over to the bench and nodded. "Yeah, I need to rest." He made his way to the bench and sat down taking a huge intake of air before slowly letting it out, clearly showing stress all over. Despite his stress, he was the first to open his mouth once Vinyl hopped on.

"So, how's it going?" He asked looking over at her.

"I was just making some new scratches, how's your life?" She asked back. K looked out the town of ponies and sighed.

"Messed up."

Vinyl picked her head up and turned to him, leaning her head curiously to one side. "Really, what's up?"

"A big mess." K bluntly replied as he closed his eyes for a few seconds, to see if he could fall asleep in under a second, his attempt was an obvious fail. Vinyl was easy to get to, and here she got to share the pain K felt. She got comfortable on the bench and looked over, nudging him on the arm with her hoof.

"Well, I got time, tell me." She said with a kind smile, and K was already just full of it.

"It's this-

K paused, with hand in the air as he actually pondered the dangers of involving others in this and froze, clearly trapped now with telling or rudely leaving. Honestly, it hurt to know that he didn't warn Ben of the huge danger he's getting into, it was like sending him to an ambush. He remained still as he tried to find words to put out there, but Vinyl quickly grew curious over his absence of response.

"Hey? K?" Vinyl asked, nudging more than once. K gulped as he came to senses and looked away, hoping he could force Vinyl to see his uneasiness.

"Nevermind, sorry, I shouldn't get my problems involved with you." He responded, not once giving her a concrete glance which to Vinyl was worrying. He didn't try to offend her, but that's the reaction Vinyl gave off as she persisted with him.

"What!? Don't be like that! I'll help if you need it!" She said, offering help like a good friend, but that only made K frown at her not backing off.

"No, I can handle them on my own." K assured being rude as can be to get her off his case, but obviously his irregular attitude had only fueled Vinyl to use her magic to turn him around to face her.

"What's got you so scared!?" She asked, and K paused before shaking her magic away from his face.

"Huh? Scared!?" He asked, acting as if it wasn't the case. Vinyl frowned and placed her hoof on his leg firmly. This bullshit was gonna stop by K's part at some point, and Vinyl intended to make that happen.

"Yeah! Don't play stupid!"

"I'm not!" K defended himself. Vinyl slightly puffed out her chest as she grit her teeth, she losing her patience with him. She used her magic to grip his shirt and tug with a meaning. "Ben wouldn't act like that!"

K has just about had it with her as he tightened his frown and balled his fists.

"For your safety, he would!" K shouted back. After realizing the awkward silence, he rolled his eyes as he glared into Vinyl's newly widened eyes and ran his forehead into his palm. "Fuck me…"

"…My safety…what's wrong K?" Vinyl asked losing the aggression in her voice and becoming soft. K looked at her and at the dirt of the ground, back and forth multiple times before gulping and growling slightly. Vinyl scooted closer to him, hoping she could send a friendly signal to him and convince him. "Come on, you can tell me,"

K's mouth trembled as he took in a shaky breath of air with his eyes closed and gulped, finally coming to defeat.

"Alright, fine! Ben's gotta another fight to take on with some pony that came from another time older than Celestia, and I'm worried!" K revealed before laughing at how stressed he was burying his face in his hands. Vinyl watched him lose his sanity slowly before leaning on his side, hoping to give him comfort with her presence.

"But Ben's a great fighter, he can win!" Vinyl supported, obviously not having been told enough to worry about. K looked up from his hands and nodded.

"I know about the fighting part, but the winning part has me worried, and who he's gonna go against." K explained before he felt his head magically turn to the ground next to the bench, and his eyes just shot up wide at the variety of familiar colors.

"Why? What's wrong with him?"

"LYRA!?" K asked as he flinched greatly away from them, scooting towards Vinyl on the bench, almost going over her. Vinyl backed slightly from K and looked away, hoping to not see K fully lose his head.

"And Bonbon too!" Bonbon arose with a smile from Vinyl's side and K looked over to her too and felt his chest bounce up and down as he felt stress acuminate, by now he felt like ripping out his heart to stop the pain.

"Please…don't shit on me like this…" K whispered in agony, before another cheerful voice emerged, that was vaguely familiar.

"And Octavia!"

"Holy shit!" K exclaimed rushing his hand through his hair, his eyes wider than they've ever been. But, as if a gift from the devil, the miniature trio of foals appeared, along with Trixie, Starlight, Pinkie, and Derpy.

"And us!"

"NIEN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! WHY ARE YOU ALL HERE!? HOW DID YOU GET HERE!?" K exclaimed getting off his seat to look at them all. They all smiled, and K nearly flipped shit as he whimpered slightly.

"Well you were in the middle of a busy town, sitting with our friend, and since you're an interesting guy…we thought we'd come by." Octavia happily expressed giving K a smile. K's tension lowered to a point in which he couldn't yell anymore, and he just let his body collide with the floor as he let his back fall onto the ground.

"Oh…fuck me…"

Everypony looked at each other before Pinkie stepped up, and K's eyes followed her with a frown all the way till she met him face to face.

"You don't look so good! You need a cupcake!? If it'll make you feel better that is."

K stared at her as his frown disappeared and he cracked a smile that he didn't really want to show, but Pinkie offering a cupcake was just that powerful. He nodded as he picked his back off the ground and faced everyone, feeling some tensions lower he could easily sigh and think easier.

There was no denying it now, Ben's gonna have another audience, and K gonna be ready for it.

Over in Twilight's castle, Chrysalis looked away with a pout as she tried to fight off her blush and Celestia, Twilight, and Spike tried to hold in their breath. There was a triangle of glances that Celestia, Twilight, and Spike gave each other as Luna stood next to Chrysalis, trying to be nice.

"With K…" Celestia eased out, her words had no strength or potency in them as they left, her head have given up for that moment.

"Sex…" Twilight whispered out next as she shivered, her words with the same level of weakness as Celestia's.

"Chrysalis is a good guy now…" Spike added, same tone of voice as the other two alicorns.

"Just…shut up…" Chrysalis semi-begged as she let out her breath and let her blush fully show, not having the energy to burst out in exclamations.

"B-BUT…You and K!? K!?" Twilight asked, her mouth hanging as she processed that in her head. K in bed, was something almost unimaginable from what Twilight knew, and with Chrysalis? It was extreme. Chrysalis turned to her before frowning, offended by Twilight's remark.

"Yeah! What's wrong with it!?" Chrysalis challenged, embarrassed and angered. Luna giggled as she stepped forward from Chrysalis's side and placed her hoof down in Chrysalis's side, defending her from criticism.

"Nothing is wrong with _it_ , Chrysalis, it's just that you were so against love and all that…you've changed so much…" Luna calmed her with a smile, making Chrysalis look away with her blush increasing. It was embarrassing, not for sexual reasons, but for reasons concerning the fact that she passively gave up on conquering, or in other words, waved the white flag in front of her enemy, if she could call them that anymore.

"Just be quiet…" Chrysalis asked of them before sighing, accepting her place in this conversation. Celestia studied Chrysalis before looking at Luna, trying to find out how to react to such information. A bit of friendly jealousy flowed through her as she tried to balance out her sympathy and disbelief. Twilight held Spike close as she just remained silent, too stunned to speak anymore. Luna looked around and back at Chrysalis's gloomy look before she smiled again.

"To make you feel better, if you thought Celestia knew everything, you got something she doesn't…experience in bed…" Luna informed with a tempting voice, trying to get a reaction, and she did. Chrysalis picked her head up, but not as fast as Celestia and Twilight.

"Oh…? Is that so?" Chrysalis asked as smile slowly appeared and she turned to Celestia, who had only a blush to respond with. Luna nodded, exposing Celestia on the spot, and Chrysalis grinned. "So that outrage from earlier was jealousy?"

"N-no!" Celestia reacted by flinching before Chrysalis. Luna looked over at Celestia, easily telling how she felt using her mystic powers, then again, it was easy to just tell she was jealous.

"Come on sis, sometimes it's good to have desires." Luna encouraged, but Celestia just blinked in disbelief at how her sister was now siding with Chrysalis in this argument. Chrysalis gave Luna nod.

"Very wise Luna, so Ben hasn't really gotten to it yet with you two?" She asked, clearly knowing the answer. Luna sighed as she nodded, but Celestia frowned as she let her jealously speak for her.

"No, but maybe soon!"

Chrysalis lowered her grin to a smile and agreed with it. Twilight and Spike just watching, easily finding no reason to get involved with all this sex talk.

"Reasonable, but still…I FINALLY HAVE SOMETHING OVER YOU!" Chrysalis exclaimed followed by her evil laughter which just angered Celestia, but at least everypony could admire hearing Chrysalis's laugh and not fear the worst. Spike just smiled as he shrugged and admired Chrysalis feeling mighty.

"So, Twilight…what all this about desires and love anyways?" Spike asked as he climbed onto a seat and rested. Twilight shook her head as she smiled.

"It's a change, a good one." Twilight whispered as she sighed. Spike bobbed his head before smiling. "Alright then, I need to rest after being in the sun."

Twilight giggled as she looked away from her little friend. "Alright Spike."

"I'll never hear the end of this Luna." Celestia groaned as she looked away from Chrysalis smug look and over to Luna, who just responded with a chuckle.

"Oh, you will, eventually, but I'll make sure to remember this feeling for a long time." Chrysalis assured as she sighed, showing she was done with gloating for now. Celestia frowned, but upon seeing Chrysalis, her mind slowly wanted to process it; Chrysalis and K, in bed, alone. Celestia's frown faded to a nervous gulp she took as she scooted closer to her. Upon getting close enough, she cleared her throat, getting Chrysalis's attention.

"How did it feel?" Celestia asked. Chrysalis smirled as she waved a hoof.

"Great! It's not every day I have one over you!" Chrysalis gloated once more but was quickly shot down by Celestia's objection. "Huh?" Chrysalis asked as she looked over at her, and upon seeing her look, she dropped her smug attitude. Celestia couldn't look straight at Chrysalis, if she did, her mind would become clouded with images of her and K.

"You know…losing your purity." Celestia corrected her. Luna and Twilight listened in as they also got closer. Chrysalis looked at all of them before taking pride in the fact she still had one over Celestia and smiled with a great blush.

"It's the best!" She cheerfully exclaimed, quickly getting everyponies' question.

"Really?" They all asked, wondering how in the world Chrysalis managed to make her voice sound so friendly and cheerful, it was unexpected but cute when she spoke so high pitched and friendly. Chrysalis looked around before the effect of gloating wore off and she became slightly more nervous.

"Well…it kinda hurts a little," She admitted before quickly changing her expression to one of satisfaction. "But it the pleasure…it's worthy of a queen…"

"K must have really done something." Twilight giggled before getting a nod from Chrysalis.

"The night was ours…"

Luna rolled her eyes as she cut in. "Technically, it's mine…"

"You'll find the meaning in those words soon enough." Chrysalis remarked as she wafted Luna's logic away. Luna only responding with a laughter that made her and her sister equally smile.

"You know…I actually wish you could have been there, words to not explain enough."

A bold statement from Chrysalis, that both the princesses and Twilight could admire.

"I guess it really was something…" Twilight commented getting an instant nod from Chrysalis.

"Yes, yes it was."

The conversation died down with smiles, but not for long as Chrysalis looked back up at Celestia. There was easily some fear in her eyes, which was unnerving in many ways.

"Uh…about tomorrow and Ben," Chrysalis began, getting attention. Twilight whipped her eyes towards Chrysalis as she mentioned someone of interest to her.

"Oh yes, what about it?" Celestia asked.

"K was afraid, and it's rare for him to be so…worried, what's going on?" Chrysalis asked, hoping to get some insight.

"Hatred, that's what's going on." Luna clarified making Chrysalis raise an eyebrow.

"There's got to be more," She insisted. "He wouldn't just be quivering because of that."

"Nightmare Moon arose from that very reason…who knows what will arise from Sting…that poor pony." Luna sympathized, but despite her gentle voice, Chrysalis wasn't having it, she growled at Luna as she firmly slammed a hoof onto the floor.

"And you still want Ben to fight him!?"

"FIGHT!?" Twilight asked swiftly turning to Luna. Luna looked at Twilight, only staring for a while before looking away with shame. Twilight gulped as she shook her head. "Why…don't you see he needs a break from it all…"

Twilight's tearful tone didn't affect Luna as she just turned her attention back to Chrysalis, leaving Twilight at a loss of words; her say didn't matter.

"Sting desires it, and if he can take his hatred by the chains, then we can actually help him." Luna explained, leaving Chrysalis to sigh and shake her head.

"I'm worried now…"

"Chrysalis?" Luna asked. Chrysalis just closed her eyes and avoided her eye contact.

"It just doesn't feel right…"

"It should be fine…" Luna assured before Celestia sighed.

"let's hope."

Twilight whimpered as she just watched them agree on it. Why? was the only word she processed as she bared her teeth and raised her horn, enveloping herself in her magic.

"Twilight?" Celestia asked but it was too late, Twilight had disappeared. Celestia looked away before nodding her head. "Alright, Twilight, rest well."

The night fell, and I left Rarity to return to her home as I made my way to mine. It seemed Rarity really liked taking over the table with a meal in between, I jotted it down mentally for the future.

Many things crossed my mind as to why I was really quick on events. One day, I'm here, the next, I'm sleeping with ponies, then I'm killing gods, and now, I'm gonna go fight a pony I just met a few hours ago, with no real explantaion as to why. As one can see, I'm a quick-action guy.

After a few more seconds of walking, I sighed in relief as I got Flutters home in sight. I'll always feel comfort seeing it appear before me. Even if Flutters home was coming up closer, it wasn't the only thing with me tonight.

I slowed down as I felt a presence appear beside me, and I smiled at her appearance.

"Hey, hows it going?" I greeted, being at a reasonable voice level to not disurb the beauty of the night. Strike glanced at me before giggling. "Good, I'm just wondering if you need company."

I smirked at her response, she knew well I was actually in need of company. "Yeah, I guess I do, I'm still kinda getting use to life coming at me so quick."

She giggled along with me. " Same here."

We remained silent for a few before I realized how close the house got. I stopped in front of it with Strike and went for the knob, only to find it was locked. "Huh? Flutters isn't home yet…" I sighed.

"Seems that way, how do we get in?" She asked before I smiled.

We teleported in and yawned as we noticed the house had everything turned off. I wasn't really going to arue why Flutters wasn't home, she did say she would check on animals habitats, and that should consume a day or two by my knowledge. I looked around, studying the emptiness, before looking down at Strike.

"Are you hungry?" I asked as I indicated the kitchen in front of us. She shook her head with a smile, not really giving me a reason to argue. "No, I'm fine."

I smiled in agreement, I was already stuffed with the food I had with Rarity. "Alright, I guess I'll go shower and hit the bed," I said going into my room followed by Strike.

I reached into some drawers and whipped out clothes as I readied myself, grabbing a dry towel. Strike looked around the room before glacing over to my sword and studying it. "You're gonna need this tomorrow."

I smirked with a nod. "Sure am, uh, I'll be back in a few." I dismissed and went off to do my nightly chore. Leaving Strike alone in my room, I had faith she wouldn't wreck anything so I enjoyed my shower.

After a few minutes of exploring the room, Strike finished pretend wielding Ben's blade before sheathing it as she hopped onto the bed. She sighed in relief, it was peaceful being in the house with no one but Ben in it, especially at night. Strike didn't really show it but her heart was actually going abnormally fast as she rolled around the bed, rejoicing with being alone with her Ben. She studied the soft cushion of the bed as she buried her face into a pillow.

"Maybe…I can sleep with him tonight…just maybe-

"I'm back!" I proudly exclaimed swinging open a door, accidentally making Strike fritz a little. I watched her shiver as she lowered the pillow in her hoof, defensively. "Oh…sorry for the scare."

She smiled back nervously as she regained composure and looked up at me. "You look refreshed!" She observed as I neared the bed side and sat down, I was shirtless after all.

"Yup, need to be to get a good nights rest." I said before noticing her blush and smiling. "What's with the blush?"

She turned to me before smiling nervously, looking off to a wall. "Uh…I'm just a bit nervous…"

I smiled as I laid myself on the bed and turned to her. "Hehe…you wanna sleep with me?" I asked, making her blush as she slowly tried to make her eyes catch me within their sight.

"What gave you the idea?" She asked back, insecure about it, her blush deepening. I smirked as I gave the ceiling my glare, I'm not stupid.

"The simple fact you stayed in the room, and seem nervous about it too," I answered. She looked away with a nod, accepting it with shame. I easily noticed and giggled slightly. "But, I never said you couldn't, I actually appreciate your company…so yeah, would you sleep with me?"

She lit up brighter in both spirits and blush as I winked her way. We stared at each other awkwardly, a smile on my face while she tested to see if I was being truthful. I blew a kiss her way and she got the message and smiled as she slowly made her way.

She set herself down and got comfortable next to me. I wouldn't lie, her presence was leaving something to be desired, but I wouldn't push my luck. I turned over to face her and smiled as I rustled her mane with my hand. She was bright red and I loved it, the simple fact she has a unique relationship with me(foe turned friend) really added to that feel. I freed her mane from my hand and chuckled.

"I take it you've never slept with someone?"

She smiled as she glared at me with bedroom eyes. "Not with someone I actually love-I mean like…" She figeted slightly with her hooves before giving up and leaning closer, nearing her body closer to mine. "…love."

She really knew how to interact with me, that's really all I wanted to hear. I sighed in peace as I blushed slightly from her words, she was really leaving something to be desired.

"I love you too." I whispered back and she neared a bit closer, making it easier for me to feel her breath and heat. I could easily see what she wanted, and I was willing, but it seemed she finding it hard to clear the path. I placed my hand under mouth and smiled, mystifying her.

"You know?" I slithered out before smirking. "Being alone has its advantages…"

That was all the motivation she needed, she jerked forward placing her lips on mine and gently let it grow. I really have to give her credit for this, one doesn't simply fall in love with a once called "foe" who killed her, but she did. _Funny how love works_. She found herself on my chest, our mouths connected as she let her tongue slip in and I followed with my own. We were at bliss until we parted.

We detached a few seconds after and stared at one another, trying to comprehend why it felt so pleasing to just be right next to each other. I smirked as I leaned up and gave her one on her forehead before she returned it equally.

"I like your tongue," She giggled. To go along, I stuck it out playfully and smiled.

"Likewise-

I was cut off by her as she licked me a good one on the neck and shut me up. _Slippery she is_. I stared at her as she blushed strongly with a smile before slipping off and finding her place next to me.

"Hey Ben…" She called making me hum out in response. "Hmm?"

She cuddled in and wedged in warmly, making me giggle from the ticklish feeling. She let out a warm breath own my side and closed her eyes. "Can I wake you up with a surprise?"

I slightly twitched as I ran that throught my head. _Oh boy, what could it be?_ I smirked with nod. "Anything from you…I'll always accept."

She giggled as she pressed against me softly.

"Thanks, goodnight."

"Why?" K asked to the endless horizon of darkness. He never really lived down the situation Ben was in, and he had intention in doing so. So, he just randomly walked until he found himself at the edge of a cliff and sat down to admire the view. Even if K did try to avoid anyone, his luck in doing so was slim.

"K?"

"Huh?" K's head jerked a bit as he turned over to find the alicorn of alicorns. He sighed, defeated by the fact he couldn't really be alone. "Oh, hey Twilight."

Twilight gave him a depressed glare as she sat next to him and stared off to the horizon that was well lit up by the moon. Upon seeing such a sight, she lightened up a bit. "Wow…how did you find this place?" She asked in a whisper to not mess with the mood.

K shrugged and gulped. "I walked until I couldn't…"

If that wasn't warning to Twilight, then nothing was. She turned to him and placed a hoof on his leg, to which he responded with a twitch.

"K, you're worrying me…" Twilight eased out making K pick his head up and turn to her. "Why are you so serious?"

K placed his hand on her hoof and gripped it gently. "I'm worried about tomorrow, with Ben and Sting…"

Twilight blushed but it was over taken with worry as she recalled such. Though the news she heard was blunt, she knew there was something deep to it. "Chrysalis told me, but why is it worrying? Is Ben in danger?"

K closed his eyes as he tried to explain, hoping his simple words got across.

"You know how Nightmare moon was created from hate?" He asked and Twilight nodded. "Yeah?"

K opened his eyes as he nodded. "Well then, what if I told you Sting was driven on hate, yet he's actually bottling it up until he fights Ben?"

This time, he got a reaction from Twilight. She gulped as she scooted in closer to him and leaned her head on his side. K looked down curiously as she closed her eyes. "So I was right to be worried…there is danger…"

"Yeah, but the princesses have a point, we can't handle Sting's hate since we don't know why he has hate towards Ben, this fight will actually reveal it." K informed before sighing as he turned to Twilight and smiled.

"Uh…thanks for being here…I really needed someone to speak to."

Twilight blushed softly as she rested her head on him more. "You're welcome…"

K looked back out to the horizon before nodding firmly. _No use being sad all day_. "Hey, uh… where is Chrysalis?" He asked before Twilight giggled making K ask with a smirk.

"What?"

Twilight blushed as she responded with a smile before glowing green and revealing herself, leaving K to ponder life. "Hi…"

K stared before he couldn't help but laugh at how he was so easily fooled, yet it did kind of hurt that he really wasn't speaking to Twilight. "Nice move, you actually fooled me."

Chrysalis smiled as she rested on him easier. "I'm sorry, I was worried, I couldn't find you."

K wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in closer. "It's alright,"

Chrysalis snugged with him and they stared out to the distance on the cliff. "Thanks."

After a minute of watching, K smirked as he stood up and stretched, now he was sleepy.

"Alright Chrysi, let's go to Flutters home…we need some sleep."

"Alright…"

 _ **Just who really is Sting…**_


	53. Chapter 53 - Hatred

#53

" _NOOOOOO_!"

I opened my eyes slowly, not really in a rush after that scream. It was in my head, although I couldn't tell if it was mine or someone else's, a paradox from my dreams. I hate those dreams where you wake up thinking you can recall scene by scene, only to realize it's all in jigsaw pieces, this dream was like that. I'm sure there was some imagery to this dream, but as of right now, all I can see in my figment of memory is a white canvas with an audio of desperate scream in the background. And I can't really classify this dream as a nightmare when I don't know how to feel, terrified or confused.

" _Morning…? Already…?_ "

I picked my head up off the bed and looked around, trying to see if I could catch of glimpse of anyone, but no one was around. _Huh? Where's my morning surprise?_ I guess no surprise for me today, although the absence of Strike was strange, she'd disappeared off to somewhere, she wasn't around me.

"Strike?" I asked to see if she'd just moved to somewhere else in the room, but the lack of response forced my hand to scratch the back of head. "I guess you're not here…"

I stepped out of my room, guiding my shirt down my body as I walked around with just socks on, I was too lazy to follow through with my morning steps.

"Hello?" I asked stepping into the kitchen, but again, I was greeted by the absence of all. I cleared my throat as I scratched my head again, not really understanding what was up with the empty house. "Some surprise I woke up too." I sighed, trying to lighten myself up with some sarcasm, an obvious fail sadly.

I traveled back to my room before pausing at Flutter's door and studying the slightly open gap of the door. _Oh_? I reached my hand for the door and gave it a small push which resulted in it widely opening. I was slightly confused at the sight, but nonetheless, I appreciated the fact I wasn't alone in the house. K and Chrysalis made themselves comfortable on Flutter's bed, which sadly had no sign of Flutters or Strike.

I sighed before smirking and closing the door softly, no use waking them up.

"Good morning!"

Every single hair on my body stood on end as I slowly turned to Strike, her smile showing clearly how happily she had awoken. I let out my trembling breath as I gulped, never have I felt such a friendly scare, but boy did it cause some goosebumps.

"You may have scared the living shit out of me-I smirked as I let go of Flutter's door-but good morning."

She smiled with a giggle. "Uh…sorry,"

"Nice surprise, trying to give me a heart attack, now tell me where you were hiding!" I demanded as I moved into the living room and threw myself on the couch, kicking my feet up. She blushed out randomly and hopped onto the couch I was on, my head trying to explain the sudden reaction.

"That wasn't the surprise…" She answered, ashamed of something.

I dodged an eyebrow as I agreed with her on that. When she said surprise last night, I wasn't expecting her to scare me with a "good morning!" greeting, I was expecting something like a good breakfast or a good morning kiss, or something along those lines. "No kidding, what did you have in mind?"

She flustered a bit which made my head begin drawing its own conclusions.

"Uh…well…it's kind of embarrassing to say…"

I played dumb on her, I had to, to get the answer I needed. "Embarrassing?" I asked and she looked away as she nodded.

"Y-yeah…you know…bedroom stuff…"

"Bedroom stuff?" I smugly returned with a smirk, trying to get her to go into detail. She was bright red again and flustering as she refused to look me in the eye. "You know…" She responded before opening her mouth and using her hoof to show an in-and-out motion. I laughed before nodding.

"Geez, that would've made this morning so much more better! Why did you faulter!?" I asked, accepting the loss of a valuable opportunity, before I closed my eyes and sighed. "Was it because I was still asleep?" I asked, ready to feel ashamed if that was it.

She looked up and shook her head, before scooting in closer and sighing. "I was nervous about K and his partner he's with coming in…maybe some other time…when they aren't around?"

As much as I would say she could've just locked the door, that wouldn't change anything, even so, she did place an offer on the table. "Alright, but still, thanks, I'm sure you put some thought into it." I made myself comfortable on the couch before adjusting at hearing the sound of some demon rummaging around in Flutter's room.

"You're welcome!" Strike happily responded before looking over to Flutter's door at Chrysalis appearing and rubbing out the morning glare in her eyes. _Oh_? _My demon isn't awake_? Now that I think about it, if Flutters wasn't in her room all night, and these two were, then where's Flutters? I straightened my posture on the couch as I turned to face Chrysalis come over.

"Morning," She greeted, looking like she'd been rudely awoken, yet her smile begged to differ. We both greeted back before she yawned and squinted her eyes, having not yet gotten rid of that morning glare. "You two are up early, what's the occasion?"

"No occasion, just an early guy," I responded before Strike smirked. "Likewise."

Chrysalis nodded before yawning once more, not really getting use to the early morning vibes. "Alright."

Before I could lose track of my focus, I called her attention, to which she just hummed out in response.

"Hmm?"

"Have you seen Flutters? I haven't see her since yesterday, I was hoping to find her in her room, but I found some other two." I asked. She picked her head up before smirking. "Nice sub-name, Flutters," She giggled getting a feel for the nickname, before I cleared my throat to get her back on track. She smiled as she nodded.

"Oh, yes, Fluttershy…hmm…she was here last night when we got here, she said something about-

"I'm home!" Flutters voice randomly appeared off my left, sounding as if she was struggling with something. I turned to face the door, which now had a huge shadow created by something on the other side. I stared at the door as I wondered about the shadow and got up to get the door for her. "Flutters?"

"Oh! Ben! Uh…can you get the door?" She asked from the other side. I placed my hand on the knob and pulled back only to be greeted by a sea of random items; food, toys, plastic spheres, candy, combs, pots and pans, etc. I felt the items bury me in them and finally stop once they reached my neck, when I finally decided to let the door knob go, but even like that I was immobile. I blinked a few times aimlessly at the randomness of the situation before looking down at a shuffling of items. As if surprises ended with Strike, Flutters erupted out of the sea of items and popped up right in front of me.

"Good morning!" She happily greeted before I lifted my hand up having grabbed a random item and brought it up to view. It was pack of batteries, of all things now, batteries exist here too, and double A pack as well.

"Did the thrift shop have a ninety-nine percent off!? Cause if that's if that's so, then do tell where, although, it seems you sold out the store," I mocked as I looked at the battery pack before exploring the surrounding items. "Ha! Would you know it!? A bobble head Rainbow Dash!" I smiled widely as I tapped the head and made it bob around. Flutters laughed with me as I placed that aside and picked up a TV remote.

'What the? A TV remote? What does this go to?" I asked as I clicked the 'ON' button, only to see the red led light on the remote react, it was working. "You kinda answered that on your own, it goes to a television!" Flutters cheerfully responded. I smirked, I did answer that on my own, I just didn't believe there were TV's in this world, the more you know.

"You don't say."

"Uh…Fluttershy, what's with the abnormal amount of junk?" Chrysalis asked, saving me the time of asking. Strike agreed with a chuckle. "Yeah, you got Ben swimming in that stuff, literally."

"Oh…" Flutters responded looking around before smiling. "I'm just getting things to prepare for future holidays!"

"Holidays?" Both Chrysalis and Strike asked. She replied with a simple nod. "Yeah, you know; Hearth's Warming, Hearts n' Hooves day…" She didn't responses from them leading her to just stare and ponder.

"You don't know?"

Chrysalis and Strike looked at each other before shrugging.

"Never cared." Chrysalis replied before Strike smirked. "Never heard of it."

Considering Chrysalis was a sort of Ex-villain, and Strike was a new-born creation, it suited them well. As for me, I could only guess what these holidays where about, I was, too, dragged out into a new world.

"How about you Ben?" Flutters asked, turning to me next.

"I'm new here as well," I chuckled making her sigh in defeat before smiling.

"Well! It's a good thing to experience holidays!"

"I'll say!" I responded making her slightly frown. "I thought you said-

I smiled with a nod. "We had holidays in our old world."

She stared for moment and smiled before agreeing with terms and looking ahead to the pony and changeling. Now that she knew some of that she could just focus on them.

"Well, Ben knows, it's a good time to gather around and have enjoy a carefree day!"

"Sounds good to me!" Strike agreed while Chrysalis nodded slowly, trying to accept the description. "I guess…it's alright."

"That's the spirit!" Flutters rejoiced before looking around herself, she was lost in the same sea I was in. I looked around as well as I teleported my way out and joined Strike and Chrysalis before coming for Flutters.

"How did you even move all this!?" I asked as I reached for her, before plucking her out of the dense collection of items. I placed her down before looking at the over exaggerated number of items, obstructing our way out the house. Flutters turned and giggled nervously. "Uh…with my hooves?"

"With your hooves!?" I asked turning over to her. She smiled nervously as she clapped her hooves together. "Yeah…I feel oddly energized."

"NO KIDDING!" Strike exclaimed coming up and studying the items herself. "You're insane for pushing this all the way here! And with no magic!"

"Really?" She asked before blushing a bit. "I guess I'm a bit stronger than I look."

I reached down for what looked like a cinder block and lifted it, damn thing weighed about twenty pounds. I looked over to Flutter before shaking my head and chuckling, accepting this surprise from her. "Where are you going to put all this!?"

She looked up at me with a smile, assuring me she had something in mind.

"Oh, don't worry, I've got a place!"

"Really?" Chrysalis asked, amused by Flutter's confidence.

"Yup," Flutters answered back with the same confidence before looking over at me and over to the kitchen. "Uh…would any of you mind helping me with this stuff?"

I smirked with a nod as I placed the cinder block down. "Sure." I turned over to Chrysalis and Strike, with my hand aimed at their horns. "I'm pretty sure that magic of yours can do wonders for our backs if you two helped out."

Chrysalis and Strike replied with smirks as well and shrugged. "Alright."

After what seemed like years, I still couldn't believe Flutters has basement, which she had apparently asked to be built in a few months ago and thanks to her nagging, obtained it. And now, lastly, the cinder block. I felt like gravity was acting normally on it when I carried it, but it seemed like gravity did a flip as Flutters lifted it without a grunt and dropped it gently, almost like she would if it were a ceramic plate. Despite that, I shrugged it off as I moved out the underground area and waited in the kitchen, along with Strike and Chrysalis.

"Flutters, seems a bit stronger than usual, doesn't she?" I asked around and got instant nods from everyone. Chrysalis remained silent, pondering the odd ability before Strike cleared her throat, getting our attention.

"Don't you think K might have something to do with this?" She asked, making me glare at Chrysalis and Chrysalis at me. "He did place his crazy demonized soul in her, meaning she would act like him at times, this strength is probably something like that."

Chrysalis thought about it before shrugging in acceptance. "I wouldn't really know, but it does sound like a reasonable explanation."

They both turned to me, to which I fully agreed with her statement. "Yeah, that's about as explained as it gets, Flutters was strange versus Yuson; cocky attitude change, violent, able to levitate, fire magic like K and I, and was physically stronger." I sighed as I agreed with those terms. "So yeah, that solves that, although for her sake, we shouldn't mention it."

They agreed and we went silent as Flutters came out, a few beads of sweat going down her face as she shut the huge trapdoor.

"Well, that's that!"

"Yup!" I agreed, getting a smile from her.

"Thank you for the help!"

"No problem."

We all took in some air from the lifting, getting our breathing sorted out. We discussed a small breakfast in a while, but never got to finish our conversation as the front door gently creaked open. I turned around, finding a familiar face.

"Morning Celestia." I greeted before Luna came up from behind and forcing a smile on my face. "Hello to you too."

"Good morning, slept well I'm guessing?" Celestia asked not really wanting to force a smile. I shrugged in response. "Like normal."

She smiled this time before closing the door behind themselves.

"Good to hear, anything of interest lately?" Luna asked me, trying to hint at something I clearly missed when I decided to answer straight up.

"Well, probably Flutters stocking up on holiday items."

Luna lifted an eyebrow before quickly shaking her head, denouncing that answer. I straighten up a bit now seeing she actually has business here. "Judging by the objection, I take it there's something urgent?" I hinted, and I was right to hint since they nodded with shame.

"You've judged correctly, I take it K didn't tell you?" Celestia asked. I picked my head up a bit and reminded myself about today. She was right about business, K did tell me, but I hadn't given it much thought since I was around the ponies.

"Oh yeah! He did mention that thing with Sting." I revealed making them rise with agreement, encouraging Chrysalis, Strike, and Flutters to scoot up to my sides.

"Sting?" Flutters asked before Celestia explained. She explained it as if it were as simple as a chore, but with Chrysalis giving off an unnerving glare at them, and their serious tone, I was quickly taken off track, and focused on a better explanation.

"What's the catch?" I asked stopping her mid-explanation and forcing eyes on me. They stared at me before Chrysalis stepped up.

"Yes, catch, it's isn't right to send out an unprepared pawn into a warzone now is it?"

I froze for a moment as I let those words pierce my mind. This was an easy clue Chrysalis was giving me, and on purpose. Chrysalis knew something I didn't and now that I know that, the princesses were hiding something as well. I crossed my arms and took in some air. "So, this isn't a catch, more like missing intel, alright then, I'm hoping I was meant to hear this."

The princesses looked at each other before nodding and explaining. I remained straight-faced throughout their explanation, not once taking anything negative too deeply. At last, she ended with a voice that sounded semi-warning, if not trying to encourage me to take precaution, and I fully respected her words and took them with high meaning. Even with that, it was puzzling as to why Sting has a random hatred towards me, I never wronged him in any way, in fact, I've been all but kind towards him.

"A hatred…towards me…this is interesting." I stated with a smirk. The thought of fighting someone with a hatred towards me is most intriguing, and I certainly wouldn't mind if it was to find the hatred source and help out Sting. I felt some magic tug on my shoulder and reverted over to Chrysalis, who demanded me be more serious.

"If K doesn't show it, then I'll do it for him," She randomly brought up, forcing me to fully give her my attention. "What?"

She glared up at me as if expecting more, before looking off to the side. "K isn't comfortable with this spar, he's worried about you."

"K!?" I asked with a smirk, not really taking that from her. She frowned with one firm nod. "He stayed up almost all night thinking about it, that's why you still see him asleep in the room!"

I took a moment to take in her reasoning and seriousness, forcing my own serious response. "Fine, he's cried for me before…I guess I can hear him out this time too."

Everyone stared at me as I nodded and sighed, closing my eyes to clear my throat.

"K's worried…" Luna asked before Chrysalis surely nodded.

Luna took a step forward. "There shouldn't be reason of worry…Sting's not really much of threat is he now?"

I opened my eyes and shook my head, defending K's judgment. "K's always had my back, so I have his as well, and if he feels in danger, then I am."

"Ben…" Celestia called out making me raise my hand to stop her there.

"Nonetheless, our problem won't be fixed without truly finding out Sting's problem, if we never do, I'm guessing he'll grow a grudge, and if hatred fuels a monster, then I'd hate to see what becomes of Sting, considering he's been through so much, and has a mare who actually cares about him. I don't want to see that ruined."

"In other words, you has no choice then." Flutters responded, crestfallen by my words. Everyone nodded, and to cheer the mood, I stretched a grin across my face.

"Well, if a fight he desires, it shall be that way, Sting is almost the equivalent of me, and Jade the counter of K, I have a feeling this will be something to experience."

Celestia gave off a peculiar look as she questioned my words. "I agree, Sting and Jade are realistically your past counters, but would it really be as difficult as you say?"

I thought about it before picking my head up and affirming it. "Sting is still in his teens, or youth, and has knowledge from your mother, and ancient types, I can only guess he could hold something hidden from me."

Celestia and Luna looked at each other before gulping. "That's very possible…"

I took a small pause to get my thoughts back in order before remembering they were here for a reason and inquiring, as to which they signaled what we spoke about.

"We actually came to check on you, before this event, we'll go to Sting after this and decide a time."

"Judging by the way Sting was so distraught, don't be surprised when he asks you to have it right on the spot." Chrysalis warned and I listened. Sting being distraught was something new, I thought he was more laid back than me, but it doesn't seem that way. I turned to the princesses to find them thinking about it. Celestia sighed as she took in the seriousness of the matter.

"I don't care about his opinion, in all fairness, it's up to him and Ben to decide together on a time."

It's odd, when you get that feeling something is starting to slowly become inevitable, I've got that now. I listened to them chatter in the background as I tried to think clearly. Something was starting to feel funny about this dilemma, and now I was beginning to become suspect. If there was any judgment I could trust in this room, it was mine and Chrysalis's, it seemed Chrysalis was stating more correctly driven ideas than the princesses.

"Celestia," I called and she turned. She remained silent before I stepped up to her and gulped. "When you're ready to leave, I'm coming with you."

She was taken back slightly and stared at me for a few before questioning. "Are you sure?"

I nodded without hesitation. "Yes, if what you say is true, I have a feeling Sting won't have the patience, and from what we just discussed…Sting honestly doesn't sound like the one I met."

There was silence, only for a moment before someone cleared their voice.

"Damn straight."

"K!" Everyone greeted in exclamation before I smiled at his sight and greeted him. He responded positively with a smile and took a heavy breath, it seems he had woken at the nick of time. He didn't have his vest on, just a tank and some jeans, probably too earily to worry about clothes. "Morning." He smirked as he rubbed his eyes and stretched.

"Good morning K," Luna greeted followed by Celestia.

"Hey." K greeted back, not really putting much effort into his smile, instead he put it into his question as he joined Celestia's side and looked down at her. "So, we're going to see Sting?"

"Yes, is there a problem?" Celestia asked back, trying to see if he would object, but he didn't. K looked up at me and shook his head.

"Considering this is inevitable, it probably best we hold back the negativity, and it seems you already discussed enough, so no, no problem."

We all looked at each other before K brought his hand up, to which we all gave attention. "Okay, maybe one…"

"What is it?" Celestia asked. K simply turned to the floor with a hand out.

"I…uh…I told Vinyl about this, and that actually created a crowd of familiar ponies…"

Celestia dodged an eyebrow. "Of what likes?"

"Lyra, Bonbon, Octavia, Scootaloo, Belle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Derpy, Starlight, Trixie…and if Scootaloo got that information…there's no doubt in my mind that Dash got some of that, and if Dash got some of that…well…let's just say we might be in for it." K looked back at Celestia, hoping for a positive response, yet it seemed like Celestia was remaining more neutral at the moment. She shrugged it off leaving behind her answer.

"Well…I guess there's no problem…"

K smiled and closed a fist. "I'll take responsibility and take care of them."

"So, Body Guard duty for you then?" I asked and he gave a simple nod with a simple answer.

"Yup."

We all let there be a moment of silence, not really knowing how to start a conversation that was stress free. We all glanced around before I finally decided to smirk and accept the silence, getting instant attention.

"I appreciate you finally taking my advice and taking a break." I began, hoping for some words to come back my way. Celestia and Luna both smiled with an assuring nod. "Yes! We believe it's best enjoyed when there is peace…well, sort of."

"Yeah, so the sooner, the better! When are we off?" I asked quickly directing the question to the main focus of today. There was a silence again, ominous and strange. Celestia looked away and cleared her throat. "I suppose…when you feel like it."

I picked my head up and smiled. "Well, I already answered that then, the sooner, the better!"

Everyone exchanged looks between each other before Luna stepped up. "You sure?"

"If it means helping Sting out, you two finally getting a break, and getting to know both Sting and Jade a bit more, then there is no argument from me." I gave back, and she took it with a smile. "Fine."

"Alright," K agreed before looking around and turning to me. "Let's get your things ready."

I ran a fist into my palm and grinned. "Let's go!"

"What's wrong with you?" Jade asked across the table, trying to see if she could unlock something with in him that'll let her see what his hatred was made up of, but Sting's about as hard as stone. Sting had been staring at a bowl of cereal this whole time, just watching the wheat pieces mold into chucks of moist sogginess. He looked up and shook his head. "Nothing."

This rentable room wasn't enough for Sting. Jade searched until she had found the perfect place, hoping to get a reaction out of him, but all she got was disappointment. The room was dim lit and was furnished with what seemed the best of furniture and appliances, and it even seemed like it could be used for long term, what Jade actually intended, but with Sting acting like he is, that wasn't in mind anymore.

Jade sighed with frown towards her own bowl of cereal, she never really enjoyed it out of worry for Sting.

"I thought we made a right decision…stepping out of that dark, cold, and dingy, time warp…"

Sting wasn't moved, as expected by her, but she didn't plan to deal with how much it would hurt to have him ignore it.

"What happened to you?" She asked once more and like before he responded, simple. "Nothing."

She glared at him, almost wanting to regret so many things, but she shivered as she took back those words and almost let out a whimper.

"Will fighting this Ben…really be the answer?" She asked not wanting to whimper, but it seemed at this rate that it might prefer to try to not sob. Now, that got a reaction unlike before. Sting looked up at her, for the first time of the day and nodded. "Yes."

By now it was eerie, Sting was acting like never before, and it was clear he held something back, but that something was unreadable. Jade huffed out a slow choppy breath and tried to control herself as she looked him in the eye, and that was difficult enough with his death stare going on.

"So, fighting him…" Jade gushed out trying to avoid eyesight.

"No…"

Jade hicced as she froze for a moment, slowly turning to him. There was a new vibe in the air, something so sharp is was making her suffocate just trying to understand. "W-what?" She asked.

Sting picked his head up and let her suffer in such an evil stare, with meaning behind his eyes.

"Killing him."

Jade retracted her back onto her seat gulping heavily as her mouth trembled with objection. Sting stared back down at his bowl and pushed it away. At last, it wasn't able to be held back, and Jade let her conscious take over.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? YOU'VE LOST YOUR MIND EVER SINCE YESTERDAY! AND HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL AS TO SAY SUCH A THING, AND TO THOSE WHO HAVEN'T WRONGED YOU IN ANY-!"

She knew now this wasn't who she knew as Sting. Sting would never lunge at her and pin her to the ground, almost strangling her in the processes. She stared up at him, her eyes trembling as she tried to hold back whatever was forcing out her tears with a frown, letting her breath pass through her clenched teeth.

"Keep your mouth shut before I stitch it shut for you."

If Jade had never feared for herself, then here she did. Everything she had ever dedicated herself too, now turns on her, and in the most painful way. Jade wasn't going to just shut up because of a threat that came from someone she never knew, she tried to push back but unfortunately that only made him apply more pressure to her.

"G-get…off…me! Y-you…monster!"

Sting cocked his head over to one side and chuckled, something straight out of horror scene.

"You don't mean that."

Both Sting and Jade's ears twitched as the sound of something unsheathing arose and a silver dragon appeared besides Sting's neck. Sting looked over before the dragon suddenly turned lopsided and he had a rabidly fine razor towards his neck.

"But I do. Get off." I ordered, not once batting an eye as I gripped the handle between the glove's skin.

Sting lifted his hooves off her and straightened his posture as he turned around, the silver dragon slitting of some of the fur on his neck. In rapid succession, K disappeared from behind and reappeared with Jade by his side, her tears encouraging me to slightly push the blade up further his neck. He glared at me, a serious one, and I gave him my own glare as I slapped the side of his face gently with the face of the blade. "Explain."

He looked at the blade once more before looking up at me again. "Are you ready?"

I gritted my teeth as he held that look on him, no emotion or regret. I looked back at Jade before turning to Celestia and Luna, both too stunned to speak, and to K and Flutters who both were just staring at Sting, wondering equally as I was. I turned to him before lowering my blade and holstering it, not once giving him a chance to see positivity from me.

"What the hell was that!? I come here to see how you two were doing and this is what I see!?" I asked, tightening my anger around him. I was greeted to some fucking surprise that's for sure, I can't stop getting enough of them. He didn't react, he just remained dead locked on me, to which I was just returned with what I could. "Answer me, dammit!"

"I don't care about her, she's just in my way, it's you I need to focus on."

If that hurt me deeply, I couldn't imagine what was happening with Jade behind me. This whole scene was wrong, Flutters helped Jade calm down but Jade was already dead mentally from those words. Jade was frozen in place, her tears now falling as she trembled and whimpered like no other pony I've ever heard.

I dropped my shoulders and looked back at Jade, feeling like shit for being the reason of this situation. I took a deep breath before turning back to him.

"Some guy you turned out to be. " Chrysalis remarked before K held her back with his hand. He remained calm for the simple reason, he knew what was happening. I looked over to her and gritted my teeth once more.

"I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you, but I'll be damned if I let you go on like this!" I assured him and he aimed his look at me.

"Let's go."

"I guess I have no choice but to beat some sense into you, come on Celestia." I ordered as I let my hands drop to my sides and stare him down.

I heard Celestia shiver as she nodded and enveloped us all with her magic.

I stared at Sting as he faded slowly and he stared up at me.

"I hope you've said goodbye to everypony…"

I clenched my fists, not wanting to hear any more of his shit. It seemed K and Chrysalis were right about this guy, he was trouble. And now I'm gonna die according to him, to hell with him.

"If it's gonna be like that…then I'll make sure to tell everyone you said _bye_."

His expression changed slightly, more malevolent to be precise. I won't be fazed by it, instead I'll let it pain me for now, at how much I actually put faith into this guy.

Everything was calm over by Fluttershy's home, which puzzled Twilight slightly. She looked all around for a clue but found nothing. Ben wasn't around anymore.

"He should be here…" She said stepping out the house and closing the door.

"Who ya lookin' for?"

Twilight quickly picked her head up and to see AJ standing in front of her. "Huh? Oh, Applejack…uh, I was looking for Ben." She admitted moving up and meeting her a foot away. AJ smiled with a nod, of course, that was her reason for being there too.

"Oh yeah…Rainbow Dash came by and told me about what happened." She revealed and Twilight gulped.

"She did?"

"Sure did, she's actually searchin' for him as we speak." AJ explained, getting at least that positive to Twilight. Twilight picked her head up and smiled.

"Oh…okay then, I guess-

"HE'S NO WHERE!" The colorful blur zoomed by before stopping at AJ in a panic frenzy.

"Say what now?" AJ asked back and Dash quick waved her hooves maniacally.

"I checked everywhere but he's gone!" Dash screeched before AJ giggled.

"Don't worry, I'm guessin' he must be doing his thing."

"B-but without us!?"

Twilight gulped as she agreed with Dash on this one and sighed.

"Dash is right! I've been thinking about it too, and I've made up my mind, I need to check on him."

AJ and Dash both turned, but only one was excited while the other was left to wonder if she should worry about Twilight's serious tone. Dash dashed up to Twilight and aimed a hoof towards town.

"OH! And can we pick up the rest!?"

"Rest!? What rest!?" Twilight asked, confused about such a question. Dash smiled as she jumped into the air.

"Just come with me!"

I felt something appear under my feet, solid ground, and I let my body take in the new atmosphere. Looking around, I was in some open, grassy, plain area with a rare population of trees. Worst of all, I turned to see him there too, and it seemed like rain was even rolling over in our direction. He was all eyes on me as I turned and sighed.

"Alright…Sting…" I whispered out before placing one hand on my weapon and turning to him fully. "Let's see what you got."


	54. Chapter 54 - Wrong Turn

#54

I saw better in Sting, something from inside of me just told me he wasn't this dark persona I was greeted to. Even so, I hadn't mustered the courage to begin anything or make a move on him, I just stood there, pondering what I was doing, and how it ever came to this. I had assured Celestia to stay a safe distance away, along with the party so I could have Sting to myself, but it seemed now I wasn't serious about my words. I never meant harm to him, nor do I want to cause any.

I was frozen in place, my hands twitching slightly and my eyes just staring aimlessly at Sting, hoping to see if I could find something in them, to which I knew I won't anything but hatred. I finally decided to take a small intake of air and let it out in a sigh.

"So, this is what you wanted?" I asked him. He didn't twitch or move, the sound of wind whistling making him even more unsettling. I nodded before closing my eyes, trying to come to terms. "A pointless fight, led by hatred that you've stored in you, and here I thought I saw more in you."

I opened my eyes and looked at him as he squinted his eyes tighter, it was simple to see I was hitting the right nerves. I patted my sheath before gripping my fists, getting a feel for the synthetic leather that made them and letting the sound of leather rubbing against leather fill the air.

"But now," I gripped my fists to the point they slightly shook from tension. "I see a narrow-minded fool, WHO THINKS THAT THROWING HIS HOOVES AROUND WILL SOLVE HIS PROBLEMS!"

I quickly ran my fist into his hoof, pondering how he ever managed to appear before me and maintain his altitude. _Levitation_? I quickly felt what was a string pressure on my knuckles as I watched Sting glare at me with death in hand. I quickly backed away maintaining ready posture, but I was slowly massaging my hand, moving all fingers randomly and stretching them, my hand almost seemed to spasm slightly. I looked at my hand before struggling to grip it into a fist.

" _What the…_?"

I finally managed to make it a fist but the complication was worrying. I gritted with it as I glared his way only to find he was up face-close, a hoof about to swipe across my face. I flinched my head away before using my other hand to stop his hoof and unleashing my other on him. He scooted away in the air before braking, midair. He was levitating, as to how, I don't know. I looked at my hand shaking, like I said, I never wanted to hurt him, but it's almost unstoppable when he came at me like that. I got a grip and tightened up.

K squinted his eyes tightly as he closed his own fists. He felt it too, the level of what was going on. Quickly, Chrysalis caught on and stepped closer to his side. "What's wrong?"

K gulped as he glared carefully at what was happening, not once thinking of leaving eyesight off this battle, not since seeing Ben's hand spasm. "Ben…his hand spasmed, almost as if that hoof to hand tranquilized his hand for a moment."

"Are you saying it hurt him?"

"Maybe."

"W-what happened!?" Jade asked still not getting over everything that was happening. Chrysalis and Fluttershy turned over before leaning in, hoping to inspire some comfort.

"D-don't cry…I'm sure he's just not thinking straight." Flutters tried, but it was a fail as Jade shook her head and looked away from her direction, just letting her tears fall to the grassy plain.

"I-I WISH I COULD S-SAY THAT, BUT I CAN'T W-WHEN HE WAS JUST FINE A DAY AGO!" She sobbed in despair. Flutters looked up at Chrysalis to see if she could come up with something. Chrysalis glared at her before sighing and gulping with a level of importance.

"Listen, he didn't mean what he said," Chrysalis joined in to the conversation. In reaction, Jade lifted her painfully drenched face off her hooves and let the tears glisten in the sun that was soon going to be covered by deep gray clouds. Chrysalis turned to Ben, seeing him handle himself before turning to Sting and eyeing him carefully. "Who…are you?" Jade asked.

Chrysalis smirked with a chuckle, of course Jade only met her while in disguise, but now she was out. "I was there when we sat down and had a drink over the table in Twilight's house, he said so much about you then; how you were right for him, and how you were always there even when he was alone."

Jade took stuttered breaths as Chrysalis neared her a bit more before resting by her side. "This thing he has…hatred as you call it, if it made a monster out of Luna…then it's probably making one out of your stallion."

Jade turned over to Sting fighting it out with Ben, although now, she was lifted slightly. Chrysalis's words were soothing and pleasing to hear, giving her belief that this wasn't who she personally knew. Chrysalis smiled and nodded. "Come on, get up, no need to feel remorse for somepony who isn't, who you know."

Jade followed and straightened her posture before Chrysalis came in with her magic to wipe the tears away. Jade glanced at her a blush before looking towards the ground. "T-thank you…"

Chrysalis smirked with some confidence as she held her head high with her chest out. "Hmpf! Let's just see what happens out there, and maybe see what we want to see."

I quickly ducked before jumping high into the air and staying afloat as I watched Sting zoom by under me before looking around. I looked down at him before aiming my hand at him, ready to produce something devastating, but it never came out. I couldn't get over it, my fear of hurting him was blinding me from doing the common, I gritted my teeth before backing away a few.

"STING!"

His ears perked up as he turned to me and stared, wondering how I managed to get up here and stay here.

"I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU, YOU IDIOT!"

That didn't seem to affect him, he aimed his hoof at me before his horn lit up and out came a violently plasmatic dark beam which forced my hand out. In my head, I planned to absorb whatever he shot out, but the moment the beam reached a foot from me, it expanded to five times the diameter, looking like I was going to touch the surface of a dark sun. I quickly let out of my hand what I held back on and let as much as I could to avoid getting my body anywhere near that darkness.

The blue eruption from my hand pierced through that darkness of his, almost as if pushing the dark plasma away, like a repelling magnet, and headed directly towards him. He stared before he quickly backed away and I retracted my hand. I quickly rushed my eyes to my hand before squeezing it with the other to stop the violent sparks that still surrounded it. It was odd, I knew deep down I didn't want to hurt him, but I was having a hard time stopping myself from reacting violently against him.

I finally managed to stop my hand from twitching with anxiety and turned to Sting looking up at me, looking like he was taken by surprise, unpleasantly. "D-damn it!" I grunted as I lowered myself to the ground and stared at him, wondering how far I must take this before I get the answer I needed. I huffed out a breath, before gripping my hands to fist and positioning myself to defend again.

But, just when it seemed I was going to be attacked, he bared his teeth as he lashed out randomly.

"Stop that!"

I picked my head up with a confused frown forming. "What!?" I asked him, hoping to see him react a bit more civilized, but that was far from reach.

He growled before zooming over to me and running his hoof to my head, but I quickly swayed his attack before backing away again. _So much for civility!_ The moment I backed, he blindly shot out a beam towards me making me use my hand to deflect it before he suddenly appeared before me, my hands being busy couldn't stop the moment his hoof landed on my chest gently.

I felt the immediate danger surge through me the moment I noticed the dark glow slowly begin to erupt from my chest.

"OH NO!" Flutters screeched, covering her mouth in shock, before Luna and Celestia's eyes widened. Jade watched closely as Chrysalis scooted closer to K, who just stared wondering what the fuck was going on!? Suddenly, as if in a split second from those events, what was expected transpired and what seemed like a small explosion turned into what was a nuclear explosion, that quickly forced everyone with magic to create a shield.

"What is he doing!?" Jade asked, inquiring about Ben's refusal to fight back, which had now landed him in a deep place now. Everyone stared as smoke cloud covered everything in sight. Luna and Celestia turned to her before gulping looking away. "W-we don't know! This isn't like Ben at all, he's usually more active!"

K looked over.

"He afraid to fight…" He eased out, uncrossing him arms and getting rid of that frown on him, replacing it with worry. Everyone turned and asked equally.

"What!? Why!?" They asked, Celestia sounding the most stressed.

K looked to them before closing his eyes, he knew Ben's reasons for not being offensive, yet he wouldn't question his motives. "He's doesn't want to hurt him, he still cares for Sting's safety."

"W-what!?" Jade asked by herself this time before gulping as she turned over. "But Sting can kill him if he doesn't fight back!"

Those words struck nerves of fear in the Princesses and Flutters as they turned to K, hoping he would have some positive news. His attitude gave no clues to positivity or negativity. K opened his eyes before looking back at the battle, watching the huge smoke cloud slightly pick up and slowly sway in one direction. He squinted his eyes for a better view before picking his head up curiously and by surprise. "He knows…and he's learned that now."

Everyone took a moment to understand his words before Luna stepped up to ask.

"What does that-

The sudden yell from the left and a shining blue light forced all eyes over to whatever was happening back over. The smoke screen became thin and see-through, and now, easily seen, there was a bright figure standing in front of Sting. Luna stared before her eyes widened as the smoke died down, her question had been answered.

I looked down at my chest before clutching it. Fortunately, I was able to tank that blast with my aura that semi-shielded me, and only received some tears to my shirt and a minor burn to my skin. I looked at my hand, it wasn't trembling anymore, and neither were my feelings. My hand reshaped into a fist as I looked at my aura, exposed.

"So, this is it?" Sting asked, not impressed by what he was seeing. I moved my eyes up to him before my head followed through. I was expecting to be able to give him an opportunity, but now I was far from it.

"Sting…I've warned you enough." I straightened my body and lifted my hand towards him, putting a few inches between his face and my hand. He picked his head up a bit, pondering my action. I unfolded my hand from the fist and faced the palm towards him before spreading each finger evenly from each other, sparks connecting each finger. "I'm going to make this quick."

I was going to make this quick.

I quickly shot out what he wanted and as expected he dodged but made the mistake of judging me to early. He appeared behind me and I quickly launched an elbow towards him, getting him straight in his neck stunning him for a bit.

I turned to him, firmly giving him one on the spleen before gently placing my hand on his chest. He couldn't retaliate when I hit two paralyzing points and made him hunch over. He looked up at me once before showing his anger. I had nothing to express back but the look on my face, and my warning from before.

"Like I said, you've been warned enough."

I watched as my vision became blinded with a glowing blue hue, the sound of violent winds and clashing plasma upon plasma, along with Sting's roar of pain. I stared for a while, seeing how long it would take before the screams dissapeared; not soon enough. I decided to stop and lower my hand, waiting to see the damage I had done.

"He got him cleanly…" Chrysalis mentioned, shocked into an almost immediate silence after that last quick happening. "Yeah, and with so much force…" K agreed, equally silenced by Ben's sudden merciless attitude. Something had happened to Ben, for him to go from being a merciful defender, to a merciless striker, and it reaped in K's mind.

"He's not going to kill him either…is he?" Jade asked, looking around for an answer.

"N-no…Ben isn't like that." Flutters answered, unsure of her answer, which only brought about questions. Jade sighed as she looked towards the princesses, to hear their say. "He isn't merciless, right?"

The princesses turned to her, each one showing some type of insecurity.

"He has mercy in him, at least to those he finds acceptable of it." Luna responded turning to her sister, seeing to it that she gets some help in answering. Celestia picked her head up and made a slight frown, getting a grip of her thoughts.

"Ben has a peculiar mind, which is directed by justice and the protection of others, and in this case, I'd say he's doing what's necessary." Celestia explained, not trying to be soft or too hard on her considering Jade is going through enough. Jade looked towards the ground before looking back up and taking a deep breath.

"Justice…Sting was all for that…"

Luna looked over to Celestia, and Celestia did the same towards her, it is interesting to hear such a contradiction to the reality in front of them. Jade turned away before looking up at K, his face only exempting confusion with his frown of displeasure. Something was oddly wrong.

"K, you're his demon, how's Ben going to handle himself?"

K picked his head before turning over to her, and Jade slightly backed a step. It was still on his face, the confusion and worry.

"Ben's kind of random as far I know, you can never really be sure about what he can do, but from what I see, it seems he just lost all the fear he had for harming Sting and did a flip over to causing some severe pain." K explained his part, and Jade got the confusion equal to K's, but she couldn't explain what the confusion was, it just caught onto her.

"So, what's that mean?" She asked, not really getting the hang of worry and fear just yet. K looked at Ben before turning to Jade and taking a slow and steady breath. "I don't know…"

I watched as I Sting picked himself off the ground, feeling some pain in his hooves as he did so. I lowered my attack slightly as I took a step in his direction.

"I was hoping that knock some sense into you, did it?" I asked. He grunted as he lifted his head and glared at me, maliciously. That look was infuriating, it easily told me to go _fuck myself_. I picked my head before frowning and aiming my hand at him, just waiting to hear his response and he did.

"As…if that'll-

"Wrong answer!" I let my hand free and he crashed another few feet away. I wasn't dealing his damn taunts now, I was dealing with the questions I wanted answered. I moved up again and watched him cough something up and struggle to get up. "Did it!?" I asked again, swinging my hand behind me, over my head and right at him, he flew another few feet before moved up again.

K's eyes widened before he gulped and took a slight step forward as Ben's hand went up again, behind his head.

"W-what's he doing!?" Jade asked with Flutters. The princesses quickly rose to occasion and shook their heads.

"He can't be serious…he wouldn't…"

Despite the princesses' rejection of his actions, Ben quickly lifted his hand behind his head and charged up what seemed like a blue-neon blackhole. With his vains being as stressed can be, it was simple to see Ben's not a bluff, and that, that _thing_ in his hand was nearly five times as powerful as anything they'd seen today, lethal in other words.

"He is." K answered, a bead of sweat going down his face as he had his hands balled up in fists. Everyone turned to him slowly before turning to Ben make that ball of thrashing power in his hands increase in gravity.

"ANSWER ME!"

Everyone turned quiet as they watched, not really believing Ben's words, taking them as a taunt, but Ben's look of complete agitation was unbeaten. Sting was remaining unresponsive, as he struggled to get up again, and now it seemed Ben was playing a game, a game he'd played before. Sting was weak, too weak to respond, but Ben only saw an opportunity to take a hit.

"WHERE IS THE HATRED STING!? DAMN IT!"

"K, stop him!" Jade begged. K looked over but his mind was mentally stuck between who to really stop. Jade panicked as she looked around for options but her time was running out rapidly. "Princesses!?" She tried but they were equally confused. Jade's eyes widened at the realization she was alone, and she quickly turned at a voice dominating over all.

"That so, well then, TAKE IT WITH YOU'RE HATE!"

Ben yelled as his hand swung from behind him and towards Sting at such a speed, it was like he was throwing the fastball of the century. Everyone too shocked to respond, took in a rapid intake of air and prepared for the worst, all except one.

"N-NO!"

Careless of her own, Jade was a gift to death at this point. She swung with all the magic and strength her hoof could produce and swung it towards Ben's incoming hand and in such a moment it seemed that time had slowed for both.

" _J-Jade!?_ " Were the only words running through me as I noticed herself prepare to meet my own hand in the next moment that seemed to be coming so quick it was slow. Her eyes watery and her magic spasming as she did the most she could. She had teleported in front of me, the obvious reason being that I inteneded to target Sting. _What was I doing_!? My hand was going to basically touch her hoof, and only destiny will decide what'll happen, but it was already revealed to me. I over-did it, my brutality…but how? I could easily see how much force I put into this attack, enough to kill Sting beyond death. Where did this strength come from!? I don't know but it made sick allover. I didn't want to kill Sting, just force out words, but I lost it somewhere in my head. _"H-How did it come to this!?"_

I couldn't stop anything, my attack and my eyes from closing.

I felt what was a small touch and a tear hit a blade of grass.

"J-JADE!" Chrysalis shouted along with K before covering their eyes from the blinding blue light and standing firmly in place, not letting the massive wave of the blast move them too far. The princesses created their own shields, shielding everyone in it, except the unfortunate stray.

The whole world became covered in a blue explosion as I felt my body heat rise nearly a million times what it normally was before feeling like I was hit with the hardest volt of electricity. I rolled and rumbled for what seemed like an eternity before finally getting landing with my face to the ground and skid off to a stop, the grass around me getting thrown around.

There was silence, a peaceful silence that let me rest for a second before the pain kicked in and I rushed my hands to my sides, clutching them tightly as my breath became filled with a liquid so sour it felt like I was ejaculating acid. I coughed a few times getting rid of the liquid before opening my eyes, which were parallel to the ground and studying the deep red. I wheezed a bit as I felt my breath almost leave me for a second before it came back and forced me to cough out more of the deep red molten. My breathing was over the top exaggerated as I tried to calm myself but I was in such a pain my lungs were acting on their own, trying to keep me from losing it.

With heavy panting and difficulty, but I managed to use one of my elbows to sustain my body and get on my knees, then I saw it, my body. I was fucked up, it looked like I was put in a cage of starving lions, tears everywhere on my shirt and body, but nothing could compare to my right arm and hand. I lifted my arms, only to realize one didn't act. "W-what…" I cried in a whisper as I looked at the blood drenched limb, which looked like I just pulled it out of a tub of corrosion-causing material. It was immobile, probably dislocated from the long knock back I took, and heavily damaged.

Almost as soon as I noticed the pool of blood under me, the thought of the receiving end hit me hard as I picked my head up and put everything into my legs, just to stand up. "J-Jade…" I called out weakly but doing so only weakened my knees and made me quiver. Nonetheless, I was determined to walk forward, my arm only hanging and dripping vital fluids.

"J-Jade!" I called out again, but with some more strength in it.

My foot hit a small lodged rock, making me jerk forward and collapse to the ground. "F-fuck…" I grunted, coughing more of my blood before getting up again, the process taking longer than last time. The clouds had settled in the sky above me, and it looked like the sky was ready to pour hell on me, I wouldn't mind it now. " _Why did I do this!? Why!?"_

I walked a minute before hitting something again, making me topple over, and by now, I was so weak I couldn't walk anymore. I forced my one working hand to grip the ground and propel myself forward, until I finally gripped something that wasn't grass. I looked up and noticed a shade of color that came off as familiar and forced my body to scoot up and look down.

I stared for a few seconds, taking in what I was seeing before getting on my knees and gulping as I watched the loose body facing away from me. "J-Jade…" I whispered as I reached a hand out and turned her over. I fell back from my knees and watched in shock and horror, as I tried to understand what I had done.

Her face looked clueless and her eyes were dim with no sign of response in them, almost as if it happened so fast she didn't react and froze in time. She had her own burses and tears to her skin. I forced my hand to go over a tear of flesh on her chest, it was real, and so were my screams of sheer terror as I placed my forehead on her, just crying forgiveness, hoping it would rain soon, and the rain would wash it all away.

"S-stay here!" K yelled as he quickly took off, finally getting rid of his shock. Everyone had arrived now, even the guests that were so eager to come, although, they arrived moments before horror struck. Everyone was stunned into a silence that seemed to never leave, all except Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis, and Twilight. They stared before quickly zapping their way over to Ben, appearing him, and K.

I was crying silly, and K was inducing more blood to flow out of my mouth as shook me.

"Ben! Calm down!"

"WHAT HAVE I DONE!?" I asked as I cried towards him, I was so lost in tears that I wasn't seeing straight anymore, or maybe it was from loss of blood. K looked behind himself before closing his eyes tightly and firmed his hands on my shoulders. "You didn't mean to do it!"

"SHE'S DEAD! SHE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS! SHE WAS PROTECTING HIM FROM ME!"

K looked towards the ground before letting me go and nodding as he turned around to face Jade and kneeled down beside her shaking her a bit before closing his eyes and sighing. "Fuck…"

"Daddy!"

K's head shot up as he turned around and noticed the miniature pony working her magic on Ben. "P-please be okay!"

"Huh?" I asked as I noticed my vision slowly begin to come back. It cleared barely enough for me to make out the color of eyes and and tears on the little pony who called me "Daddy."

"It's me! I-I got you! You'll be okay!"

"Y-you…" K whispered before quickly reaching for her, making her magic disappear and he dropped her in front of him, the little on retaliating like a rowdy baby. "N-NO! LET ME HEAL HIM!" She cried as she tried to outdo his grip, but it was useless as he had a deadlock grip on her.

I knew quickly what K was doing, and I had no objection, I quickly got a grip as I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth, hoping to prolong my span of life. K knew about the power of this little being, so it should have a chance of working. "I'll handle! Do as he says!" I begged before quickly noticing the flash besides me and noticed Strike staring at me, all the horror in her face as she turned to the princesses, Twilight, and Chrysalis.

"PLEASE, HELP HIM! I DON'T HAVE HEALING MAGIC!"

I quickly realized how close I was to passing out. I think I had lost too much blood by now, if they did patch me up, I don't think they could replace the blood I had lost. My blurry vision was a sign of how my blood pressure had dropped from loss of blood, and now I was using my good arm from having me fall over myself.

K explained quickly, and the little one shivered as she looked at Jade and Ben, not wanting to have to abondone none. K firmly placed his hand on her to provide confort. "Come on! Ben wants her alive more than he wants himself!"

She glared at him before nodding and turing to face Jade.

"I-I'll try!" The little one assured K before working her magic. K sighed in some relief before turning to Ben, seeing him slowly tip over to one side, before getting Strike's magic from one side to balance him out.

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?" Dash asked, not having the courage in her to move up to the action. Her sudden speech caused an uproar of worry in everyone there with her.

"He…he killed her." Applejack responded off of Dash's side. Dash's ear twitched slightly before she turned to her in a rapid move and shook her head. "NO! Something must have happened! Ben wouldn't do that! Look at him, he's crying too!"

"I hope." AJ responded giving Dash a reason to not lash out at her. Dash sighed as she looked over and looked away just as quick, Ben covered in blood was the last thing she wanted. "Dang…how did this happen!?"

"IS HE GOING TO DIE!?" Pinkie quickly asked before getting Rarity right over her.

"NO, HE'S NOT! DARLING NEVER DIES!" Rarity quickly objected pressing her muzzle onto Pinkie's making them scrunch up. Rarity backed off before looking over and looking away. "H-he was so innocent yesterday…why must this happen!?"

"What do you think Trixie?" Starlight asked. Trixie quickly gulped as she frowned.

"I think we should offer our help too." Trixie stated before getting a nod from Starlight.

Octavia was frozen in place along with Vinyl, Lyra, and Bonbon by her sides, all studying the horrific scenario. Bonbon, being highly repulsed by blood looked away, and shivered and gaged at the thought of being close to it. Lyra also objected to the sight, recalling her first time seeing Ben bleed, it wasn't a good scene for her to see him bleed this badly.

"H-how…?" Lyra asked before clutching her chest with her hooves tightly and trying to stop herself from getting emotional.

Vinyl clenched her teeth as she tried her best to not look away. "K…he warned me about this!"

Everyone turned to her, no words to ask, but questions boiling up.

"Dang it! He was right to be worried!" Vinyl remarked as she looked up to see Ben cough up some more blood, and this time she looked away not wanting to see that. Vinyl quickly heard a shutter from behind before quickly turning to her dear friend and noticing her watery eyes.

"For such a beautiful voice…he shouldn't look like that!" Vinyl's ears limped down, Vinyl had no disagreement. Octavia gulped as she let an actual tear go down now and followed by her instant objection to what was happening. "BEN!"

I picked my head up slightly before weakly looking off to my right, in the far distance I could see a small blur that I couldn't make out. But the voice was soothing despite being in such a stressed level. "O-Octavia…" I whispered before moving over to one side trying to make myself onto my feet but I was instantly but gently pushed back down some magic, followed by Strike's words.

"I know, but please stay still for a moment, well get you up in a minute!"

Octavia looked with worry before shivering in her place as she looked behind herself and around for the other four.

"W-where's the little three and the blond!?"

Dash's head followed as she looked around too, her eye sight quickly stopped ahead at Ben, three small colors and a gray one over by them.

"They're with Ben…"

"Well then we should too!" Applejack quickly commented before taking off.

"B-Ben! D-don't die!"

I wheezed a bit at feeling some pain in my chest before looking down at my lap and seeing an orange blur with two more beside it. Scoots was easily the orange one, and her friends were the ones by her side. I stared at them before gulping and trying to smile, but I just turned away cough out what I was losing. _Damn it!_ _Not in front of them!_

"Ben…please!" I heard Scoots again. "Heroes don't die!"

I wish I felt like that right now, but I didn't, I felt about as light headed as could get, and was just gripping onto something. I was lucky to have survived that attack, which ended someone's life, but it seemed like I'm just lingering at the edge of death. For her sake, I lifted a hand my good hand and wiped it with my torn clothes before placing it on her head. I heard her whimper as I rustled that purple hair on her head and let my hand weakly fall to the grass.

"You're not gonna just go like that, leavin' me and my sister like this…right?" Bloom asked, and she was right about that, I don't wanna die like this, I want to go out being a hero at least. "Yeah, us too!" Belle added making me want to smirk, but it wouldn't come out. I shook my head. "N-no…I'm not gonna die…like this."

"You promise?" Derpy asked. I looked over to her next to Strike, and swallowed heavily.

K looked away from Ben, glad Ben had someone to support him, before turning to the little one. The little one was glaring at Jade with her eyes just staring right through her, before she stopped for a breath of air before re-doing her magic. She blew up her cheeks and applied as much pressure as she could to her horn and magic, as she enveloped Jade once more. K had to commend the magic of this little being, she had healed all the scars and tears on her skin, even cleared the blood, the last hoping being if she could bring her back from the dead.

"Is it hard?" K asked seeing the little pony become blue from holding her breath before letting it go.

"Ha…yes…ha…"

K looked at Jade before looking around and seeing Jade all healed. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew about the cliché doctor stuff. "What if we induce shocks?" He asked making the little one scowl at him.

"Are you crazy, we want her alive, not fried!"

K almost chuckled at her response before shaking his head and placing his hands on her chest. "I meant like a defibrillator, just help me induce a shock through her whole body, one that's strong but that won't make her worse."

The little one nodded with blush. "Oh…right, okay, small shock."

K picked up an eyebrow after a few seconds of having his hand on Jade's chest. "Are you not gonna help?"

The little one blinked a few times before tapping her horn slightly and tightening her eyes as she tried to force it, nothing. "Wha…"

K looked and gulped. "Are you drained?"

The little one blushed and nodded with fear as she turned to Ben and shivered. "I-I wasted it all…"

"I'm sure you have more, maybe it needs to recharge," K assured before re-placing his hand on Jade's lifeless body and sighing. "But right now, this has to work."

"You promise?" Scoots asked next after not hearing my response. I had slightly dosed off a bit but I was back and looked towards them again before licking my lips which had gone dry.

"Three, two, one…" K whispered in his head before zapping, no response.

"Ben?" Belle asked next.

"Three, two, one…" Nothing.

I looked up at them and actually felt something in me muster up some courage to smile, I didn't know if it looked right in my state but hell, it's better than coughing blood their way.

"Three, two, one…"

With a sudden shock, he summoned a swift motion from Jade's hoof and K was sent flying almost a few feet back by the scare, he really didn't expect it to work. K watched as Jade slowly twitched before a sudden shift of her torso indicated life. "J-Jade!" K quickly exclaimed before getting up and scooping her into his arms and smiling with achievement making sure to not rock her or disturb her.

"W-what…am I alive?" She asked before K helped her straighten up in arms to have her face everyone. "Yeah! Damn it, don't ever do that again!"

Jade looked around before stopping at Ben and loosely staring at him, before her eyes did the best they could to differentiate that red and natural color of his. "Ben…take me to him."

"You just came back from the dead, you need to rest-

"J-just do it." She begged almost, her eyes wanting to close. K couldn't argue, he sighed and accepted it.

"WE'RE HERE BEN!" The party of ponies arrived from the right.

I finally got the strength and smiled towards the three little ones and gave a swift nod. "I promi-

My voice was cut off by a sudden sound of wind getting sliced. The world stopped for a second before I looked down and looked at my chest with the widest eyes I could make, there was a small line attached to it, a shining line. I looked at it before seeing it drive deeper into me and I quickly placed my hands on it, clutching it before I feeling instant weakness overwhelm me. I felt what was my last ounce of blood leave through my mouth and chest as I looked up and saw the blur in the distance. My hands slipped off the handle before Strike rapidly used her magic to pull out the thick titanium metal and tossed it aside, as I felt my vision fade to black, and that was the end of it.

K watched as Ben's body loosened and fell back, a huge gap in his chest and nothing left of his presence. Jade blinked a few times before seeing it clearly and shaking tremendously in K's arms.

"D-daddy…" The little one muttered as K watched, all three not knowing how to react.

Chrysalis, Luna, Celestia, and Twilight were all left silenced as they watched their magic zap out, they knew as well as everyone there, that magic won't work anymore. They stared at the body before them, not mustering the courage to ask, poke, or attempt to near it. That is before seeing Ben not respond.

"N-no…NO! NOOOOOOOOO!" Luna shrieked as she quickly lifted his body with her magic, but it was all loose and limped over to one side. "BEN! WAKE UP!"

The three foals quickly became full of tears as they watched blood just leave his body and nothing but the absence of life in Ben's body.

"He left his sword around, thought I'd put some use to it."

K slowly turned around, Jade in his arms, towards Sting. They had forgotten about him till now, and boy did he make his presence known with his dark aura. Jade watched before her eyes puffed out and she couldn't express anymore anger than she could in her state, but K, we all too lost in a realm of hatred.

"W-WHY!?" Luna asked embracing Ben's lost for hope body, covering herself in the same blood as him. K quickly turned to Ben and refused to acknowledge Sting as he quickly knelt down, placing Jade on the grass and using a hand to shake Ben, trying to get him to respond.

"DADDY!" The little one cried followed by the cries of everyone else, overwhelming K, Chrysalis, and Jade as they all shivered to no end. K let go and felt his throat grow a lump that was making it hard to breath. Chrysalis watched before looking towards K and looking away, not knowing what to say.

"I-I'm sorry…" Jade apologized, but an apology that K just looked away from, and Jade wanted to cry once more. She knew it was her fault from the moment she realized she was alive and Ben was weak. "I'm sorry K!"

"So that was what defeated Yuson…pathetic."

Jade gritted her teeth as she turned but couldn't find it in her to say a thing.

"I didn't want this…" Celestia whimpered with tears making their presence known, but it was hard to tell the difference between Celestia's tears and that of the sky's, rain had slowly begun to pick up. As soon as Sting's words processed through Celestia, she quickly turned to Sting, not letting his mockery be heard.

"P-pathetic!? You call a hero pathetic when he did what you couldn't do all those years back."

That got an instant response from Sting, he glared up at Celestia, looking as murderous as ever.

"While you let everypony you knew die, and ran away, Ben did the opposite! He saved everypony and fought his body to near death! WHO'S REALLY THE PATHETIC ONE HERE!? THE HERO OR THE USELESS NOPONY WHO KILLS OFF OF JEALOUSLY!?"

Sting stared at her before raising his hoof quickly her way, only to have the area he stood at obliterated to a crater by another dark magic, K's. Sting landed elsewhere and turned to K as he removed his vest and dropped it off to his side, his eyes pure black, nothing in them but a red dot in the middle, that being his pupils. An aura radiating from K's body, not his usual purple dark hue, more like pure black that didn't let light through.

"So that's your hatred, jealously, you're a pathetic bastard." K claimed as took a step in his direction and glared his canines towards him. "Attacking someone who was unable to fight back, you're a coward."

K opened his mouth to let out a breath, letting out some steam of the evaporated saliva in his mouth.

"Killing someone because you couldn't do what he did, you're as good as dead to me."

"Sis…sis…" Luna cried not wanting to let go of the inanimate corpse in her clutches, in her head, she wanted to hold him as much as she could, for she wanted to prove herself to him, even like this. Celestia turned to her before moving up and running her magic through Ben's hair, prickly as ever. Celestia couldn't hold back anymore, she broke down then and there, wanting to just hide from everything that was existed.

"B-Ben! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T DIE!" Scootaloo cried out before getting Applejack's hoof around her. "D-don't, just don't." Applejack sobbed through tears that dropped to the ground. Scootaloo cried his name out, despite Applejack's words, she wanted to see the life in him.

"No! He didn't deserve this! I loved him as best friend!"

"I loved him too!" Applejack returned, not wanting to see Ben in his state. "B-but he's gone!"

"HE'S NOT!" Scootaloo argued, making everyone silent, it seemed everything everyone wanted to say, just came out of Scootaloo's mouth. "YOU SAY YOU LOVE HIM, BUT YOU DRAW THE LINE AT DEATH! I DIED ONCE, AND I CAME BACK, SO CAN HE!"

"Then look at him! Does he look like he can be brought back from death!?" Applejack asked harshly making Scootaloo almost choke as she buried her head into Ben's legs and cried. She cried like there was nothing left to do in life. Applejack looked down at the ground before collapsing at the realization of her words and crying equally. Never has anyone heard Applejack cry like she did, it was just enough to put everyone at the edge of a mental breakdown, it was so wrong and passionate.

Everyone was crying except Chrysalis, who was just watching, experiencing second-hand(hoof) pain from watching them all lose their personalities and stop acting like the cheerful ponies she knew them as.

"I'M SO SORRY!" Jade cried before Chrysalis came in and embraced her, trying to calm her. What in the world had happened to make this day so tragic and horrific.

"K…you're not who I asked to fight."

As if K would listen to that, if Sting had such an urge to kill his _childhood_ friend, then he must have expected this. Even then, civility was far from reach, he lifted his hand into the air and used his finger to quickly trace something into the air. Sting lifted an eyebrow before quickly boucing back at the sight of what K traced become an actual symbol floating mid-air.

"Don't mess with me! What's that!?" He demanded, but the only response he got was K's silence. K looked at the symbol, before raising his palm to it and letting it flow into it. He obsorbed it into his palm.

"What's was that!?" Sting demanded once more, easily disturbed. The unknown was a frightening place, and so was K. K shook his head before sending put a punch towards him. Sting quickly flinched but was forced to rethink what happened, the punch he sent out wasn't even going to touch him from ten feet away. Sting smirked in response.

"A joker, that explains-

K quickly snapped a finger and Sting rocketed away, colliding with a few trees which ended in an explosion.

"W-what!?" Twilight exclaimed moving to K before stopping at his side, noticing his eyes and radiating energy. She was stunned for a moment before she getting the courage to tell him off. "K! Just stop, please! Vengence will bring nothing!"

K looked over at her, nothing but a blank rage in those eyes. Twilight remained still, not wanting to run and hide despite her shivering body saying otherwise. "K! I'm not-

"We came to fix a problem, and the only friend I knew for years is suddenly taken from me, just days after I managed to meet him face to face without hiding in his body, the joy I felt then, I never showed to him, and he probably never knew."

K's calm voice was eerie. Easily felt was the desire in his voice, a desire that was no joke. Twilight looked away, her tears getting the better of her and K turned back to see if Sting was visible, he wasn't.

"K…"

"That hatred…it must be extinguished." He said in drop dead voice, watching Sting finally reappear a horribly incriminating grin on him.

Twilight picked her head up. "Hatred?" She asked before her sight became blinded off of one side and she turned to the point of interest. Sting had come back, and with something he showed earlier, his aura.

"Fine then, you want to join him! I'll enjoy your death as well, and maybe a few of your friends as well."

K aimed a finger before taking a step forward, ahead of Twilight and glared at Sting.

"That hatred."

Twilight stepped back before shaking her head. "I'll tell Celestia! Hold him for a while!"

K closed his eyes before opening them to find Sting already before him. K made sure to give Sting a small headstart, but it seemed like he took advantage and forced K to stop his hoof with his hand.

"Maybe I should start with her, Twilight!" Sting remarked before backing away sending a barrage of plasmatic-based attacks. K frowned, quickly bouncing back as well.

"Damn you! And everything you've done!" K let out as he reached his hands to the sky before lowering them swiftly towards him and launching an abundance orbs towards him.

NEXT CHAPTER:

"Oh my…Sting seems to have injured thy innocent soul…"

"C-Celestia…?"

"I beg thy pardon?"

"Y-you…your voice…"

There was a silence before a giggle arose.

"I'm pleased you recognized such a minor similarity, now, if thy eyes were only open-


	55. Chapter 55 - Behold, Thy Queen

#55

Questions filled with grievances were still circulating in everyone's minds. It wasn't easy to adjust, never has loss had such an impact, especially when it just happens out of the blue and in such a moment. Luna still holding fast to Ben, while others stared still comprehending, made the depressing scene.

"W-what now?" Luna asked softly, a tear rolling down and her eyes locked on his irresponsive hands. Celestia didn't want to answer, the feeling of guilt overwhelmed her, _this would never have happened of she just took the warnings,_ was all she heard when she saw everyone's reaction. Her silence forced Luna's eyes back to Ben's body, before she gently laid him down and stood up, everyone watching the scene, some crying and others whispering questions to themselves. There was a small silence before Luna opened her mouth.

"W-we do what Ben wanted…"

"What?" Celestia asked, dumbfounded by her sister's demand. Luna turned to her before gulping and letting out a sobbed breath. "W-we get rid of Sting's hatred."

There was silence, which meant that no one knew how to respond to her sudden order, but in Luna's head it was all she wanted to do right now. Luna turned to Ben, to glance once more before closing her eyes and looking away up the sky. "We have to do it."

"Fine…you go do what you need to do…we'll stay here." Dash remarked, refusing to give the princesses any more attention and let herself become distracted by the body. The princesses were moved by her agitation, and they wouldn't blame her for it, yet it was painful to see such rejection from her. Celestia rose slightly and showed her sorrow, trying to prove she was also hurt. "We're sorry, Rainbow…"

Dash turned away silently and the princesses got the point, they nodded in agreement, hurt but accepting. "Fine. Take care of him."

With that they left along with Jade and Chrysalis, silently, and as much as Dash despised seeing them at the moment, she was using them to be more angry than lost in the painful wound of her feelings. Everyone stared at Dash, as she slightly lowered her head, trying to hide herself from everyone to avoid anyone seeing her streaming eyes.

"Why…why did this happen?" She asked herself, but everyone being close around her heard. Among the group, up forth came Twilight, refusing to see her friend cry.

"Dashie…l-let him go." Twilight urged, not letting her eyes float off to the source of grief. She tried her best to comfort, but there was something wrong with her words, and Dash couldn't ignore it.

Dash's heart forced a double beat, she whimpered a quick one before turning to Twilight, looking at her off the corner of her eye. "What did you say?" A threatening tone coming from Dash while her eyes were sore with tears wasn't something Twilight intended on watching, she gulped and closed her eyes, avoiding the sight of Ben or Dash.

"Please…this is depressing…" Twilight painfully let out, trying to beg in a matter of sorts. Dash turned to her fully and bared her teeth. " _W-what!?_ " Dash processed through her head before quickly stomping a hoof getting Twilight to open her eyes in a stun.

"And how am I supposed to feel!?" Dash yelled back, not giving her stress a break. "Happy!?"

Twilight shook her head confused as to how Dash wasn't listening to her and held back her urge to be demanding. She had to have expected this attitude from somepony like Dash, but didn't. She leaned in towards her, once more, seeing if she could convince Dash to distract herself. "Dashie, come on-

"NO! I WON'T!" Dash quickly rejected backing away from her, refusing to accept Twilight's words, which were a disgrace in her sense. Her backing away was a sign she was fearful, fearful of forgetting that body next to her. The crowd of emotionally twisted spectators watched at tensions grew within themselves and those around them.

Unlike before, Twilight was now slipping past that "kind" zone and was entering the demanding stage of her situation. She imitated Dash's move, stomping her own hoof for attention. "What's wrong with you!?" She yelled out, hoping she could get a reaction with this new approach.

As if Dash would suck up to Twilight at a time like this, no way in Equestria, not when there was something she cared so much for in between.

"What's wrong with me!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" She returned the question, almost laughing from how insane Twilight's questions were driving her. This sudden turning of questions forced Twilight to lift her head, backtracking in her efforts to convince Dash and hearing her out for a change.

"Remember that day, wing exercises and everything!?" Dash added, her voice going so high pitched from how much stress was releasing through her flooded eyes. "We went to investigate Fluttershy's problem!"

Twilight looked at her, her head repeating that first moments of that day where Fluttershy asked for help, worrying that a pack of Timberwolves had trapped something in Everfree. "Y-yes…" Twilight answered, lowering her attitude.

"We got to the forest Twilight, and you called me over to discuss a plan, but I didn't because I remember feeling something coming from inside the forest!"

"You felt something?" Twilight asked, getting some insight into that day. Dash nodded firmly

"I DID! And then I heard a voice and I rushed in," She whimpered, using her wings to wipe the tears, that moment in time had forced her to recall, what is now a bad memory. In a moment, she frowned as she braced herself, getting attention from everyone as she picked her head up quickly with reason. "I…I was expecting to just save some pony, normal stuff you know? But no, instead I found a creature that called himself Ben from another world! THAT IS MY PROBLEM!"

Twilight felt those words, her hooves trembled as she listened in, not really knowing how to respond. Dash looked at everyone before looking away and closing her eyes, in an effort to shut everyone out.

"YOU DON'T EVER GET THE CHANCE TO FIND SOMEPONY THAT SPECIAL, SOMEPONY THAT WOULD MAKE YOU THINK OF HOW YOU LOOK OR FEEL! HE WAS MY FRIEND AND MORE! AND YOU'RE INSANE IF YOU THINK I'D JUST "LET HIM GO!" WHAT HAPPENED TO FRIENDSHIP!?"

Twilight looked away before nodding, hurt by Dash's revealing words.

"Dashie…I'm sorry…"

In a plane, engulfed in complete darkness that would make anyone think they're blind, were two figures that stood out, one glaring at the other, which laid upon the ground. The one standing tall was shining to no avail, and the other resting on the ground, knocked out.

"Why must they turmoil with each other…?" She asked before turning over to the body resting on the ground and smiling slightly. "But I guess thou is worth it, isn't he?"

She got no answer. She sighed and shook her head with a smile still gleaming on her. "Fine, I'll save the compliments for when thou wakes up."

"Jade, stop crying." Chrysalis ordered as she held her by her side, and with the princesses on the other, just watching the battle in front of them, thinking of a way to extract what Sting is refusing to let go.

Jade turned to her and gulped strongly through that lump that formed in her throat. "I'm sorry, but I, I just can't believe this!"

"Believe it, because we need you to handle Sting's hate." Celestia responded, looking down her side at Jade. Jade twitched as she looked up to see K and Sting, hoping to get some courage, but that was quickly shot down with how quickly Sting moved across the field. She backed a bit before Chrysalis used her magic to pushed her slightly.

"Why are you afraid?"

Jade nodded to Chrysalis's question. "It's dangerous."

Chrysalis lifted her head slightly. "Huh?"

"As you can see, Sting is at the moment covered in his hate, possessed," Jade warned before clearing her throat further. "So mercy or talking him back to sanity is out of the question, the only way to cleanse him is to get in contact with him and do a small ritual, or get something that can absorb all the hate."

The princesses looked at each other, remembering something from a few nights ago, in which Ben was still alive, and did something to Celestia's magic, almost like absorbing, but then again that was out the question.

"One is possible, but it's risky, and the other we don't have anything that can absorb hate, I could do it, but getting inside of Sting is fatal at the moment." Jade lamented. Everyone looked at each other before sighing.

"We'll have to go with what he got, how is this ritual done?" Celestia asked.

K quickly swiped down at Sting with a fist but had to back away at Sting's sudden eruption of increasing rage. K watched for a split second before lifting a foot quickly over his head at Sting incoming and landing him one under the jaw before aiming his hand towards him and sending him into the sky with a burst of dark jagged energy waves. K watched the sky's act calm and peaceful before quickly running a hand behind him, ready to meet anything, but instead was met with his own surprise. The sudden feeling of something occupying his hand didn't go unnoticed.

"W-what!?" K ran his hand back up to his face, and he glared at it insanely. "No way…" He whispered as he gripped tightly to the ten-foot scythe in his hand that glowed a light-red, almost pink hue. He studied it for almost a second before giving it a twirl and noticing how light and quickly he moved it.

"K!"

K's head jerked up to the sky to notice Sting with two hooves over his head, a ball of sparking mass over him, almost six time his size. K gave him a glare before turning to the scythe and giving it a twirl before gripping it firmly. "Try me." K whispered out, confident in the feel of his odd weapon.

Sting yelled loudly as he put more effort into his attack, forcing the mass to increase in size by the exponents. "Parish with all your friends!"

Sting used his body like a slingshot and sent out a hoof towards K, making the mass of damage follow through coming in bullet speed. K's eyes reflected off the darkness of his own power as he gave the scythe one more firm spin and brought his arm across his chest and with his hand over his shoulder, six feet of scythe and blade behind him. He quickly immitted what looked like a red and black mix of aura for a slit second as he rapidly spun his body with the scythe slicing the air, and the air that was sliced turning into a red flash that extended almost a mile and rushing upwards towards Sting, at a speed faster than his bullet speed.

"WHAT THE!?" Sting yelled out as the red mile sliced through his attack, destroying it, and went for him. He quickly dropped a bit from the air to let the fine red line go over him, but as soon as he looked back at K, he was greeted by a barrage of them, and K resting the scythe on his shoulder. "TSH-K!"

K frowned slightly as Sting dodged with difficulty, and spit out something before putting the scythe to use again and twisting his body slightly. He took a moment to study Sting's moved before getting the scan and growling as he put as much force into his arm as he swung it across his body, sending his weapon propelling towards Sting, propelling with such speed that it looked like a pink-glowing spinning disk.

Sting quickly ducked from the last one he saw, but he had a late response to the disk that quickly got him on the cheek before he quickly looked behind himself, but before he could react, it had gone over his hoof. He was reacting slow, too slow to keep up with the spinning scythe that was now taking advantage of his speed. Within seconds, the scythe was going to a speed that it looked like Sting had become trapped in pink cocoon.

This odd scythe of K's was not only baffling the audience of four, but K himself as he stared. After a few, K aimed his hand towards the sky at the pink cocoon. "HEY!" He yelled and, in an instant, the scythe stopped and quickly spun toward K's hand and firmly landed in his hand. K took a moment to accept his weapon's obedience before turning to the sky and seeing Sting. He was wide-eyed all the way, cuts across his body, dripping blood as he slowly descended. K snarled slightly as he lifted his dormant hand, created a marble like ball and bouncing it around in his hand slightly. Once he felt the perfect pitch, he tossed it up before sending it rushing towards Sting in a kick full of fury.

Within an explosion, Sting was down to the ground.

"W-what just happened?" Celestia asked taking a step forward. "K has a scythe?" Luna followed looking at K scrape the ground around him with the tool in his hand, causing the grass to just fly into the air, K was seemingly taking a moment to enjoy his weapon.

Jade glared at K before turning over to Sting in the further distance, he was alive, his aura proved it. Jade quickly clicked and tapped Celestia's hoof repeatedly. "This is probably the only chance we have! Let's go!"

Celestia looked at her and nodded. "Right!"

"I'll follow with you, but first I need to go check on K." Chrysalis explained, getting Celestia's approval. "I'll go with Chrysalis, as well." Luna came up, getting next to Chrysalis. Chrysalis glared over to her before turning to Celestia, who took a small moment to think before approving it as well.

"Alright, we'll be over by Sting."

They all scattered to their locations via teleportation, Jade was quick to react to seeing Sting in front of her. She was unnerved by the sight of his damaged body, but she wouldn't go and stick up for him yet, not before she had extracted everything in him. She quickly circled Sting a few times, searching for something before stopping at his side.

"Alright," She whispered, tying to not provoke Sting, he was still awake, his eyes glaring up at the gray clouds in the sky, wide and in shock.

"What will you do?" Celestia asked and Jade worked some magic which involved her gathering the blood that Sting let off, and using it to paint the ground around him. "A ritual, and thanks to the damages K made, this process will be quicker."

Over by K, Luna and Chrysalis both stared at K's back as he had stopped and froze slightly at their presence behind him. He picked his head up before turning over to them. Luna and Chrysalis froze slightly as well at K's unsettling appearance.

"K…you're different." Luna noted, making K look down his body. He lifted his arms before getting the scythe in his view and nodding.

"A little I guess." He seemed to have the same attitude as the K he's known as, which brought some relief to Luna and Chrysalis who sighed. As they sighed, they noticed the scythe, and asked. K brought it up to his face before loosening his grip on it, evaporating it. Equally to vaporizing it, his eyes reverted back to normal and his aura dropped.

"Yeah…I don't know how to explain it, it just spawned, and I put it to use." He explained, but the vibes Chrysalis and Luna got from being around him changed, they felt safer and warmer after the scythe disappeared. They looked at each other, hoping to see if they could relate before turning to K.

"You seem to know how to use it really well." Luna brought up, and K nodded. "Yeah…I did."

The absence of firmness in his voice, got both female's attention.

"What's wrong?" Chrysalis asked, hoping to connect. K looked up at her, expressing his feelings with his glare. Chrysalis looked away with some shame, she'd forgotten the main reason K took action in the first place. "Oh, right…I'm sorry."

"K, I'm really sorry, I never would have expected such." Luna apologized next, which K closed his eyes to.

He turned to the ground, thinking deeply before picking his head up. "I'm going to Ben…I'm not pissed or anything…just hurt." He expressed before turning over and walking off in a direction. Luna and Chrysalis looked at each other before joining his side.

"Don't lie, how can't you be stern!?" Luna asked, making K look to the ground before rubbing his eyes with his arm. "I know you loved him…and he loved you, and I respect that."

Luna took her time to take that in as they continued walking. It hurts now, it hurt to think she could forget about Ben and focus up on the future, but when she thought about it, it was Ben who she looked up to for the future, and now he's gone. Luna walked with her head slightly lower than everyone else's.

"Is that really it?" She asked and K followed with a nod.

"What will you do now?" Chrysalis asked, making K sigh and shake his head. "I don't want to think about, first let's get to Ben."

"What about Sting?" Chrysalis followed up, making K frown slightly before looking away, ignoring it.

"Ben is more important."

"Oh my…Sting seems to have injured thy innocent soul…"

That voice, it was so heavenly and soothing, it took me back a while. I couldn't identify where the beauty of the voice was coming from, but I could sure as hell could tell is was somewhere around me.

"C-Celestia…" I called in an attempt to get her attention.

The one standing jumped back a bit at the sudden response before leaning in curiously.

"I beg thy pardon?"

Her confusion was strange, and I so very much wanted to see her again, but I felt so tired out to the point I was all hazy in the head and couldn't open my eyes. I felt some feeling come to my fingers, managing to slightly move them, yet, I still wanted to get the attention of whoever was around.

"Y-you…your voice…"

She stood watching him as his legs suddenly twitched before her head processed his words and she smiled.

I remained there, it felt like my back was to the ground and now I could feel my legs. I slightly recoiled a knee and made an effort to move my upper body but I was still weak. The figure became shut and inactive for a moment. I tried to move my lips but I had worn myself out just trying to move. There was silence before a giggle arose.

"I'm pleased you recognized such a minor similarity, now, if only thy eyes were only-

The moment she mentioned "eyes," I felt a small effort build up and managed to slightly open them, but I couldn't tell if they were open, everything still seemed pitch black. "Are…are my eyes open?" I asked before working the eye muscles, making sure they were open, which they were. I blinked a few times, but even then, I couldn't tell if I was blinking, everything was just too pitch black. The fear and anxiety of being blind got to me and I quickly picked my back off the ground looking ahead of myself, nothing but endless darkness.

"I'm…I'M BLIND!" I panicked.

"No-no! Thou aren't blind!"

I picked my head up before turning around quickly. "W-w-what!?" was all that came out as I quickly saw something that wasn't what I had expected. I back peddled quickly away from the being made of pure light that was blinding. I wasn't blind now, I knew for sure, but what the fuck is that!?

"N-no…please, please don't fear me!"

My backward journey came to a slow stop as I noticed the tone of voice matching that calm one from earlier and the light I was seeing dim down, _was it sad_? "Huh…?" I whispered as I noticed it before looking down and seeing my legs there and hands there, looking like they would in broad daylight. I gulped before looking up at this light, it was of a familiar size to some princess I knew.

"Are you an angel?" I asked out of the blue, or should I say black in this case. The light flinched before slightly changing color, a pink glow.

"Um…no…"

I blinked a few times before looking around myself, I was sitting on a pitch-black floor, like the rest of this place. I looked up at the pink light before getting on my feet and getting the sense of control of my body. "Some figment of my imagination?"

"I assure, this is no figment of thy's imagination."

I got a hang of her civility and stepped slightly in her direction at the sound of her voice, it felt pleasing. Strange, I could swear on anything this was Celestia.

"Well how about this, you sound almost like Celestia, and she's the only one I know with the power of sun and all its holy light…although I must say, I don't recall her light changing color based on emotions."

She flinched again, meaning I had exposed her of that truth. I smiled a bit and moved another step. I wasn't as spook as before, on the contrary, I was drawn to this light now that it had dimmed and become fully pink.

"Thou knows them well…"

"Huh? Them?" I asked closing the empty space between us. "Aren't you Celestia?"

This light looked up at me, and now that I could see it better, this was in the outline of a pony, about Celestia sized, maybe a bit taller and lengthier.

"No, but I know her and her sister." She was speaking as if she was close or related to them, like a friend of sorts. The way she expressed that remark, it almost sounded as if she had tried to feel disappointed. Even with that being said, there was something she held back, it was this feeling I had.

"Everypony knows Celestia and Luna, but what makes you different?" I asked with a smirk as I lifted a finger and poked at a line that was surrounded by light. She blew up in a brighter pink which meant I struck her horn. "W-what's thou up to?" She asked as I quickly got to her side and put hands on her sides feeling around for something. With a few seconds of rubbing around, I got my hands on a soft patch of something and gripped gently as I pulled on it, unveiling a glowing light that extended from her body. Wings; lengthy, gentle, and stiff.

"Oh? So, you're an alicorn!" I expressed before circling around her a few times. "But I've never met an alicorn that is Celestia's size, or taller for that matter. And what's with the pink glow?"

"Oh my…thou's very…physical in his approaches…"

I chuckled a bit before laughing out loud and smiling to no end. "I'm a very physical guy!"

She was silent for a moment before looking away and glowing a friendly, lighter, glow of pink. I lifted an eyebrow before placing two fingers on what should be her muzzle and smirking with my eyes closed, she brightened up to the point I was really gonna go blind staring at her. "Are you smiling?"

She looked up at me before giggling and making her light disappear. I felt her giggle, not like I heard it, more like that giggle traveled thorough my fingers and up to my head, and as far as I remember, a muzzle wasn't as slippery and moist as this. I opened my eyes again and quickly looked down at my fingers.

"I…uh…crap…" I chuckled nervously as I noticed my fingers, of all places, in her mouth, and really not knowing how to react. I looked at her expression next and smiled slightly at how she was glaring at me with amusement and a blush bright enough to be seen mile from this darkness. "I…I'll be taking back my fingers…" I chuckled retracting my hand and noticing the saliva between her mouth and my fingers before wiping them on my shirt. She giggled as she licked her lips and smiled.

"Very physical…" She giggled. I blushed slightly as I looked away. "Sorry…I didn't really see where I was aiming my fingers…"

She giggled some more.

"Don't mind it, we are alone in here after all."

"Leaves much for the imagination," I returned with a smirk, she wasn't really aiming to make her words "meaningful," but I was. She caught on and blushed with a smile. "Does thou really intend on such actions?"

I gave her my look, the one I've given so many to prove I'm being playfully serious. She stared at me before blushing and looking away. "Oh…you do."

I shrugged before looking around again, I had almost forgot how I was completely surrounded in darkness. "Hmm…what is this place?"

"Oh?" She mentioned before looking around as well and jumping slightly. "Oh yes! I introduce thee to thy soul!"

"Thy soul?" I asked looking over at her. "My soul?"

She nodded before looking around and giggled nervously. "Yes…well…what's left of it…"

I choked up slightly before shaking my head. "Left…" I whispered before looking to my hands and body, I was looking clean, with the clothes I remember last wearing. This alicorn gave a mildly depressed look before sighing.

"Thou remembers how he got…eliminated, right?"

I looked at her a good few seconds before getting a head full of scenes. They didn't come as a surprise, since I knew beforehand I was, in some matter, far from my body. But still, remembering back to my chest opening up like it did, I could only place my hands on my chest and squeeze tightly. "Y-yes…Sting…"

She picked her head up. "Yes…Sting…forgive him, he's blinded with a hatred known as jealously."

"Jealously!? Of what!?" I asked and she looked off to the distant darkness. It must have been one hell of a green eye if he had to kill me.

"The fact that thou killed Yuson…and he didn't."

I stared at her, trying to comprehend that, I could understand it, but I couldn't believe it. "W-what!?" I asked before shaking my head at the disappointment. "Are you telling me he killed me over his own pride!?"

She looked up and nodded, making me close my eyes and think on it, trying to see if I could find a way to make it sound at least acceptable in my head, but I couldn't. If it had been me, I would have been grateful and even maybe have done my best to serve him good, but no, he didn't do that, he killed me instead, an ungrateful bastard he is. But still, I had to accept this, maybe the green-eyed monster inside of Sting got the better of him, it happens to many.

"Please, I know thou's a kind and forgiving being, I've been watching over thee."

I picked my head up curiously before turning to her, she knew me well apparently.

"I may not know who you are, but yeah, you got that right, don't worry, I'm not hellbent on keeping a grudge against him." I answered her and she lit up instantly with a smile. "But, now, explain one thing, you've been watching over me?"

She looked at me and blushed. "Don't contemplate it too deeply, in time you'll have an answer."

I smiled at how she avoided answering.

"Hmm…a young yet wise alicorn, I guess I can trust your words." I chuckled making her blush.

"Oh, I assure thee, I'm not really in my youth, those days are long behind this body."

I shivered slightly at how she phrased that, the irony in her words where too great to go unseen. "Ms. Alicorn, your body contradicts your words, harshly," I responded, before some more literature popped into my head. "I mean, you're as beautiful as beautiful can get."

Beautiful was an understatement, gorgeous is more like it, this being seemed to possess every attribute I liked in a pony, but then there was an odd connection between us, that I can't describe with words. She blushed with a small smile as she looked to the dark ground.

"D-don't spoil me with such flattery-

"Not flattery, it my honest view."

She glared at me before smiling to no avail and I smiled back at how she acted. I wish I could have looked at her smile longer but, I needed answers. I sighed, getting her smile to fade. "But…as much as I like your company, I don't understand, aren't I dead?"

She shook her head before slowly bobbing her head to the sides. "Well, in a matter of sorts, let's just say thou's not as easy to execute as he looks."

I turned to her with some strong motives burning. The way she worded it made it seem as if I had withstood that chest pericing titanium stab. "Wait, what!? I'm not dead!?"

She looked to one side before the other and smiling.

"Well, you are…but your soul isn't." She revealed making me jump slightly.

"Huh!? What's that mean!?" I asked and she giggled at how I reacted.

"It means thou can possess other bodies as thy own!"

I stared at her before frowning slightly and shaking my head firmly. If I knew how she was going to make this sound, then I wouldn't be taking part in some possession.

"Well you can forget that idea! I'm not going to take someone else's body!"

She quickly shook her head in objection as well.

"N-no! Listen, I'm speaking about thy own body."

My own body? She was slapping me across the face so many answers that I couldn't land firmly on one. Yet, my own body? Wasn't it killed? I lifted an eyebrow in response and glared curiously at her. "What about it?"

She smiled before lifting a hoof towards me.

"If thou haven't noticed, everypony with magical abilities has been trying to heal thee, Twilight, Lyra, Vinyl, those two young ones; Belle and thy fostered foal, Trixie, and Starlight…yes, it's a far cry from bringing thou back to existence, but with thy's body almost restored and in shape, it would just take a soul interaction…and then a small but pleasant surprise…"

She decided to go through with her point, which I was hooked on firmly to, she was getting to a conclusion that I was beginning to get fonder of with every time she would increase her smile. "S-surprise?" I asked taking a small step towards her. She nodded and blessed me with the sight of her joy.

"Oh yes, thou's ability of using Pure Light magic will basically engulf thee the moment thy soul comes in contact with thou's body, in other words, the soul will place back all its magic back into thy body, which will quickly start thy heart and mind!"

"You mean I can get my own body back!? And restart my heart and everything!?" I quickly became a frantic shaking machine. She smiled and closed her eyes. "Yes."

I looked at my hands and nodded with no end to it.

"If that's so, then let's get to it!" I demanded but she looked off to the side making me follow. "W-what's wrong?"

"Before I get to what I want to say…Pure Light magic has the power to absorb other forms of magic, even hate…so I'm hoping thou understands what I'm asking?"

I'm not stupid, but yet, I get her intentions and made fists with my hands in excitement.

"Yes! I got it!" I assured her making her blush slightly. "I'll get thou's soul ready…but remember…this is quite possibly the last time I'll be able to do this…it's very draining of my magic."

"I'll use my second chance wisely, I promise!" I promised before rejoicing by smiling towards the endless abyss of darkness.

"I trust in thee, oh and before I forget," She brought up with a blush making me pause and leaning in closer.

"Yes?"

She took a moment to herself, looking off to the darkness before coming back at me with a blush, that if I had known better, she was saving up till now. I watched her, before lifting an eyebrow and leaning in. "What's the matter?"

She giggled before giving off those eyes that meant you've given someone a goodtime. I stared at her a bit before leaning in more.

"For ending Yuson and bringing Equestria closer to peace- _she giggled a bit_ -you have all my blessings to bed my daughters, Celestia and Luna, my two gems, and for the future you three have."

My heart stopped for a second before accelerating at almost three times the regular speed.

"Wait…then you're-!

I was cut off by my face become bright red with embarrassment as I recalled everything I did to her while I was here, alone with her, and not to say that having her lips pressed onto mine did make my blush a mile brighter. She pulled back and winked my way.

"Thou's a charming stallion, I look forward to our next meeting, alone that is." She giggled making me feel heavy and weak. I fell on a knee before feeling my body go limp and fall to the ground. This was her, their mother, and I wish I got to know her better, but it seems that I'll have to wait now, and only she knows how long till then.

"B-but…you're their…mother!" I tried to yell out, but it came out as more of struggle for air, I wheezed before feeling my body become numb and irresponsive.

"Send my best of regards and tell Sting that I'm still alive…but ease it onto him, he might lose his mind again."

I couldn't move my limbs, but my mouth was still shivering at the chance to release my final words.

"H-hey…"

"Hmm?" She hummed curiously. I gave myself another breather and felt my eye lids begin to close on me.

"B-bye… a-and please…visit sometime…" I let out softly before my head fell and banged on the ground with a thud.

She smiled as she stared at Ben's body and gave one simple nod. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to make our reunion special."

K had sat down and crossed his legs, watching Ben while answering the questions laid on him. He answered off the top of his head, pondering what to do, not really wanting to accept the fact that he was missing his other half.

"Please…try and be considerate of K, he's been through enough." Luna asked of the audience that watched K stare aimlessly at his friend's corpse. They all looked at Luna before looking down to show their shame, well except for Pinkie, who made her way up to K.

"K…um…I'll make you something sweet…if that will make you feel better." Pinkie offered as she approached K, the only one with the motives to get within a foot from him. K got distracted and look down at her, understanding her act of kindness, but given the circumstances, he just couldn't at the moment.

"Sorry, Pinkie…but I can't right now."

She lowered the small smile.

"Oh…okay."

Pinkie looked across to Ben before approaching him and looking at the refurbished body, clean of all blood and cuts, leaving only a scar in his chest and torn clothes. She sighed before using her teeth to grab him by the shirt and pulling back on him, forcing his body to sit up right. Everyone gasped as she got Ben to sit up, before pulling him over to a boulder with grunts as she struggled with his loose body. K watched closely as she managed to get him to rest his back on the huge chunk of rock and sit lifelessly.

"Pinks, what are you doing?" Dash asked finally speaking up for everyone who was silent, even K. Pinkie turned to her before looking depressingly to the grassy ground. "He looks a little bit livelier…like this."

Everyone went silent and beyond it, they all turned to the ground hoping to not get any more tear jerking moments. Pinkie looked at them all before nearing Ben and letting herself rest alongside his leg, and with his loose fingers slightly grazing her puffy mane. It's hard to get tears out of Pinkie Pie, but they got the better of her earlier and now.

"Pinkie, ya really are somethin' special." Applejack complimented her actions before ducking her head to the moment, crestfallen as well. Pinkie looked over to her before looking away and nodding. "Thank you."

K closed his eyes and took a moment to himself before turning to Ben on the boulder, which was right next to him, and then Pinkie.

"Did you ever get to spend any time with Ben?" K asked her way. Pinkie looked at him before whimpering and looking away, giving K a straight answer. K sighed before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Pinkie…did you want to spend time with him?"

Pinkie didn't want to turn to him and nodded, looking away. K nodded back before turning to everyone else, before looking down and seeing three little foals in front of him. K gave them a small look before reaching a hand out to comfort them, but they just continued letting out their sorrow through their tears. K squinted before shaking his head. "For kids…you should be seeing this."

"How did you feel about him?" Luna asked turning to Chrysalis. Chrysalis choked a bit on answering and looked over to K.

"Uh…I don't really know, I spoke to him only a few times…but he was a respectful being."

Luna looked ahead at K as well, finding the answer too simple for Chrysalis. "You didn't get to know him any better?"

Chrysalis turned to her before looking away nervously.

"Well…he had charm, and he did know how to play with his words."

Luna almost smiled there as she agreed. "That's true."

Chrysalis almost smiled as well, but the hung over feeling she had, kept her from doing so.

"Luna…" Chrysalis called, and Luna responded instantly.

"Yes?"

"What would you do…if Ben were still here? How would to treat him?" She asked.

Luna was baffled by the question, basically since it challenged reality at a deep level, but one quick look into Chrysalis eyes, and Luna was all for pondering the question. She thought for a few seconds before looking up with an answer she hated having thought about.

"I'd never put him through something like this again and show him as much affection as I can possibly muster."

Chrysalis smiled. "I'm glad,"

Luna looked over and smiled, thankfully but with pain behind it. "Yes."

Pinkie sighed once more before realizing how depressing the whole scene was; she was next to someone who she never really got to spend time with, everyone is down and blue, and she was crying, something that is hard to get out of her. "I guess…I'll…do something." She whispered to herself before standing. "Yeah! Do something!"

"N-now, all I have to do is-EPP!"

Feeling a strange pinch on her head, Pinkie quickly jumped and rubbed the back of her head, getting everyone's attention in seconds of her yelp. "Pinkie! What's wrong!?" Twilight asked.

She looked around before landing her sight on Ben's hand, which had grazed her hair before, and noticed the strand of pink on it. She blinked a few times before leaning in closer.

"I…I think Ben pulled on my hair…" She mentioned looking back at everyone.

"What?" K asked, not finding it funny, getting Pinkie to shiver as she looked around at all the crazy looks everyone gave her.

"Pinkie, he's not able to do that, he's…dead." Twilight answered getting the unfortunate agreement of everyone behind her. Pinkie looked at all of them before hearing Luna and Chrysalis speak up.

"Pinkie, you need to realize that, that isn't possible." Luna added before Chrysalis came up, serious portrayed all over her. "Maybe your crazy head is getting to you."

As mean as it was, Luna wouldn't object making Pinkie frown and shake her head rapidly.

"N-no! I can prove it!"

Everyone glared at her before K moved up to her and kneeled down. "How?"

Pinkie looked his way before she reached for Ben's hand with her hoof and lifted it slightly with her hoof. K watched, before cocking his head slightly and reaching his hand down and gripping the pink thread with his fingers. "A pink hair?" He whispered before tugging on it, but at the same time he tugged, he lifted Ben's hand as well. Pinkie quickly gave her input. "Yes! My hair!"

K stared at the odd grip Ben had before tugging harder on the hair and standing up with the hair still at hand, and almost immediately everyone gasped as how Ben's hand was just loosely dangling from the hair, he was grabbing it. K studied it for a few seconds before letting it go and quickly falling back and backing away from the so-called corpse and bumping into Fluttershy and Applejack, who quickly asked about Ben's odd grip on the strand. K shivered with wide-eyes as he shook his head and looked around.

"Who's idea of a joke is this!?" He asked, and no one answered. He looked at everyone before looking back at Ben, still lifelessly still.

"IT'S NOT A JOKE!" Pinkie quickly yelled defending her position, and K quickly aimed a finger towards Ben.

"THEN, HOW THE HELL IS HE GRABBING ONTO THE HAIR!?"

There was a silence before everyone looked at each other. K turned to Ben and stared as he wondered what was happening. Everyone rose to the occasion, and Dash along with the three little foals joined K's side.

"K…can you check…?" Dash asked getting next to K, not breaking her eyesight from the idle corpse. K looked around at everyone, they all had hope in their eyes. He gulped. "Y-yeah…"

He stared a few more seconds before walking back up to Ben and kneeling down in front of him, studying his face before looking at the pink hair strand. He shivered a bit as he placed his hands-on Ben's face and lifted it up to see it clearly.

"Pinkie, are you sure you're not playing around?" K asked, seeing no reaction from him. Pinkie shook her head quickly, finding it hard to believe no one would believe her. "No! This is serious!"

K took a moment to accept that Pinkie was acting serious, it wasn't her strong suit. "Alright."

He turned back to Ben before taking a deep breath.

"Ben?"

That voice, it was familiar, too familiar! I wanted to react to it, but I felt paralyzed to whatever was on my back, the best that I could do was just listen to the voice call out my name.

"Ben? You there?"

Damn it, I was here, but I couldn't get it through. I could tell I was sitting with my back against something hard, and that there was also something was in front of me, and I was stuck here. Without a second gone by, after the voices last words, I felt something land on my shoulders and give me a firm shake. The voice called my name again, but this time I felt the words, and recognized the voice. K, simple.

"K, he's not responding."

Another voice, and that voice was also familiar, it was without a doubt Luna's, and I quickly felt something begin to burn in my throat. If what I'm hearing is correct, then they still think I'm alive somewhere in this body, but they weren't seeing it.

"He ain't comin back…"

If that burning in my throat wasn't searing enough, then now it was. That was Applejack, and by what I heard, she's accepted I'm dead. That was painful to listen to, you'd think she'd at least have fought a bit more with her emotions before accepting it, then again, maybe I was giving off a convincing corpse. I felt some internal damage go as I felt like yelling out in how much restriction my body was going through, it was like trying to dig you're way out of being buried alive with just your fingers.

"DON'T SAY THAT!"

Pinkie Pie, that voice was an instant recognize for me, at least she still had faith in me.

"Pinkie…you're known for joking around, how am I suppose to know if ya didn't just do this to get us off our bottoms?"

The urge for screaming had never been so powerful as it was as I heard AJ just try to object to the idea I was still here, this feeling was strangling. I felt something touch my side, a hoof. "I'm not!" was Pinkie's only words as she tried to defend her case, and I wanted to prove I was still here.

"Please K…check him one more time!" Pinkie urged before I felt some horrible feeling, almost as if someone had been affected greatly by those words. And I was right to assume, it seemed as if AJ wasn't having any shit today, I felt her yell out my side.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?"

"N-nothing…but he's alive…I'm telling you-

Applejack cut off Pinkie again, not letting her speak, infuriating me to the point I felt like I was gonna capsize everything in me. "You ain't telling nothing but a lie!"

"S-shut up…"

"K, SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Applejack quickly shot to her side turning to K, but K didn't give her any notice, he was staring at Ben's body, his eyes not yet catching up to what had happened. Ben's body seemed to have moved its lips, and spoken, but K wasn't so sure about it, it was just too hard to believe at the moment.

"K? K!?" Applejack asked, noticing how K was just staring, same as everyone else. Noticing the equal responses, she lowered tensions, and eased away her frown. "What's goin' on?"

Pinkie looked over as well before noting Ben, and how there was air gently blowing his air forward in the windless moment.

I managed to open my mouth once, and the second moment wasn't too far from coming, my throat was just about to heat up in flames. I felt the moment come and went for what I wanted to say.

"Leave…Pinkie…alone…"

Everyone looked at each other quickly, double checking they saw his lips moving with everyone's views, but before they could come back with something to say, they easily began noticing the buffering light that was surrounding Ben. Within a second of the spasming light, the aura manifested causing a strong gust of wind to pick up, forcing everyone to duck and flinch back.

The wind died down, but the aura of pure light surrounded Ben continuously. Everyone glared, speechless apart from the muffled sounds they made covering their mouths in paralyzing shock.

I felt like something was released from my body, and an instant wave of intense heat over take me before dying down to normal body temperature. My body felt oddly firmer after the event, and I could swear I could move everything, but the fear of being wrong held me back from going too fast on this moment. My body was still slouched forward, my head loosely hanging over my chest.

"B-Ben!?" I heard from ahead of me. I felt my head jerk up slightly and fall down again, before gasps overtook the silence. I tried again, moving my head up, and lifted it up about enough to see the face of who was head and opened my eyes. There was no glare in the world, it was overrun with gray clouds over head, and in front of me was K. I stared at him a good second, before getting the strength to lift higher.

"K…" I whispered out before trying to reach out a hand for him, but the weakness of my body made my hand wobble as it reached for him. I didn't make it to him, but he made it to me; I felt his hand grab mine gently.

"Ben…how…?"

I understood his confusion, and couldn't help but smile, even if it would look like I was having a stroke. My eye sight was clear as a window, and I noticed how he wasn't as joyful as I was to be back, he didn't look like smiling, more like closer to the edge of crying, forcing a smirk from me.

"You idiot…demons don't cry." I chuckled and he gripped my hand firmer before smiling. He huffed out in pained laughter.

"Damn it, I'll remember next time." He responded, trying to laugh behind the tears he sniffed back. I quickly found the energy to throw my arm around his shoulder and pull him in for a friendly _bro_ embrace.

"What did I tell you!?" I played around before letting him break free of my elbow lock. He smiled without even thinking about how funny he looked giving off a smile out of pure joy. I smiled his way before looking around and seeing everyone, mixed emotions everywhere. Everyone was here, and I didn't know how to speak to everyone at once, there were too many special individuals.

"I'm guessing-I started bringing my knees up and used the boulder behind me to stand up-you all are probably wondering how I'm back?"

I nearly fell over but caught myself making K flinch his hands towards me. I assured him I was fine, and he just stared, wondering in his head how I could say that when I was lifeless a few minutes ago.

They all shook their head instantly as I found some balance on this rock. "You're not?"

"NO! WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE ALIVE!"

I almost jumped at how quickly Bonbon and Lyra appeared beside me. I quickly turned to them before smiling at how worried and angered they looked, before remembering that their anger and worry was justified. I dropped my smile and nodded with some shame.

"I'm sorry, Lyra, Bonbon," I apologized before looking up at everyone. "And everyone, I'm sorry you had to see that, I wasn't planning on dying a second time, but it happened to my surprise."

"Don't apologize Ben, this is my fault, I should have trusted in my own fears and K's judgment, this would have never happened if we listened to them."

I turned to find myself before Luna and Chrysalis, Luna looking emotionally broken while Chrysalis had this smile, that meant she only focused on the positive. I gave Luna some thought before smiling and shaking my head. I watched her glance to her side before squinting her eyes tightly as if holding something back before she was all over me.

"H-HOW!? How are you still here!?" She cried getting my full attention. "We tried everything! AND YOU REMAINED DEAD! WE TRIED TO GET OVER YOU BUT IT'S HARDER THAN IT SEEMS! SO WHY!? HOW!?"

"Shh, don't blame yourself, I was the one who acted when it was necessary. Yes, _that_ happened, but I'm back, and I swear to you that I have some amazing explanation as to who helped bring me back." I explain remaining calm. She stared at me, lost for words before I gave her a firm nod. "Let me remind you once more,"

I smiled as got her cheeks with my hands and rubbed them comfortably. "I'm not easy to get rid of, am I now?"

She stared, fully at a loss for words, and she should be. This would be my third time reminding her of my word, and to prove a message in such a way is bound to hurt.

"I'm just glad you came back, I was so afraid…" Luna remarked before Chrysalis smiled a bit wider and nodded.

"Yeah, you wouldn't stop crying over him."

"I was afraid I wouldn't see him again, you would feel the same about K!" Luna returned her way, a painful hint of red on her cheeks. Chrysalis looked away with a smile.

"Fine, you have a point."

I smiled at how everyone seemed to slowly return. "Thanks, it feels good to have someone care about me to the point they'd cry for me, that's something I've never had before."

"Well you've got an audience of them everywhere!" K showed with his hands, indicated everyone else. I turned and smiled before taking a step forward and running into AJ and Pinkie, one was over zealous and the other was just staring, seeing if she was right about what she was seeing.

"You're back! You had everypony crying, even me!" Pinkie cheered in relief with a smile that was small but meaningful. I laughed on the inside, she was happy to the point she cried, it was a heart warming feel which made anyone gush out in joyous emotions. I got on a knee to have her with my eye sight so I wouldn't look down on her.

"I'm sorry, and thank you, for believing I was still in here," I said with some deep meaning which almost made for a second round of tears, but she accepted it dearly and gently threw herself on me in an embrace. "You're welcome."

Her soft way of saying that last line made my arms gain strength as they gently tightened around her. "Yeah."

She parted with the same warmth I felt, and next one to get my eye sight was AJ. She looked like she'd made a mistake that she regretted as she had her gaze fixed on me.

"You alright?" I asked, and she broke her gaze and looked away with guilt.

"I'm sorry," She apologized, not wanting to cry again like she clearly has been for a while now. I knew the reason behind the apology, and I couldn't be mad. She's been through do much in such a small amount of time.

"Don't be, seeing someone die isn't easy to take in, and it makes us do weird things." I said, twisting her apology to make her feel better. She flinched a bit at my words, and shook her head.

"But, I actually said you were died, and I said to everypony, I feel horrible!" She whimpered looking to the floor, her hat covering her face.

I smiled, finding the opening in her words to reach the deepest regions in her heart. My hand found it's way to her hat and lifted it slightly with mh thumb.

"I was dead, but I came back, I know it's hard to take this in, but I'll explain it all later, when I won't be risking my life, and I'm able to kick my feet up, so please, believe me when I say, I know it hurts, but you have to take a deep breath and enjoy the positive." My word was a miracle to her, she quickly looked away before smiling as she adjusted her hat.

"Alright, but…don't leave us again, I don't think I can take feeling like that again." She expressed, and I couldn't agree more.

"Believe me Applejack, no one would ever be able to get rid of this feeling of despair." I explained sounding hurt, but quickly changed it with a smirk. "That's why an apology won't work, but living will, so let's live and let this be history, let's enjoy what the future holds, and end misery."

"Still speaking like you got some angel whispering in your ear." AJ giggled, I smirked back at that.

"Always."

"You kept your promise!" I heard a high pitched sqeal appear behind me before getting three little ponies on me. I looked at my arms, they were gripped with smiles. "Of course, but I need to get a hang of not breaking them."

"Heros never die! That's what Rainbow tells me." Scoots quoted making me ponder it and look ahead of myself at Dash, right in front of me. I went from her light blue hooves, up to her rainbow mane and smiled. "She knows what she's talking about, she maybe a daredevil but she's got a strong head."

She smiled my way and I followed through. "Thanks, the both of you, and Belle and Bloom."

"Dang it, you really got a habit of making us feel weird." Bonbon commented with a smile before Lyra sniffled in agreement. "It's Ben, he's always gonna make you feel one way or another."

"True, but that's him, always rocking forward," Vinyl followed along with Octavia smiling gently. "Yes, a sequel I'd love to listen to."

I watched everyone give an insightful comment before smiling. I got off my knee and gave one nod before reaching for my side, but found absence.

"Here,"

I looked behind, getting the little one and Strike in my view. Strike held the word with her magic and handed it to me, I stared at it a while, seeing the blood stained titanium before smiling as I reached out for it.

"You didn't happen to cry too, right?" I asked and they both looked away with shame.

"We thought we lost you, it hurt to think of never seeing you again." Strike admitted almost crying again from just remembering. The little one, feeling the same way actually cried and nodded. I smiled and gave the sword a good twirl.

"I love you too." I simplified her words making her blush and smile.

"Yeah, me too."

"Dang it!" Jade exclaimed as she tried to use her magic to take in as much hate as she could, but the process of converting it to life source was immensely slow. The hate she was trying to absorb was thick, the thickest of all hate she'd ever extracted. "How…how did you ever get this into you!?"

Celestia looked at Jade before studying Sting as he slightly twitched every now and then.

"Jade, just how much hate does he have!?" Celestia asked, and Jade shook her head.

"For all I know, it might be all those centuries upon centuries of time we wasted!"

Celestia looked back at Sting and shook her head. "Then this is impossible! We need another way!"

"I already said the second way but we don't have that!"

"What about K or my sister!? One's a demon, and my sister housed hate at some point, you think we'd be able to do something more effective." Celestia encouraged but Jade turned her down again.

"Even K would find it painfully grueling to do this, and I'm sure Luna won't be able to deal with this hate without turning deadly evil."

"So, no choices." Celestia said before watching a rising line of dark plasmatic energy behind Jade.

"I wish we had-

"BEHIND YOU!" Celestia quickly yelled before using her magic to grab her and teleport a few feet away. The line of darkness collided with the ground and created of a line of cracked land as far as the eye could see.

"T-thank you…" Jade thanked before looking at Sting rise and shook her head. Celestia also stared as she frowned and clenched her teeth in the stress of failing the hate extraction.

"Since Ben is gone, and K is left, I did tell him that I'll end his friends too!" Sting smirked maliciously, but not getting fear as a reaction.

"Us, in other words." Celestia replied.

"Very observant, now, how about I send you all to the infernos of the afterlife!?" He yelled before flying back a bit and tumbling before getting on his hooves again and laughing like a mental patience. Celestia and Jade both retracted their magic before shaking their heads.

"Hmmm…I could try banishing him to the moon…" Celestia inquired but Jade was step ahead.

"Only to accumulate more hate and terrorize when he comes back?"

"Right, wrong path." Celestia sighed.

"How about letting me have go?" I said, a smug look over my face, popping the knuckles evenly on both hands.

Both Celestia and Jade quickly jumped before freezing at the sudden appearance of such a confident voice behind. The voice traveled through them quickly, but their frozen stares refused to look back, afraid of what they might find.

"T-that's…" Jade shivered.

"Is it really…?"

"The one and only!" I quickly replied making them turn around slowly before snapping onto me on the instant. They stared, and of course, I expected it. I smirked looking up at Sting, he looked about as mentally challenged as can be.

"B-B-BEN!?" Jade stuttered. I looked over and gave her the assuring nod, I liked her reaction, it was too genuine.

"Sorry I took so long, I had to get a word with everyone," I excused but holding back on the fact they were believers of my dead corpse. I switched over to Celestia and watched her trembling for a few seconds before winking playfully. "Hey."

"H-how are you…!? HOW DID-

For the sake of sanity, I'll play it hero for today. I looked at both with the best grin I could whip out and lifted a fist into the air.

"Celestia and Jade, I'm back! And I'm ready to finish this!" I exclaimed, gripping my motives by the neck, they won't fail me.

"BEN-WHAT-HOW!?" Celestia continued, working some magic on my hair pulling it in random directions before gripping my cheek and pulling.

I turned over to her and nodded with a disfigured smirk. "Thank your mother." I said in almost a mumble before she finally let my cheek go. She jumped in place before staring at me pondering what was the bigger surprise.

"Mother…WHAT IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? JUST TELL ME IF YOUR REAL!"

I looked over to her before bowing my head slightly. "I'm still here to guarantee you get that break, I'll never break that promise I made, remember? Back in my first days here?"

Celestia was forced to remember, and remembered Ben's words clearly.

 _"See ya, Luna and Celestia, maybe we'll all enjoy a day together, someday, I promise."_

Celestia couldn't with him again, why was he so

complicated but simple!? She wanted to express as much as she could but couldn't, she was too emotionally wrecked to even move. She remained like that, stuck, before feeling a hand go over her head and rustle around.

"I met your mother, and I can see why you two are so beautiful,"

"Mother, and you…" Celestia eased out, looking over at me. I nodded before turnung over to Sting, seeing him rub his eyes desperately.

"Yeah, and I think I hit it off pretty well, she's the reason I walk again!" I proudly said before looking at Celestia's tears, I guess it was too much.

"I haven't seen her in centuries, she just disappeared one day…and she helped you return…I don't know anymore Ben!" She cried and I quickly flashed a glance at Sting before lowering myself to embrace her, this always helped before. She seemed to like the move, she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Shh, I know it's confusing, but your mother is with us somewhere, and she brought me back here, just take a moment to let that sink in." I said, and after a few seconds of silence, I pulled her back slightly to see her face. "I'm back Celestia, I'm not wasting my second chance, how about once this madbess transpires, we get something to eat? Sounds good?"

She smiled and nodded. "Y-yes…but be safe…I don't want to feel like that again, so empty…"

I flashed my own smile. "You got it."

I stood up and turned over to the audience in the distance, a safe distance away like I told them to be. I gave off a firm salute and turned to Sting, he seemed to gave gained some movement from last time.

"A mission, is a mission, I'll get rid of that hate Sting, I bring you back, the one I want to meet."

"B-Ben, is that…Pure Light magic!?" Jade asked from below. I looked down at her and gav her a thumbs up.

"Yup, and Celestia…" I called. She picked her head up in an instant.

"Y-yes!?"

"Remember something about _light_ consuming _darkness_?" I reminded, and she quickly thought about it before rising with a rushed nod and eyes that clearly showed agreement.

"Y-yes!" She answered. "But is that really possible!?"

I smirked in response. "Your mother said so, and in the queen, I trust!"

Celestia smiled and gave a firm agreement. "Alright!"

"BEN!? HOW ARE YOU ALIVE!? I KILLED YOU!"

I turned over to Sting, same place as before, and revealed my grin.

"Sting! I've come back to finish this the right way! And I think I finally understand how this Pure-Light magic is meant to be used!" I said making this light I'm surrouded by brighten and force miniature lightening around me. He flinched before snarling as he quickly aimed his hoof and shot out darkness.

"N-NO!" He objected making me drop the smirk for a serious glare. I raised my hand up and all the black he shot my way went into my hand, and forced my aura to change colors slightly. My aura glowed darkness and light, this aura was actually absorbing energy and making me the user. I conjured up some black magic on one hand and light in the other.

"W-what the!?" Sting remarked.

I let the magic flow back into me and shaped my fists.

"Sting, I gotta hand it to you, you really got me, but I'm done playing! You've made Jade cry, my friends cry, my demon cry, and child cry! I bled useless blood cause of you! And now, you'll see what I can do when I tighten my fists and aim them at you!"

"You're nothing!" He yelled, and I responded my way.

"Say that to your queen, who brought me back."

I must have evoked his anger with that one, I couldn't remember such horrible wind conditions around here. His aura blew up in a roar and I closed my eyes and took a slow breath of air.

"I promised my princesses a day out, no turning back now…bring it!"


	56. Chapter 56 - A Virgin Queen

#56

I guess he didn't get the point that I could absorb his dark magic. The more he threw his energy my way, the more my light blended with this darkness. Normally this would cause panic, but I felt at one with both these two sources of magic, I knew so with how easily I could switch between darkness and light.

"How did you come back!?" He asked, gritting his teeth furiously. I grinned widely with the overwhelming feeling if sickness mixed with adrenaline.

"IT WAS THAT ONE ALICORN!" I yelled as if I hadn't been telling him that for the last few minutes.

He growled as he came at me with a hoof out, "SPECIFICALLY!"

My grin must have gone horrifyingly wide as I swiped at his hoof and gave him a brutal spine-paralyzing punch, but he quickly recovered and went for the uppercut which I let hit, just to see how it would feel. I chuckled at the extreme pain I felt, before spitting out some mystifyingly red blood and licking the trail it left behind on my lips.

"My jaw needed that." I grinned his way, before tightening a fist and laughing. "THAT'S AS MUCH AS YOU'LL KNOW ABOUT MY SAVIOR, I THOUGHT I ALREADY TOLD YOU TOO!"

He stared at me as if taken by surprise, to which I was probably taking him by surprise.

"The Queen will never appear before such a peon!" He stressed out, semi believing me and the rest denying it. I looked down, chuckling before laughing like a maniac. He looked up and frowned.

"Hey, I can't help it if this peon is one good-lookin' boy!"

"WHAT'S WITH YOU COCKY ATTIDUTE ALL OF A SUDDEN!?" He yelled blasting some more magic my way and I just stood in place with the psychopathic grin. His magic hit and it just surrounded my body, entering through all my skin giving me a reason to laugh my ass off. The feeling was like a drug, it was relaxing at first before spiking up into a jolt of electricity, in this case, all he did was fuel this drug addict I had become for his dark magic.

I laughed to the point it suddenly stopped, abruptly.

"How…WHY CAN'T I HIT YOU!?" Sting huffed across the field over at Ben, who had stopped suddenly after that last absorption. "HEY! ARE YOU DEAF NOW!?"

Sting picked his head up before backing away slightly at how the light that Ben emitted before had disappeared, now only leaving a mystifyingly dark aura that looked thick and light absorbing, almost like a black hole. Sting quickly backed another quick step and aimed his hoof over to fire some more darkness but stopped at the realization of Ben's body undergoing some change. It was happening slowly and at such a small degree; Ben's eyes were now being consumed by black patches of clouds that would soon cover them completely, his teeth had become rabid, his spiked hair standing on ends like he'd been electrified stiff, and his menacing grin, it gained a new meaning.

"W-what are you!? You're not K, are you!?" Sting asked, a worry developing inside.

Back, where Ben had told everyone to stay behind, everyone inquired over this odd occurrence and questioned K, Celestia, Luna, and Jade over what was happening. To which they all answered with the ultimate form of confusion; an "I don't know."

"He's consumed in complete darkness," Celestia observed, starting a small clue fest to see if anyone could build up on that point. Jade picked up quickly on it, flashing a look over to her. "Yes, he said he figured out how to use Pure Light magic, yet neither Sting or I know how it works, the queen kept it to herself."

"But that isn't light…that's darkness," Luna added looking over to Celestia and Jade to her left. Celestia and Jade looked over, before catching a glimpse of K and Chrysalis both holding their hand and hoof under their chin, thinking on it.

"I'd say it's hatred over darkness," Chrysalis added to the fire, turning over to the eyes on her. K kept his hand over his chin, thinking deeply on it as he watched the back of Ben's head, his eyes observing what was happening. The other three looked at each other before either gulping or recoiling at that thought.

"But from where!?" Luna asked, K dropped his hand from his chin and turned to them.

"Like Celestia once said, _light_ consumes _darkness_ , but Ben has been absorbing Sting's hate for the past few minutes, meaning he's probably using Sting's hate." Chrysalis inferred making everyone nod their head in agreement, but K just glanced one look at Ben and denied it on the spot.

"No, that hate he's absorbing from Sting, he's not using it, he's becoming one with it."

"What?" Celestia asked for every speechless one in the group, there was now a new feeling around this conversation.

"If you haven't noticed, Ben's been acting strange since he got that first surge of hatred from Sting, if that isn't alarming, then maybe the fact that he's changing before our very eyes, is."

"What!? Changing!?" Luna asked with Celestia, Jade, and Chrysalis right behind her. K nodded before clearing his throat.

"BEN!"

Everyone froze for a moment at K's sudden yell before turning to Ben, he jerked his head up slightly before turning around to face them. Luna and Celestia blinked a few times before freezing at the realization it wasn't an illusion they were seeing. Jade and Chrysalis widened their eyes slightly in response to Ben's serious glare and flinched back a step.

"O-Oh no! He's changed drastically!" Luna exclaimed making Ben turn his sight to her. She backed a step away too. "K-K! What's wrong with Ben!?"

"Hmm, he's changed more than I thought…" K acknowledged, glaring at Ben with increasing suspicion. Ben glanced over at him and changed that seriousness to a grin, showing off his teeth to everyone's surprise. K lifted his eyebrows, taking in the strange appearance before laughing and smirking.

"But I guess he's still in there,"

Everyone turned to K and observed his lack of worry.

"Do you realize how badly this could turn out!?" Luna shrieked at K, and K shriveled up as he leaned away. K massaged his ear before focusing on all the eyes he had attracted, it seemed to be a serious case.

"I guess I don't, what could happen?" He asked, annoyed with her shriek.

"Ben will turn into a…" Luna paused at the saying of such a word making K give her the persuasive eye.

"He'll turn into a Nightmare form of himself…" Luna finished going off the original term. K laughed silently before shaking his head and getting a face full of Luna lashing at him.

"That's not a joke! Hatred turned me into…you know what!"

K glanced at her before shaking his head.

"No, you don't understand, you, Luna, you have a split personality because you were born part-

"Luna!" Celestia lashed at her as K's face remained staring at the ground. Luna went hard on him on that one, it even forced Ben to look curiously back at her before turning back to Sting. Luna had reaped K's face with the searing pain of a magical slap, that seem to have no end to the pain.

K lifted his hand to his face and rubbed it before recovering and looking at Luna, not really wanting to speak anymore. Luna remained tight faced as she stared into his eyes, not showing any emotion but how close K was to ruining her life, at least in her eyes.

"What's with you!?" Chrysalis asked before K lowered his hand down to quiet her and moved up to Luna. He glared down at her and she glared up at him.

"What I meant to say…is that Ben can become this "Nightmare" you say, but he'd need to have a reason to unleash his hatred…you had hatred towards your sister…known as Jealously, yes that's hatred, and that sparked you to transform. But Ben doesn't have anything to hate, but if he did have this hate during Yuson's time…then you would see a Nightmare Ben…Dark Ben. At the moment, he's in control of it."

K turned back to Ben and sighed. "I'm sorry, Luna."

Luna looked down before nodding, holding firm to her beliefs.

Celestia broke in between them and gave each one a glance of confusion before frowning.

"What is this!?" She asked before turning to her sister. "Why is he apologizing when you hurt him!?"

Chrysalis turned to K and watched as K only looked back at Luna before shaking his head, disappointed with something. Luna gulped as she shook her head as well.

"It's nothing sister,"

Celestia simply moved closer to her. "Luna, you're a bad liar."

Luna's faced twitched slightly and she recoiled a bit, giving Celestia a reason to push her around. "It's nothing…" She said again, but Celestia wasn't having it, for something to disturb her sister to such a degree was worrying. Celestia cleared her throat again. "I'm not a fool Luna, so don't act like I'm one-

"IT'S NOTHING!" Luna yelled turning towards her sister, which caused K to swiftly turn back to face them, making sure it wouldn't get out of hand. Celestia wasn't threated by Luna's harsh tone, in Celestia's eyes, her actions where an act of sibling protection, not so much could be said about the latter.

"Does "nothing" really require such a tone of voice?"

"Sister, back off!" Luna barked back and K was finally called to walk over and cut them off.

"Cut the shit out!" He cursed at each one, and Luna obeyed but her sister couldn't follow through with it.

"I won't K, not until I figure this out!"

"You won't!" Luna firmly shouted, making K and Celestia both return their glares at her.

"What!?" Celestia asked. "Why won't I!?"

"Because I won't let you!"

Everyone went silent, not wanting to speak after that sudden moment. Luna impeding Celestia from doing something was always a sign of foul play, but this was ridiculous. Celestia glared at her before frowning all the way. K just switching his eye sight between both of them.

"Is that a threat?"

Luna didn't hesitate in nodding. "From here and to the moon, it is."

"Hell no! Stop this right now! Before I put you both to sleep!" K threatened towards both, and they quickly responded by just glaring at him, and he glared equally towards them. "You're sisters for crying out loud, have some restraint!"

"I'm doing this out of worry, K!" Celestia responded and shook her head at how Luna's attitude has been up to now. "And how am I not suppose to worry when she just slaps you across the face to stop you from saying something…"

She took a small pause before turning to K and watching him closely, making him uncomfortable.

"…you…you know…" Celestia revealed making K firm his legs and upper body. "Why…WHY DO YOU TRUST A DEMON OVER YOUR SISTER FOR A SECRET!?"

Luna actually felt something with that, she flinched in response.

"WHAT IS HE THAT I AM NOT!?"

"A…Demon…" Jade whispered making Celestia lock up slightly before looking behind herself at her. She silently turned back to Luna, who shook her head like a broken mechanism. Luna told on herself with how she quickly denied that. Celestia stepped up with towering order over Luna.

"What can you tell a demon…that you can't me?"

Jade came up from behind Celestia and glared at Luna a strong one, and Luna looked down at her quickly. There was a sheer horror from Jade just being there, Jade had something K had, the title of _Demon_. Luna's eyes widened as she backed up and stared at Celestia, just grow worrisome as Jade analyzed her.

"N-no…just…leave me alone!"

K watched, wanting to do something, but he couldn't. On one side, he had Ben who wanted the princesses to live in peace, and to do that he needed to let Celestia persist, and on the other, he knew Luna would be distraught and broken if he didn't stop Celestia. K was trapped and gulped as he looked at each of the choices; Luna or Celestia and Jade.

"I'm sorry Luna…" K gripped his fists before finally making a choice and looking away, feeling sorry for Luna, but hopeful it would end up in a good situation. Although, at the moment, everything was twisted.

Jade finally got close enough and jumped away quickly, her eyes shot up wide and her mouth hanged. Celestia looked down and so did Luna in terror as she backed up some more, running into Chrysalis behind her.

"G-GET YOUR REAR OFF MY FACE!" Chrysalis blushed as she rolled away over to K's side.

"P-Princess!" Jade gasped as she took heavy breaths and looked at the ground around her, not finding way to phrase what she knew.

"J-Jade please!" Luna begged from her but Jade shook her head and gulped.

K quickly gulped to deal with it, but failed and got down with Luna, grabbing her face with both hands and forcing her to look at him. He made sure she could see into his eyes, and know it was alright to some extent.

"Listen Luna, it's alright, I told you before that there is nothing wrong with it, be proud of who you are. It's only a name, and that name won't change the things you've done, lift your head up and embrace it."

"B-but K…" Luna tried to counter, but with K's tight grip on her face, the security of his hands let her listen.

"Your mother gave birth to you, which means she accepted you for who you were, a little demon Luna…" He took a pause to laugh a bit at how strange that sounded, making Luna tear up. He quickly recovered with a smile. "It sounds bad to the misinformed, but look at you, you ain't bad, you're just scared to accept it."

His words made it to her.

"K…my sister…what will she say?"

"Luna…" Celestia called with a voice, familiar to those moments when she holds motherly composure. Luna froze as K backed away and revealed Celestia behind him to her.

"Y-yes?" Luna asked, hunched over like a fearful puppy. Celestia smiled at her sight and K realized that smile as he met it with his own.

"You know, I never knew I had a demon for a sister, mother never told me." Celestia responded, her smile not showing in her voice to a hunched over Luna. Luna was crying again, and K could only smile as he thought about how many tears it would take to cry a river: a pony load of them it seems.

"I-I'm sorry…" Luna sobbed getting some reaction from everyone there. Chrysalis smirked at her tears, it was still a small esteem boost for her; a little one. Jade watched curiously, still wondering about such a discovery, and Celestia giggled.

"For what?" She asked, and Luna picked her head up slightly before coming down again in a sob.

"For being one…" She said, despising the 'demon' name. Celestia moved up to her and met her to the point that Luna could see the golden gauntlets over her hooves.

"Luna, I'll always love you my dearest sister, I was blinded to think that demons where despicable creatures…but I've had you with me all my life." The smile Luna couldn't feel in her words, finally came out and it messed with Luna gravely. Her head bobbed slightly as it tried to gain the courage to look up.

"W-what?" Luna asked, turning up to face her, and froze at the smile and soft eyes of her sister.

"I'm saying that, my opinion would have changed on demons if you just told me, nothing is greater than my sister, not even my own opinions."

"B-but you said they were creatures who would damn us all!" Luna cried, making sure that her sister was being truthful by giving her the test of time, bringing up the past quotes of hers. K cocked his head to the side with a smile at finally hearing something relating to a curse from these ponies, it just made him shiver with adrenaline. " _Damn, that word is damn exciting!"_

Celestia sighed with a nod. "I did, and I'm sorry."

Luna shook her head. "No! Don't be! I nearly did damn us all to an age of darkness! I am what you said I am! A demon!"

"Luna…say what you want, prove my point as many times as you may, but you won't win the argument that I am your sister, and I won't ever let such a pitiful backstory be the reason we can't love each other."

"B-but I'm a demon…"

"My sister, my demon, either way I'd still sleep by your side, for I am your sister and you are my younger sister, and I'll always love you, even when we don't agree."

"Sis…sis!"

"Exactly."

K smirked as he tried to hold back the fluttery feeling inside of him. "I love this…"

Chrysalis gave her own giggle and closed her eyes in bliss. "A demon, from Luna…who'd a thought it."

"Yeah, the evil ones taint my name, but I don't really need to prove that to you, do I?" K chuckled back, and Chrysalis opened her eyes mincingly playful.

"I might need a reminder."

Jade gave them both the stink eye. "Geez you two, at a time like this!?"

"What's going on over there!?" Sting asked. I looked over my shoulder and back, getting that urge to laugh again, but I restrained it to a chuckle.

"What's with you!?"

"You're acting more civilized by the minute," I answered and he gritted his teeth as I flashed him with my own. "Bit by bit, I'm bringing you back…"

He frowned as I chuckled some more and whipped out my shining blade. He glared at it before jumping back slightly as I fiddled with the sharp edge between my fingers. "But, in return…"

I sharply lowered the sword and aimed it his way.

"You're hate…I want it."

He stared almost baffled as I stabbed the ground with the sharp titanium piece and smiled. He watched the engraved sword as it flashed the design at him and made him squint as he tried to understand my odd action. I removed my gloves next and freed my fingers, opening and closing them to get a better feel.

"You ready?" I asked and he quickly readied himself for anything, but I knew he wasn't ready for what I had in mind. I lowered an arm to my side and raised the other with my hand aimed to him ready to attack. He knew something, the way he slightly shifted in place, and he knew I noticed him move.

"I'm not afraid of you!" He yelled, but I remained in place, waiting to see what else he had. He had nothing, he was waiting out the attack, waiting for a motive, unlike before where he would charge in. In his despair, I closed my hand into a fist and lowered it, giving off a sigh.

"I don't want you to be."

"Huh…no…" He asked silently before shaking it off and snarling. "What are you playing!?"

"Do you hate me more than you fear me, or do you fear me more than you hate me?" I asked him next, and he lost guard for a split second before tightening up.

"Both!" He answered. I glared at him before going up the sword and pulling it out of the ground and picking up my gloves. He flinched slightly as I began walking up to him. he threated with his hoof to do something, but I walked and stopped a foot or two away from him.

"H-huh…"

I looked at him for a few before quickly stabbing the sword on the ground next to him, he flinched greatly away from it. I tossed the gloves to his other side. He looked at both and back at me as I aimed my fist at him.

"W-what!?" He asked, frozen in place, an urge to push back in his eyes.

"Yuson, he brought me here to serve as some sort of monster and kill everyone, because I was one before." I began, and his ears stiffened.

"And he's tried the same with you, so why are we fighting?" I asked him, hoping to see if he would react in some way that favors me. He looked to the ground and back up silently.

"Yuson…I killed him, but that doesn't mean I ever wanted to disrespect you and all those who tried. I never knew about the chain of deaths that he brought with him until you showed up."

He shrunk a bit, barely noticeable, but he did.

"Taking out your hate on me, it wasn't helping anyone Sting, it just pained everyone to see how you reacted. You betrayed everyone's trust in you, my own too."

He refused to look up at me, I knew there was disappointment written on his face, and he wouldn't let his pride suffer from it.

"But Sting, I'm not evil and I'm not hellbent on keeping grudges, so I hold out a fist to you, to see if you would accept it."

He looked up and widened his eyes at the sight of my fist and stared at it, wondering its meaning.

"What?"

"I dropped my most trusted weapon and gloves on your side, I have no need for them since I don't plan on hurting you."

He watched me for a few, testing me before looking at my fist and staring at it.

"What does…that mean?" He asked about the fists.

"It means friend, it marks the end of this fight, and it will be your choice."

He stared at it a few more seconds before looking at his hoof and back at my fist. He was reasonable, it seemed that fighting around with him allowed me to take as much hate as I could from him to the point he was able to think clearly. He understood me well now that he could think, and he's realized how stupid it was, but his pride still held him back.

"Friend…"

I nodded. "Yeah."

For a brief moment there was silence before he sighed, sounding given up and followed up by opening his mouth to say something, but he couldn't get it out without a struggle.

"What…what do you care the most about in life?" He asked, definitely sounding defeated and deprived off all his pride and self-esteem.

I remained silent but seeing his eyes as he turned to look at me, full of disappointment, forced me to comply.

"My friends, what about you?" I returned and he picked his head and looked around before stopping at the audience. He stared for second before closing his eyes, pained by it.

"Jade…"

I was shocked for a few, as my head reminded me about what he had said sometime earlier and how he had her pinned to the floor when I found him, but I knew better than to object to this good news.

"I'm sure she feels the same about you,"

"After what I said and did?" He asked, wanting to believe my words, but his conscious wanted to make sure. I turned back to face Jade and everyone else, they were all eyes on us and wondering if this was actually coming to end, I hope it was. I saw Jade, her face showing all the signs of hidden faith and a joy just waiting to erupt behind her worried face.

"She doesn't believe what you said and did because she knows better," I turned back to face Sting my fist still out and starting to strain slightly.

"How do you know?" He asked further, and I understood his questions. His questions were questions that are asked for the sake of making sure someone else agrees with what you're thinking. I agreed, and I knew he believed me when I explained what he was to Jade. He stared aimlessly ahead at my legs, trying to think about it, and finally came to a point that he closed his eyes and his aura burned out into mist.

"Ben…just do what you need to." He said, waiting for anything. I choked a bit at him saying such a thing, it didn't sound like he wanted to be helped, it sounded like he wanted to just disappear. I hesitated for moment semi-lowering my fist before raising it up strong and calling him. He jerked up and stared at me as I held the fist closer to his face.

"I ain't gonna do nothin'! It's your move, you chose!" I retold him, spooking him into a jump.

"Oh right!" He straightened up awkwardly, not expected such a change in tone, and nodded firmly before running his hoof into my hand. There was a silence as he softly bumped my fist and remained attached to it. I smiled at his decision and undid my fist, gripping his hoof and giving it a firm shake on the agreement.

He stared curiously at my hand for a few seconds before turning up to me.

He almost laughed at how awkward it all seemed now, damn idiot killed me, but I don't mind now as long as he smiled. I smirked as I felt my aura increase in dark matter, I completely drain him. I let go of his hoof and stood in place studying my new-found aura.

"Ben…what will you do with all that hate?" He asked, and I laughed a sinister laugh, it wasn't that I wanted to, but this dark mass around me forced my voice to echo and become of an evil accent.

"I'll keep it for myself, unlike you, I don't feel like killing anyone." I mocked him and he laughed weakly to his side, not knowing whether to be serious or terrified. "No offense, Sting." I added with a malicious smile.

"Your voice is terrifying." He chuckled, making me look around at the dark field.

Someone came from behind me, the sound of gentle, cautious hooves approaching. Both Sting and I quickly reacted by picking our head up at the sound.

"Is…is it over?"

I turned at the sound of the new pony and smiled before feeling a rush of wing from behind.

"Jade!" Sting called out as he rushed past me and pinned down Jade, he smothered her in embraces and kisses. I mildly lost my balance and bounced on one foot before finding my balance and spinning around to face them. Jade was in shock as Sting just rocked her side to side with his tight embrace.

"S-Sting!?" Jade asked, obviously confused, frightened and excited.

"I'm sorry for everything I said about you and did to you, I didn't mean it!"

I watched as resolutions went down ahead of me before sighing and shaking my head. I still couldn't get over the fact I had died again, it seemed like everything I valued could just easily be ripped away from me by anyone who could had a killing intent. Yet, despite that, that isn't the worst feeling of all, the worst was the simple fact that I had died while leaving behind a potentially dangerous Sting behind for everyone to deal with, and even if they could handle, I can't imagine not helping out.

I watched some more before feeling my shoulder drop with some added weight. I looked back at the hand gripping my shoulder firmly and give me a small jerk.

"Woah…you did it!" K expressed, a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah,"

He smirked as he shook me a bit from shoulder. "Damn, and look at you, all evil and shit."

I brought my hands up to my chest and watched as darkness swirled everywhere. I closed each hand into a fist and picked my head up. "A little, but I'm still here." I assured him before feeling another presence from my side.

"And that voice." Luna mentioned off my side making me smile. I turned over with the intent of expressing joy but choked up at her sight. I couldn't help it, I was constantly reminded of how close I could have lost it all by just the deepness in her eyes. I felt my aura die down instantly and I stood in place, just staring at her as I tried to muster up some speech.

"Ben? Are you alright?" I heard her ask. I quickly blinked and regained my breath as I looked off to my side to regain my thoughts. I took some breaths before closing my eyes and shaking my head: I nearly lost them.

"No, Luna. I just realized…I died…again." I gulped finding it hard to get words out. "It's hard to believe that I could just die, and never see you all again…it actually hurts."

Luna exchanged a look with K, searching for a way to respond. She took a step my way and stopped right in front of me, facing me with a look that showed a cluster of emotions.

"I'm sorry Ben, for all this, and I promise I won't ever put you in a situation like this ever again."

That sounded good, and it was reassuring, but that wasn't my concern. Of course, hearing her console was something I needed, but I needed to make sure everyone was okay too. I cleared my throat as I spun my sight around, getting glimpses of everyone scattered everywhere, some eyes on me, others eyes on Sting and Jade, and others on Chrysalis. I switched around a few times, getting my eyes on everyone, all smiles and tears of over-the-top joy.

I looked at Celestia and Twilight for a few seconds before switching to Chrysalis with the gang of ponies with erected eyebrows, burning with questions, and finally seeing Sting and Jade. Everyone seemed fine, but I couldn't address it straight up, the feeling of choking up was still in effect. I looked back at Luna.

"Thank you, but I'll be fine in time Luna." I assured before spinning to the scattered crowd. "How about everyone else, I know I spoke to them but still…"

Luna gave me a small look before turning to the crowd and studying everyone for a few seconds.

"They're zealous about you,"

I smirked a bit after hearing that and nodded a small one before turning back to face her.

"I'm glad, I don't want others to feel traumatized by this, although I wouldn't blame them if they are."

"Traumatized but thankful you're here Ben, you scared us all and left us in a state of hopelessness, and you coming back…it brought it all back." Luna commented and I listened well. I could hear the pain and relief in her voice, and an urge to go into a crying frenzy. I smiled a bit wider as I took in a deep breath.

"Those words hurt Luna…but there's no way I won't take them, thank you." I thanked her with the best smile for this situation, not to great, but good enough to convey my heavy thanks. She gulped before smiling with decreasing pain. "You always know what to say, don't you?"

I could see her trying to make the situation lighter, and I didn't mind following.

"This mouth of mine has gotten me in plenty of situations, but at least it knows how to put a smile upon your bright face…pardon the irony."

She giggled with blush, and I knew I was back at it again. I closed my eyes to take in the relief of seeing her giggle and chuckled a bit myself. "And your smile puts one on my face as well."

She flustered and nodded. "I'm glad!"

"Well, good to see you're alright," K stated before wiping that smile off his face and crossing his hands across his chest. I watched closely as he huffed in a huge intake of air gulped.

"But now, if you don't mind, I'd like to hear that explanation as to how you came back!" He demanded, I jumped a bit as his voice spiked. I stared at him curiously before looking around at all the ponies and Changeling. Celestia, Sting, and Jade, who all eyed me with encouragement, knew about it since I gave them directly the answer. _I'm guess their looks mean I can explain?_

I turned to K and sighed as I straightened up.

"I really wanted to keep it a secret from everyone except You, Luna and Celestia, and Jade and Sting too." I said, growing a smile across my face. "But fine."

Everyone eyed me as I looked to my side and drew the sword from the ground and lifted my gloves. I shook the dirt off before sheathing it and placing the gloves in my back pocket. In that time, Chrysalis and Twilight took it upon them to get up in front of me, followed by Celestia, Jade, and Sting.

"Well," I smirked. "It was her mother."

My hand drifted over to Luna's head and landed gently on it. There was split-second silence before I heard only Luna and Chrysalis question it.

"What!?" They asked, and I aimed my other hand at Celestia.

"And of course, that means Celestia's too, you two are sisters…" I stopped at the pointless explaining and firmed up. "Yeah, it was your mother, the Queen if I'm not mistaken."

"Mother!? She brought you back!? Are you sure!?" Luna asked, not really believing it at first hearing. I nodded a firm one and lifted my head.

"Yup, no mistaking it!"

"Prove it!" Chrysalis demanded, and I lifted an eyebrow before taking a step back from and aimed my hand at my body.

"I'm alive and walking,"

They looked at me before looking at each other, still finding it hard to believe. I shook my head in the fact they refused to buy it before getting some memories to flow back in. I knew my mouth could get smiles out of them, but I'm not sure it this would. I held my stance before clearing my throat.

"Well, listen to this quote that I'm about to tell you, it's from her, and its word by word, not altered in a bit." I persuaded and they all turned to me, excited and questioning.

"You spoke to her?" Celestia asked, and I nodded as I tempted her to listen with a wink.

"Yeah, a nice alicorn she was, so nice in fact she said this to me."

Everyone closed in on me and I closed my eyes to shut them out, a smirk forming on my face, warning everyone to hold on tight, because this was a weird thing to say. Good thing I got a hold of her voice, because being able to sound like her now would probably be even more convincing.

"She said," I cleared my throat, getting my vocals ready. " _For ending Yuson and bringing Equestria closer to peace_ -

I took a moment to put in some context with my normal voice. "At this point she giggled to herself a bit." I explained before going back the voice I was impersonating.

" _You have all my blessings to bed my daughters, Celestia and Luna, my two gems, and for the future you three have._ "

I finished impersonating and turned to Luna, who struggled mentally as she processed that.

"Well, that's how I remember her voice, you be the judge." I said aiming a finger at her before lowering it at how she stared straight at the ground. "Luna?" I asked, and she slowly lifted her head which made me back a step.

"That's her…her voice…it's exactly like that…" Luna slowly mentioned before Celestia got next to Luna and nodded. "You really do know her voice if you can mimic it that well, impressive."

"Yeah, the moment I heard her mention you two as her daughters I wanted to flip out, but all that came out was my confusion and shock when she…" I paused before I could go any further and chuckled nervously.

"I'll hold the rest confidential."

They looked at me, unnerved by my sudden restriction of knowledge and info.

"Please don't hide it! We haven't seen her in so long!" Luna begged, and it was easy to see she really wanted to know, it was in her eyes and body motion. Celestia came up with a warm smile from Luna's side, eager to hear about her mother.

I looked at them carefully before biting my tongue and shaking my head, I didn't like leaving them on low information, but this time it was necessary. "Listen, she just knocked me out, and put me back into my body, then Ba-da-Bing Ba-da-Boom, I'm back into the world of the living!"

"She knocked you out?" Celestia asked, suspicious of what I just said.

"Oh, but in a nice way!" I added, not making myself look less guilty of something and they became overly suspicious.

"Ben, I want to know exactly what my mother did! Please, I can't think of her the way you're explaining her!" Luna demanded. I knew she really wanted to know about her mother, only she knew how long it's been since she's seen her, and judging by their ages, I could deduce it's been quite a while.

I looked at her before running my hand to my chin and rubbing it. "I'll tell you in private, not around everyone, alright?"

"Yes, that's fine." Luna agreed. Celestia bowed her head in agreement as well. "When you have the time."

I smiled at their acceptance. "After I get some rest, then we'll talk."

"She gave you her blessings to " _Bed_ " Luna and Celestia?" Chrysalis asked, raising an eyebrow too perfectly. I remained a bit paralyzed in place before I took in her suspicious look, and the way she looked at me, trying to get something out. I wouldn't let her get me that easily.

"I'm guessing killing Yuson really did her great joy or something." I returned with a smug smile before noticing the reddened two by my side.

"Did she really say that!?" Celestia and Luna asked, curious and embarrassed by such a quote.

"I quoted everything perfectly." I said before seeing Chrysalis step up, challenging me.

"What did you talk to her about?" She asked, and I brought forth a quick-fire response.

"We talked."

Chrysalis, obviously unimpressed, mimicked my words before smirking. "Alright, you talked, but I know you Ben, you're a smooth talker and like to get reactions, I think you know what I'm getting at?"

I stared at her and smiled slightly, she knew me well when it came to talking. The moon and sun turned to me and I dodged their questioning looks, pretending I didn't acknowledge them by focusing on Chrysalis.

"What are you getting at detective?" I asked, a smirk across my face, trying to not reveal too much while remaining in touch with my wise senses. Chrysalis smirked back, but she mastered something behind that smirk, almost as if she expected such a response from me. I drop the smirk.

"As far as I know, not that I know much, but a mother shouldn't just right off the back give you permission to bed her daughters, not unless you impressed her or proved yourself."

I was taken back a bit but didn't show it as I watched her giggle. "And your mouth can get you many places, and that mixed in with such a sudden permission from their mother…it shouldn't come off as a surprise that you probably did or said something."

"I called her a "Young" alicorn." I admitted straight up, hoping she would take that as her answer and drop the act. I quickly got a reaction from Celestia and Luna, who looked at each other.

"You did?" Celestia asked, smiling at how she saw the scene play out in her head, probably finding it hilarious. Luna on the other hand looked like the was slowly coming to a small discovery, her eyes laid on me, gently watching me as I spoke.

"I did, and…well…she reacted like you two would when flattered." I said and Chrysalis made my back shiver as I jumped around to watch her carefully, she found a way to get behind me when I wasn't looking.

"So, you complimented her…" Luna pointed out. I smiled with a slight of jerk of my head in agreement with her.

"And she liked it too." Chrysalis chuckled making Luna scowl her, taking her for a tease. I smiled slightly wider, which lowered the look Luna had, taking what Chrysalis said with some seriousness after all.

"Yeah, then she went on and spoke about how her young days are all behind her." I said with the intent of getting a reaction to end the drama, which I quickly regretted remembering how Chrysalis was still on my case.

"Let me guess, your mouth came in handy, didn't it?" Chrysalis asked, making the eyes on me even more tense. I couldn't incriminate myself more, I blushed and scratched the back of my head nervously. Celestia, for the first time, actually raised her head and watched me carefully, while Luna continued with her suspicion.

"I couldn't help it, she looked," I took a moment to find a frank word. "nice…"

"That's too simple of a word for you, what did she really look like?" Chrysalis asked, and I was a fool for falling into her luscious voice. I looked to the grass and chuckled.

"Fine, she was beautiful, but that's expected of the Queen, no?"

There was a silence from everyone apart from Chrysalis who giggled out loud.

"Hmm, I have a feeling all that flattery got you somewhere, will you tell me where?"

In my head all those memories of being with her rushed in and all played out all at once, making my head feel like it was on the verge of laughing from how much I did that I wish I could've prolonged. But, I came back to senses and realized that Chrysalis was getting me to reveal a lot. I shook my head and waged a finger towards her.

"No, I won't, you've reached the end of you detective career."

With that sudden line, off my side I realized Luna had sprung up and jumped slightly. I slowly turned my head over and watched her face light up with shock as Celestia questioned the look. I stared at her, wondering for second what was up with her before I placed a hand over my chest in equal shock. I got my heart racing in seconds as I widened my own eyes. "Oh no…"

"Ben…" Luna called me and I felt my face brighten up in a red flare as I shook my head.

"Luna, I swear what you just saw was just a figment of my imagination." I falsely explained, trying to remain calm, but Luna had something ready for me.

"My mother is no figment of imagination…neither is what I saw."

I gulped as I looked down and remained calm, not trying to expose myself.

"Uh, I'm sorry…maybe?" I apologized insecurely, not looking up for the sake of not being tempted to answer anything by their eyes, Celestia and Luna's, especially Chrysalis's.

"What is? What's did you see Luna?" Celestia asked calmly towards her. I felt my lungs begin to hurt from holding my nervous breath back, when Celestia demands an answer, she won't give up until she gets it, I know from experience. I knew I had to act, or at least prolong Luna from answering.

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that serious, it was just a tiny one! And she passed me out afterwards." I tried with Luna, but I should've known my place in this argument. She turned to me, not angry, nor shocked, nor joyful, she looked like she was trying to get me to understand the seriousness of this, which I obviously failed to get through my head.

"Ben…that's my mother…you understand that, right?" Luna asked. I didn't answer as I thought up of something to support myself.

"But she came onto me!"

It wasn't the best response I could come up with.

"Why didn't you…back away or something!?" Luna shot back. I flinched slightly and felt myself shrink with desperation, trying to get rid of the topic.

"Why in damn's name would I do that!? Do you understand how horrible of a move that would've been!? She's a lovely alicorn, who gave the option to resuscitate me! I couldn't just hurt her feelings with such a level of disrespect!" I argued back.

She cleared her throat and gave me a look which meant she understood that part, even so she was shocked by such a thing. "But Ben, I've never seen her lay her lips on, Any! Other! Pony! Last one I remember was on my right cheek!"

My head lost its thinking process as she revealed exactly what I didn't want to get out. I laughed a bit to myself before groaning in stress. Celestia came up after that and remained silent as she gave me the _You did what!?_ look. I looked at her for a moment before blushing and turning away.

"Geez, you two, it's not a big deal." I whispered out hoping this wouldn't go on to haunt me anymore.

"Damn Ben, you need to calm down playboy! You went after the princesses, and now their mother!? That's some escalation!" K exclaimed, a cheerful tone about his voice, which I understood fully, but in front of Celestia and Luna at the moment, it only embarrassed me more.

"It was just a small event that happened…come on! She brought me back from being dead!"

"Tell them that, I've got no problems with her, in fact, I owe her a lot for bringing you back!" K said, redirecting my words to Luna and Celestia with his finger. I picked my head up, finally having something to say when I see their looks even if they just heard me say it to K.

"I'm sorry Ben, we don't mean to stress you," Celestia said, coming up from Luna's side. She looked kind and sweet, like back when I first got to know her.

"Yet, mother kissing…anypony or human in your case, is highly special, especially a male…she was always very…how should I say it? restrictive when it came to engaging in body to body contact."

"More like romantic body to body contact, because if it were a fight, then she wouldn't mind dancing and happily singing "Victory" on your sore aching body." Sting said with a smile, that reminded me he now back to his normal self, still though, I couldn't really smile when Celestia has just revealed some news, that I didn't know how to react to.

"What are you saying?" I asked standing straight. Celestia thought about it for a bit before sighing.

"Now…I don't know what to think of it at the moment, but I think mother has got a liking towards you."

"From just a little kiss?" I asked.

"To you it might seem small, but to us, it's an enormous event, think of it, as if she hasn't loved or been loved for centuries, then you come along and bestow your charm on her. That is how that kiss looks like to us."

"That's seems very accurate…though…she was never in love."

"Excuse me now?" Luna asked turning over to Sting.

"Yes, it's true, as far as we remember, the Queen is a pure being, of which no stallion was ever tainted her." Jade spoke and K shot into the air in shock.

"HOLY FUCK, SHE'S A VIRGIN!"

I raised as well and I looked at K.

"HOLY SHIT! HOW'S THIS POSSIBLE!?"

"Well…so are we…" Celestia spoke up for herself and Luna, to which I quickly picked my head up and shook my head.

"Yeah, but you two have your reasons, your mother on the other hand or hoof…doesn't it take a stallion to impregnate a female and then have babies, or does she not follow that rule!?"

Luna and Celestia looked at me then at each other before gulping. "Y-you are right about that…then how did…"

"Don't think about it too much, your mother will in form you on her next reunion…which should be soon as Jade here is telling me."

"Soon!?" Celestia asked before Luna sprung up excitedly.

"Oh yes! She did tell Ben she make their next reunion special! And Ben did tell her to visit soon!"

"Aren't you forgetting the "Alone" part? She even made it sound luscious for Ben." K asked, and I choked up on the air I was trying to regulate. He was right about that, she did mention meeting me alone, to which I knew everyone would use their imagination to determine what that means. I completely forget how demons, and Luna can see into my head; Jade told Sting about my encounter, Luna exposed me to everyone, and now K did the same.

"Alone!? Lusciously!? Ha! No debating it! She's got something for you!" Sting mocked from behind me, and I lost to my blush again, just when I thought it was gone for good. Celestia and Luna turned over to me and I remained silent.

"Well then, once your _private_ meeting has taken place-

"Which won't involve anything of sexual nature, right?" Luna asked cutting Celestia off. I looked at her carefully before skaing my head.

"I can't grantee anything Luna."

She sighed and nodded before lowering her head in disappointment.

"You could at least have said something more optimistic."

"Then I'd be lying."

She looked at me with a pout. I smirked in response.

"Well, as I was saying, just tell her we want to see her." Celestia picked back up.

"Celestia, she's your mother, I'm sure she would go to you first before me, your thinking too hard on it." I said, going easy on her to make her feel better. I smiled her way to prove it and she smiled back.

"Y-you're right, sorry, it's just exciting…and slightly embarrassing." She explained. I agreed too. "No kidding."

"Um, Ben?"

I turn back to Luna.

"Yes?"

"How did mother know about you to begin with?"

I rised to the question, some weird worry building up inside my chest. "She said…she's been watching me for a while now." I explained, going back to what she, the Queen, had said.

"Watching you…for a while…?" Celestia asked.

Luna retracted a bit at the answer and thought about before slowly but surely widening her eyes and turning red, just like me.

"Wait a minute, you mean…she's been watching you…even when-

"Oh boy! Now that is weird!" K smirked with Chrysalis by his side giggling to it as well. "Who would have thought you princesses had such hilarious problems."

Luna looked at them before drowning in embarrassment, which I liked since now we could relate on one thing. Celestia didn't have to worry about embarrassment which seemed to work in her favor. She remained calm as she spoke on that embarrassing subject.

"It's alright Luna…I had to endure that one night-

"Wait a minute, you sayin' she's been watchin' Ben every day, all day long?" AJ asked coming up from behind Twilight, her ears standing straight and her face curious with worry that wasn't showing. I looked over to her and realized the reasoning behind her question. I smiled to deal with the embarrassment.

"She seemed to know me really well…so I'm guessing yeah, 24/7."

AJ seemed to stroke out before flaring up in red.

"Wait a minute, that involves us too!" Dash revealed looking to Flutters who quickly hid behind her, as eyes laid down upon them. "Shh…Dashie…this is embarrassing."

"That means you too DJ." Dash then turned to Vinyl and her mouth dropped and she lost the pure white color of her fur.

"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!?"

"You did what!?" Octavia asked swinging over her way making Vinyl nervously smile and shrink in place. "N-nothing!"

"Wait are you all saying all four of you had…" Twilight choked up before her body shivered. "With Ben!? I understand Luna, but ALL FOUR OF YOU TOO!?"

"Oof, Twilight's figured out some potentially dangerous intel, this calls for a massive retreat!" K joked out as I look at all the stared I was getting. Oh those stares wanted me, they wanted to chew me up and spit me out.

"This is good news! That means we're next!" Pinkie spoke on behalf of positivity and I found refuge in her words as everyone lost their attention on me and turned to her.

"That's good news!?" Bonbon asked, and Pinkie made the face. It's not a face she'd usually make, it the face when someone tells you something so stupid you want to say "Get the fuck out."

"I fail to see the reason for your negativity." Pinkie responded before turning to me and smiling, raising a hoof to me. "You see, look at that face, it just screams positivity."

"I think it screams "help"." Starlight said stepping up. Pinkie made that _I ain't taking that from you_ face again.

"That's quite an assumption,"

"Why would you let yourself be controlled by him!?" Bonbon asked strictly to Vinyl, which followed by Lyra asking the same. Octavia just watched curiously and with a small blush.

"It's ain't like he's forcin' us." AJ spoke up for all who related to the sudden discovery. Everyone turned to her and watched as she smiled slightly. I smiled as well, she was right, I just provided some motivation, which worked most of the time. AJ eyed her audience before picking her head up high and adjusting her hat firmly.

"Don't look at me like that, y'all probably just ain't gettin' it." AJ expressed before laughing a bit. "But, I ain't gonna blame you for not gettin' it."

"Aww sis! You got some love for him, don't-cha?" Bloom asked making Belle and Scoots close in on her from either sides. "Yeah!"

AJ blushed and laughed to deal with their words of encouargement.

"Oh, be quiet!"

"Fine, I'll stay zipped." Bloom smirked.

"And come on, he's been through enough, give him some time to regain himself." Dash defended as well putting a hoof on my shoulder. I turned to see her smile and smiled back. "Thanks."

"I guess you're right, we shouldn't give him problems after what he went through." Lyra agreed. Before everyone offered their own agreement.

"Speaking about regaining yourself, Ben, I'm sure you must be heavily exhausted." Celestia pointed out. I smiled widely.

"Yeah, you got something to drink?"

"Uh, yes! If you want we can go get something to drink, but I would advise you go and lay down afterwards, take an afternoon sleep."

I liked the offer, and nodded. Perfect.

"Great…but what about Sting and Jade?" K asked coming up behind me with a hand out to Sting.

"Don't worry about me, I've gotten a hang of myself, um…and I need to make it up to Jade as well as you all, uh, I don't know how but I'll see if I could do something." Sting offered with Jade giving him a warm smile.

"No Sting," I responded quick. He raised an eyebrow as he quesioned it. I smiled back. "You focus on Jade, we can talk things out when we can, and plus you're our guests if you think about it."

Sting looked at Jade and Jade blushed as he whispered something to her before turning back to me.

"I like your ways Ben, but I'll do something for you all, just give me some time."

Stubborn as damn mule.

"Alright stubborn one, do as you want, but don't go and start randomly hating me again, because I ain't gonna much appreciate it." I threatened playfully.

"Ha ha! Don't worry, I was over whelmed by centuries of hatred, I'm over it! But how about you? Will you be able to handle it?" He asked back with a smirk.

I raised a hand and brought back my aura around it, this time full of light.

"I think I understand this hatred thing, it only activates when I start feeling hatred towards something, is that right?"

K landed his hand on mine, and the aura of light turned dark with hatred. I'm guessing K did that.

"Yeah, but not a petty hatred like someone comes up and jocks you on the side of the head, it's more like someone wants to hurt your family and you rage type of ordeal." K explained. He unhanded me and the light returned. I acceoted it and closed my hand, ridding the aura.

"Well, I'm good then!"

"Hmm, you sure you want to keep that hatred in you?" Luna asked and I nodded with high assurance.

"Well, no where else it can go, and I'm fine."

She looked at me for a moment and smiled before rubbing against my side temptingly. I laughed slightly at how it tickled when she rubbed her head next to my side.

"Alright, I trust you, how about we go back to ponyville and get you that refreshment?"

"Fine by me, but where are we exactly?" I asked spinning one full 360 before wiping some sweat from my forehead.

"We are far enough to not get any innocent ponies hurt," Celestia answered with a funny smile. I shrugged and accepted.

"Ah, good, subtle but good."

" _Me_? _A virgin_? _Ah…Ben, thou slowly begins to figure it out_." She giggled before stopping and blushing using her wings to hide her reddened face. " _Oh my, t_ _hat's actually quite embarrssing, what would he think_?"

She thought about it before smiling excitedly.

" _Oh but just the things we can do_! _Sing, sleep, eat, talk, spar_! _Happy times ahead_!"

The Queen's a pretty playful being when alone, but she still has her respect for others. She lowered her wings from her face and giggled.

" _Soon, soon, soon, soon_!" She happily sang as her voice faded away, hoping to reappear when the time is right.


	57. Ch- 57 Moon and Luna: The Two Sided Coin

#57

I had made it back to Flutter's condo and threw myself onto the mattress that was by now all too familiar for me to not get that _at home_ feel.

I spent some time with Twilight and the gang before coming here, they all had some memorable things to say and some awkward things no less. An interesting event was Octavia's desire for me to sing her classical music from my world, to which I got agreement from a few; Luna, Celestia, Chrysalis, and Twilight. I'm guessing the rest don't swing that way, Vinyl even complained of Octavia's obsession with the classical genre. Of course, I had to bring up music, which was a forte that me and Octavia both shared alike, she was mildly feeling left out of conversation until then. Despite most of their complains, I agreed to Octavia's desire and assured her that I wouldn't turn down the opportunity, and she easily grew shy and excited.

Well, that was one interesting point, next on the list was that awkward conversation about what I had _done_ to four of their friends. I purposely left out Spitfire and Fleet; I had Dash sitting right next to me while I heard out slow and cautious conversation. The conversation started off slow and cautious, but after some time, the talk became a bit more like gateway into detailing the description of my body, to which I felt embarrassed about as I shrunk in my seat.

There was that, and then there was the last bit, the one I was thinking about now as I laid in bed.

"Celestia…" I whispered staring up at the ceiling of my room. I still couldn't get her out of my head, it was like she had imprinted herself into the back of my brain and now I had an itch that I couldn't scratch. I rolled over to one side and thought deeper on it; the things she told me.

"A lost dream…"

I turned on my side. I felt my body become compressed over my left arm and turned the other way, looking out a window with a thin curtain that only let in a dim sun ray. I kept my eyes open as I stared at the sun ray entering the room, it met my bed side and semi climbed my bed.

"A. Lost. Dream." I retold, this time chopping the words into pieces before groaning and sitting straight up on the bed. I placed my hands on my face and rubbed away the stress.

"What did she mean!?" I whispered. I knew Celestia meant well when she said it, the ability that Luna had to extract a dream far beyond my memory and into the world so far inside my head that I couldn't access it without assistance. I was afraid of falling asleep, afraid of the unknown. I knew well that the princesses mean no harm, but do they understand what kinds of _lost dreams_ a person like me could have? And that's if I'm thinking about them in the right way, for all I know it's probably some wet dream I had in the past that I couldn't remember off the top of my head. Then again…it could go beyond that.

I should've known Celestia would pull a sly one on me the moment she separated me from the group and hid me in a room to speak privately.

" _Ben, I know you're tired over all this, but Luna has asked me to tell you that she would like to explore your dreams for the next few nights…if that's alright with you?_ "

I agreed to it.

" _Great! Luna has special ways of unlocking the deepest regions of one's mind and bringing about a peaceful night's rest. But…_ "

I questioned her on her silence.

" _It's unpopular, but Luna does have her flaws at times._ "

I questioned it again.

" _It hasn't happened in millennia, but…well…sometimes Luna can really go too far into one's head and extract a lost dream, that required her Nightmare form though…which I'm sure you're familiar with the story?_ "

"Not really…" I whispered, laying back down and gulping as I closed my eyes on continued speaking in my head.

" _Nightmare Moon, she still exists of course, but she hasn't dared show herself physically again."_

I begged to disagree but remained quiet as she continued.

" _But what are the chances? Very low, it's been millennia after all."_

I should have been suspicious about it, but I wasn't at the moment, I was excited for it actually. I was not really being my cautious self during that time.

" _So…how will Luna be able to do this?"_ I asked Celestia at the time. She smiled as she realized my will to comply in my voice.

" _She'll sleep with you, it'll connect you two through dreams, at least that's how Luna explained it._ "

That explained why she was in the living room while I was in my room paranoid and confused as to what I was doing in this state of keeping my eyes closed until something happened, preferably sleep.

" _I guess it's fine_."

" _Alright! Luna will be excited, she hasn't done this in so long_."

I should have heeded that last bit she said and had sirens going off. _She hasn't done this in so long_ , which meant that the chances of this messing up were higher than expected.

I sighed as I numbed myself with continuous self-conscious speech, trying to take away any clue that would prepare me better for what ever would happen. I could have easily have gotten up and spoken to Luna, but I didn't want to discourage her or show, in any way, that I didn't trust her methods.

After hearing Celestia's voice in my head over an indescribable number of times, I finally began to feel my body grow heavy with my head going light. It's almost impossible to tell when you're falling asleep, but when aware as I am, it's chilling, literally. My body sparked something in a quick pulse, and I jerked back up into a seated position on the bed. My breathing was slightly heavy, but quickly died down as my body not recover in time to become fully awake and fell back.

Again, the feeling of light-headedness quickly took me from under the pillow and darkened my sight. I felt the threat of another jolt again and readied to quickly take in the horrible cold feeling of waking up.

I waited and waited for it to happen, but it didn't. It was like waiting for sneeze only for it to never happen. I opened my eyes.

It was dim, the sun was wasn't bright here.

I blinked a few times towards the ceiling, before moving my head to have a look at the window where the sun should be coming from. The window was different. It resembled a window from old brick houses. The frame work was amazing, it was perfectly structured into a square, and didn't at all look like the windows I'm use too, at least not the one's in Ponyville. The frame of the window took a few seconds of my sight before I noticed the blinds. Blinds, the one's used to block out the sun completely, made out of plastic and covering all the sun from entering the room.

My eyes stared cold for a while before my eyesight twitched away from it and locked onto another unique object. A fancy tux, elegant to the last thread, hanging over the edge of a dresser. It didn't get to me until I blinked a few times and noticed the anatomy of the suit. It was for me, just slightly bigger. I picked my body up off the bed and sat up. This wasn't my room, it wasn't Flutter's home, and it certainly wasn't in Ponyville. This place looked too modern, or what my past definition of "modern" was.

I looked down at the drapes covering my body. A lovely blanket of a radiant blue color. I grabbed it and moved it off me, exposing my legs, which showed I wore the same clothes as before I went to sleep, jean-blue cargo shorts and a white button-up, hoping I'd wake up some time in the afternoon. I had showered before then.

I looked up and around, studying this strange place before exiting the comfort of the bed, which I quickly realized wasn't the same one I laid on. I paused at the carpet under the soles of my feet, almost jumping at the feeling. I haven't felt carpet under my feet in almost a decade, it was electrifying.

I wanted to ask out loud if anyone was around, but the feeling I was in the wrong place at the wrong time held me back.

I wandered about the room, which wasn't really big or small, but it did contain many items that I couldn't really recognize. Everything seemed too outdated. That is, beside the one device I managed to get a hold of, moving up to some stand with a lamp on it. I picked it up and looked at it, silently murmuring to myself as I studied it.

"A pager…" I described before turning it over to the back side and reading off the small lettering on the back.

 _Communication Industries_

 _Model: VEX-510_

 _Manufactured_ …

"1986…" I whispered, my eyes becoming narrow as I searched for a way to turn it on, but it seemed I was in luck today. The device let out a beeping that nearly made me drop the small object before I got a grip. I turned it over to the side with the screen and clicked the button with a green dash on its surface. A message scrolled through the screen.

 _Make sure the baby's alright, I'll be home soon._ 5:32 PM.

I felt something inside of me erupt out my mouth before my hand slapped onto my mouth and silenced me. I squirmed a bit before bring the pager closer to my face and noticing the fraction at the bottom corner. It read _1/6_.

I used the next button on the device. The screen lit up and before me, another message appeared, one coming after the other.

 _I'll try to ask for a raise this afternoon without getting fired, wish me luck._ 2:43 PM.

 _Well, there goes that, but hey, I kept my job._ 3:01 PM.

 _Still wish we could have a girl too._ 3:25 PM.

 _Bringing home some formula and diapers._ 4:12 PM.

 _Love you, baby, and the baby too._ 4:15 PM.

"Who…" I couldn't get the rest out with out having a stroke out. "…who's home am I in?"

That was it for the pager which I placed back on the stand. I sat back down on the edge of the bed and placed my hands on my face, trying to hold back the developing worry.

" _What was going on_!?"

I wish I knew. All I knew was that I was clearly not in my room, and that this pager belonged to the wife of who ever was on the end of the pager, sending amateur-parent messages to her. It was cute actually, but not the situation I should be in. I picked my head up and growled as I stood up firmly and looked around before finding a baseball bat next to a glove and a ball and took it for a weapon. I held it firmly as I looked towards the door out of this room and stared at it with the intent of exploring and hurting anyone in my way to the answer.

I moved to the door, locking my hand on the handle, but before I could do the final move, a beeping arose from behind me.

I turned around and looked at the pager. It was glowing blue, indicating a message, brand new. I quickly made it over to the pager and clicked the green button and a message flashed.

 _Kinda hurt my left hand on the car door, badly, my fingers don't feel or look right, schedule a doctor's appointment for me. Thanks._ 5:40 PM.

I watched the message go by before I raised my head up and lowered the pager to my side. I murmured out the words in the messages I had read up to now.

"Girl…hand…fingers…car…" I looked down at the pager and picked it up to my chest. "A 1986 pager…"

Slowly, the whole thing connected in my head. I wasn't in Ponyville, I had answered that before, but now I knew who inhabited this home. It was a couple, a human couple and their baby. I kept a straight face a mere fifteen seconds before I swung the bat towards my head and smacked my forehead with it. It hurt in my feelings.

"…Ow…" I expressed before looking up to the door and getting up, placing the pager back on the stand. I re-placed my hand on the door and sighed with the bat at hand. "3. 2. 1…"

"BOO!"

The blood drained from my head and my face went pale as I dropped the bat and fell back on my bottom, my eyes wide and aimlessly staring ahead at Luna in front of the door, she laughed and tried to hold in her laughter as I tried to get up but my body was in such shock that my legs gave up on me every time.

Using her wings to cover her face, Luna laughed her ass off, remarking how I was so pale and shivering like winter had breached this room. I regained the power to blink, and the moment I noticed Luna, I took in a choppy breath and equally let one out.

"L-LUNA! WHAT THE FUCK!?" I asked, my voice shrieking as I quickly got up with the wooden bat's help and placed my hands on my knees wishing she'd stop laughing. She laughed some more before lowering it to a loud giggle.

"I-I'm sorry!" She chuckled, struggling to hold herself together. "But you were so serious! I had too!"

I gulped before coughing out the urge to whimper and firmed up.

"I'm already afraid as it is! And now you come along and scare me like that!?" I lashed at her before looking away and sighing. "Damn it…"

She didn't laugh any more, not even a giggle. She approached me and lifted my head up with her magic. She looked like the apologetic type.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think it would scare you that gravely, I wouldn't have done it if I knew so." She apologized. I listened to her closely, finding her words sincere, and accepted them. I couldn't be mad when she didn't know better.

"Yeah, I guess I over-reacted a bit too, sorry." I apologized, which brought a smile about her, to which I couldn't help but smile back slightly.

"So…if you're still here with me, I'm guessing I'm still in Ponyville, right?" I asked, trying to change the topic of discussion. She picked her head up and nodded quickly. "Yes! Your physical body is at least."

"Physical body…?" I questioned.

"Yes! I'm pretty sure Celestia explained it well, did she not?"

I answered that with an obvious "yes" before she smiled and blushed slightly.

"I didn't think you'd ever fall asleep, but I finally managed to catch you asleep though, and now, I'm here!" She proudly explained making me nod curiously before taking a deep sigh of relief. I dropped the bat and chuckled, I got worked over nothing.

"Dang, so this is just a dream, I can't even remember falling asleep!"

"Were you afraid or curious of falling asleep?" She asked with a daring smirk which forced me to blush slightly. She noticed and giggled. "That explains it!"

I let the relief wash me over with it's assuring embrace and giggled from the feeling of being in a dream.

"I'll be, so what is this, a lucid dream?" I asked curiously and Luna bobbed her head to the sides as she explored the room slightly.

"Yes, but with a tiny bit of magic added in the mix."

"Magic?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes, you'll wake up remembering this whole event like a book."

I smiled at the news, it meant I would finally have a dream I could remember completely and not struggle deciphering the pieces. " _What a relief_ ," I sighed mentally before hearing Luna speak up.

"So…where are we exactly? Ben?"

I looked at Luna with curiosity.

"What do you mean? I thought you would know."

She shook her head. "I don't, these are your dreams after all, you should know."

I looked around the room and felt an itch inside my head. Everything in this room was unfamiliar, and I didn't at all feel a connection to any of it. I moved over to the dresser and the tux, before noticing a picture framed in a small square frame the size of my entire hand. I picked it up and studied the two in the picture.

"A young couple, a woman who was beautiful in every way, dressed in a white wedding gown, and a man, wearing a tux, elegant to the last thread, and a baby between them. The man with his arm behind and over the young woman's shoulder, while she held the baby in her hands, the guy with one hand over the sleeping baby's cheek." I observed before getting a reaction from Luna, who quickly came to see.

"What?" She asked, before peering from my side and looking at the picture. She paused for a moment before she took the frame with her magic and moved around the room studying the picture. I looked at my hands for a moment, wondering why she ominously took the picture without asking before shrugging it off and looking around the room some more.

Within a few seconds of silence, Luna's voice enlightened the silence. "Something about this picture…it feels…weird."

"What?" I asked turning to Luna who had perched on the bed comfortably and used some light from her horn to study the picture better. I looked around before getting to the blinds and opening them. The sun came in and reaped across the bed and up to Luna who looked towards the window.

"Huh?" She asked, before her eyes widened and she teleported off the bet up the window. "W-what's this…" She expressed as she pushed up against the glass of the window and stared out, mystified by the scene.

"Where are we?" She asked in shock as she watched cars parked outside of houses, and beautiful Fall weather overpass the land. In the distance, downtown could be seen, the buildings reaching into the sky, and helicopters flying around. I wasn't able to answer her as I too was looking slowly around, wondering where the hell I was, but now I had one puzzle piece to go off of: Downtown.

"I've been to many places, yet I can only recall one of states I've been to that's comfy in the fall. We're in Texas, somewhere in Texas…I don't really remember the rest Downtown looking like that." I whispered making Luna back up.

"Texas…?" She asked before opening the window and poking her head up to look around more. I watched her patiently for a few minutes before she popped back in and looked at me, her eyes not believing what she had witnessed.

"Ben…this is amazing…we're in Texas!" She excitedly expressed, desperate for a reaction from me. I looked at her with some excitement as I realized I was in Texas, not Ponyville. I slightly smiled as I poked my head out the same window, and Luna did the same as we looked around.

"You're right! This is America! On Earth!" I yelled before plunging my head inside the room. Luna slowly retracted her head back in before slowly turning over to me.

"This is your old world…" She mentioned, looking towards the floor before gulping, almost as if regretting something of sorts. I watched her lower her head before I moved up raised her head up with my hand.

"What's the matter?"

She looked at me before looking out the window.

"T-this…this is the world you left behind…It looks amazing…"

"And?" I asked.

She gave me an odd look before looking away.

"Don't you miss this?"

I realized her angle and closed my eyes as I took in some of my sorrow and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I do, I just try to not focus on it." I said with a soft smile before cupping her face with my hand and raising it up. "I gotta stick with what I got, beggars can't be choosers after all."

"Wise, alright then, but if you ever want to talk about this, come to me,"

"Thanks." I thanked before looking back at the door leading out of this room. "Have you explored the house yet?"

She looked at me and shook her head. "No, I just appeared at the door, and you know."

Seems we still needed to explore this home.

"Alright then, let's go and-

I paused as I felt my body slightly twitch and Luna's ears raised up. Some odd sound had spawned in the distance and gone quiet. We didn't hear anything for a moment, but within a few more seconds, we heard it again.

It was a small whimper then a sob. Not of an adult's, not of a child's, but of an infant's.

I turned to Luna and Luna turned to me as we both waited to hear it a third time. We didn't wait for long as it seemed that the whimpering had gotten louder. It was a baby's whimper, it was soft and had a small struggle to it.

"Ben?" Luna asked, showing some worry, which I didn't like. I looked at her before going for the door and placing my hand on it. Luna got next to me as I sighed.

"I know Luna, it's a baby…"

"Who's?" She asked, and I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Do you remember a baby in your past?" She asked me and I looked up before closing my eyes as images of nightmare fuel flashed in my head.

"Yeah, dead ones…"

Maybe I shouldn't have been too honest.

"Ben…I'm afraid…" Luna expressed sentient fear making me use my free hand to calm her before swinging open the room door. The sobbing increased into soft crying which made Luna actually stick close to my side, she was gripping my shirt with her magic, which if it made her feel safe, she could do so freely.

We were on the second floor of this house and in a hallway that led only to a far end with a window, and two rooms on either side with a set of stairs. We went down the stairs, watching our steps before I stopped half way down the stairs and stared down at the room the stairs led to. It was living room, and there dead in my sights, was a crib with a blanket over it to shield the light from the living room ceiling light.

"B-Ben…what are you doing?" Luna whispered, still shaken up, and I quickly hushed her and aimed a finger towards the crib, which she quickly noticed and gulped.

"The baby's in there." I explained softly and proceeded down the stairs, Luna holding on fast.

We moved over to the crib exploring the living room area as we did, and now I did get some goosebumps as I noticed something radiate off the walls, some strange feeling of comfort mixed with dread, mixed with familiarity. I spiraled a few times to get everything printed into my head before I bumped into Luna who stared at the crib, hearing the soft cries of the baby.

"Ben, the baby…" She directed.

"Right." I affirmed, reaching a hand over to the blanket covering the crib, which shielded the baby, but before I could grab the blanket, my hand suspended over the blanket. Luna had trapped me with her magic, some fear over her as she shivered.

"What if it's dead?" She asked. I lifted an eyebrow quickly and shook my head.

"But it's crying, it's alive."

"But Ben, this is a dream, which can alter perceptions of memories…what if you're dreaming of a crying baby because of your traumatic past…the baby could be dead, but the sound it makes is your head contradicting the reality of a dead baby!" She explained, her fear growing worse. She had a point unfortunately, for all I know I might just uncover a headless baby, but I how no way of knowing that as of now.

 _OH WELL!_

"Might as well find out!" I encouraged myself with an optimist confidence, quickly using my other hand to grip the blanket and whip it back. I've seen a headless baby in the past, and thinking back on it, yes it was traumatic, but this is just a dream in the end, a hyper-realistic dream.

"BEN!" Luna shrieked as she used her wings to cover her face and hide her eyes from what was ahead. She whimpered slightly as she held her wings pressed to her face, completely terrified. I stared at what was ahead of me, completely at a loss of words.

The crying had stopped.

"Luna." I called her, and she shook her head. "No!"

I chuckled a bit before looking down at the find. "Luna…it's not dead…"

"H-huh?" Luna showed sign of interest. She slightly lowered her wings to reveal the crib in front of her. She looked up at me, wanting to see if I was truthful. I smiled as I looked into the crib and she wobbled a step over to the crib and looked over it. Her wings slowly returned to their sides, and she stared, her eyes widened as a blushed formed.

"I-it's…" She studdered.

I reached into the crib and pulled out the baby, alive and well, the obvious signs it was crying though. It was a boy, cute wide eyes, and a funny swirling of hair on top. He stared at me, not recognizing me as kin, of course, a baby would stare at unfamiliar things. His eyes forced a giggle out of me and blush, he was just that cute.

"Aww, he doesn't recognize us!" I laughed as I cradled the small baby in my arms. Luna looked at my arms and I quickly realized her interest in wanting to see, so I spun the baby towards her.

Luna stared at the small infant as she blinked her eyes a few times before the baby made some of those cute baby noises. Luna smiled a bit when the baby give her a small laugh and she quickly neared using her magic to take him from my hands and cradle him herself. I let Luna have her time with him as I watched her obvious joy in holding the infant.

"It's so adorable…" She gushed out in a blush as she neared her muzzle to the baby's face and connected it with the baby's nose which forced him to smile, showing his toothlessness. "Aww," Luna giggled out in joy as she cradled it before noticing me giving her a smile full of joy as well. She blushed as she looked at the baby.

"Have you ever held a baby?" I asked, curious to hear her answer. She blushed with her smile.

"Not alone…"

"I'm here." I added, and she blushed a bit more.

"Not alone with you then."

"That sounds right." I said before looking around the room and looking at all the items around. Nothing really special; a TV set, a wall-mounted clock, sofa, and more family pictures. I moved up to these pictures and placed my hand on them, trying to see if I could find a reason as to why I would dream of this couple, as far as I knew, I've never met this couple. I lifted another framed picture, the same couple as the one upstairs, although this picture was of them after the wedding and with some random friend, to which I didn't get any familiar feelings from either.

"Damn it, I really can't see why I'm dreaming of this random couple and their kid, is there an explanation for this phenomenon Luna?"

I turned away from the picture to see how Luna would respond, and she just messed around with the kid, making him giggle and smile that toothless smile of his. I chuckled before clearing my throat and repeating the question. She quickly picked her head up and turned to me smiling with zing.

"Sorry about that." She apologized before focusing. "And no, there is no phenomenon, this is a piece of your memory, you probably just aren't fully aware of it yet."

"A piece of my memory?" I asked back but I didn't get Luna's usual response to such questions. I watched as she froze up quickly and stared at something beyond me, the baby still in her protection. "Luna?" I asked before hearing the sound of something swooshing through the air to the right of my head.

My hand quickly rose up by instinct and met a solid wooden instrument. I got a good grip on it and stared at it reading some of the lettering. Babe Ruth replica. I stared at it a bit more before quickly coming to senses and whipping the wooden bat away from whoever dared challenge me and quickly spinning around with the bat ready to strike.

"WAIT BEN!" Luna rang in my ear but she didn't need to say anything. I had already stopped myself when I looked at the sobbing woman's face, her eyes closed in fear.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT MY BABY!"

The bat in my hand lost all it's firm feel as it slipped out of my hand and collided with the floor. That voice, how could I not remember? That face, why didn't I recognize it sooner? That motherly cry, how could I forget it?

"Please…he's my only son…" She sobbed out, and I could relate. She slightly lifted her face up, and my knees weakened. I knelt down by my own weakness, catching my fall and shivered as I tried to understand all that I was seeing. It was too fast and too soon.

"Ben, are you alright!?" Luna asked, coming up behind me.

"I-I'm not going to hurt you! Please, j-just give me back my son…"

I stared in shock before getting a view of her face again.

"He's the only one I've got, take anything you want but leave him alone!" She desperately plead.

Her voice hurt me in so many ways. I couldn't cover each wound in me, the more she sobbed the more another wound gaped. I gritted my teeth to hold back the pain, but in the end, I was only suffocating myself holding back on my emotions. The wounds she created had quickly become too much and I let the first dream-like tear drip to the floor. It echoed in this living room and quickly got everyone's attention, even _her's._

"Ben…?" Luna asked softly. I knelt down on both knees and clutched my abdomen with both my arms as I whimpered, my shoulders shuttering over me.

"G-give her the baby…please…" I begged of Luna, my eyes beginning to get to a breaching point.

"Y-yes!" Luna quickly cooperated and levitated him to his mother. "S-sorry for the scare."

The mom quickly got her hands on the baby and wept as she held the baby tightly to her. The baby now crying from all the drama that was going on. As she held fast to the baby, I could only close my eyes and pray that I could say something without sounding crazy.

"L-leave this house…" The woman instructed and I couldn't take those words. I wanted to become invisible until I grew the courage to face her, at the moment, I was overwhelmed.

"What?" Luna asked, and I quickly gritted my teeth and tried to get up, but my legs wouldn't work, neither did my face as it began to hurt. I grasped some air but it wasn't enough to control my hyperventilation. I found some strength in my hands as I used them to lift myself up from the upper body and look up at the standing woman, which had scarred me now.

"I…don't want to leave…" I insisted. She quickly planted her feet on the floor, ready to yell something out, but I was ahead on this verbal war.

"Mama…" I let out, almost nothing but air coming out. There was a silence before I felt some speech come from behind.

"Ben?" Luna asked.

"What did you say?" She asked, and I lost all sense of control in my body. I lost to my emotions; my eyes were going to dehydrate me within minutes, and my chest would burst open as it expanded and collapsed with every breath. I knew it would sound crazy to her, but my stubborn mind wouldn't let me stop spouting out. I was crying.

"You're…mama" I explained in quiet intakes of air, sobbing with every pause. I felt my hair stand on end as I cried onto the floor, kneeing before the woman which I remember being with when I was young. I knew this was a far cry from getting her to understand, this was my past, and I finally understood this dream. This dream was from my infant years; I was a baby here. The house was renovated when I was three, that's why I didn't recognize it at first, and mom looked an awful lot prettier.

"I'm not…do you need help?" She offered.

"YOU ARE!" I shouted out stubbornly, getting some air in my lungs, which were full of rage and confusion, raged and confused at the fact that I was in such a fucked position to be doing this. She may not believe it, but she was, and I knew, and that was the messed-up part.

"I'M NOT!" She raised her voice at me, before stepping away. "This is my child! And if you think-

"ELANOR!" I called her, and time froze for a moment. That was her name, her lovely name which I hadn't said in over ten years or so. The sound of my voice recalling her name was painful, but it got her to listen.

"What…what did-

"ELANOR…FLORES!" I restated, and she stared at me intently, clutching the baby in her arms tighter.

"I'M…I'M B-BENJAMIN FLORES! THE INFANT IN YOUR HANDS!" I exclaimed aiming a finger towards the baby. I heard Luna hic from behind me and choke up. Mom did the same, she looked at her baby before holding him tight and shaking her head in fear.

"N-no…" She tried to deny and I quickly slammed a fist to the floor.

"When I knew you…you always said I looked like dad! DO I!?" I asked, letting her see my drenched face. She stared a good few seconds before gulping and wanting to look away. "Well!?" I asked further.

"WHAT ARE YOU!? EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

I gritted my teeth before launching myself from my knees to my feet and aiming my thumb towards myself. "I'M BEN! AND I CAN'T EXPLAIN THIS!"

For a second, Mom look at the baby before looking at me and took a step in my direction.

"And pause!" A familar voice echoed in my head making Mom look around in fear before quickly turning to me and reaching a hand out. It seemed like a desperate attempt at trying to get to me, but off the corners of my eyes I could see darkness and it quickly blinded me.

The world suddenly quickly got swallowed up into darkness, and I was left standing with a thumb aimed at myself. I stared at what now was deep darkness, my face slowly twitching as a tear rolled down. My tears had dried up in my fit of rage, but now realizing she was gone had brought them back.

She was gone, like that. Mom was nowhere in sight, the world faded to black, and now all that I could see was an empty void in space.

"M-mama…you reached for me." I whimpered before running my arm across my eyes and crying out the pain. "Damn it…"

"Ben, I'm so sorry for that, this isn't what I wanted!"

I turned to find Luna there, her face showing the regret and disappointment of the outcome of this dream expedition. I fully turned to her before closing my eyes and letting myself fall on my back, the back of my head bouncing off the endless void of darkness. I wish it would've hurt, but I guess only emotions hurt in dreams.

"Ben…" Luna called me as I let an arm loosely go over my eyes and cover them, I didn't feel like seeing any more of this dream. I held my place and thought on it, mom that is. She was beautiful, a shy person, and a lovely mother, you'd never get any hoodlum kids from her. I guess I'd be a bad example, but I do try to be a good kid.

I felt Luna tap her way up to me and I knew I had to do something, I couldn't remain depressed like this, this wasn't me. It was hard though, now the last thing I remember Mom do was reach her hand out for me before being swallowed by darkness. I inhaled some great amount of air, avoiding the hyperventilating and exhaled.

"Luna…do you think mom is watching me from somewhere?" I asked out of the blue, a calm voice erupting from me. I could tell Luna had flinched slightly at the question, so I decided to let my loose arm roll off my eyes. "Anywhere?"

"She has to be…it's what parents do." She preached and I gulped as I sighed and nodded closing my eyes for moment to take that in. It was great to be assured something like that. I smiled slightly and painfully.

"Thanks, Luna."

I felt something warm brush under my eyes and wipe the streaming water away. I looked at Luna retract her magic and closed my eyes. "Thanks."

"Oh Ben…you look to deliciously weak when your mother is around."

Luna's head shot up as did her ears and I as well reacted. I remained laid down, but my eyes followed the voice's direction, looking off to the endless dark void. "Luna…that voice…" I whispered to her, and she quickly nodded before frowning and standing firmly in place.

"This is your work! Isn't it!?" Luna asked, and I looked carefully at the darkness before seeing two round figures begin to glow a radiant familiar blue. The cat-like eyes were a dead give away and I slowly lifted my back off the floor and sat up right.

"Would you look at who it is? the Nightmare." I unpleasantly greeted, and Luna jumped slightly as she turned to face me. The eyes which I was seeing closed for a moment, and took a bow followed by a malicious giggle that was full of evil.

"About time you got it right." She greeted back. Luna exchanged looks between me and our visitor in a quick and shocked succession. I looked up at her as she suddenly stopped to stare at me.

"You know her!?" She asked, sounding shocked as her face represented.

I nodded before standing up from the base-less floor. "Yes, and I'm guessing this is the reason for my dream malfunction?" I turned over, my arms crossed across my chest and a frown upon my face.

"Well, I did tend to make you suffer." She stated, trying to make her words sound as evil and ill driven as she could. She was easily trying to get me to react with aggravation, I saw through her this time.

"What for?" I asked back, not letting her get the reaction she expected from me. She stopped for moment, before smirking.

"It pleases me to see you suffer."

"Why don't you physically come out? I'll teach you a thing or two about suffering." I taunted next, smacking a fist into my palm. She stared, seeing if I was kidding or being serious. I let her know my seriousness with my silent protest.

She picked her head back and chuckled malicously.

"I've seen your methods of handling your enemies, I must say, it's quite a pleasing sight, yet I'm not stupid as to get intertwined with your fury."

I smirked in response to her wise move. "Hmm, smart move."

"Wait! What!? You two, explain yourselves!" Luna demanded, reappearing between us. I lifted an eyebrow before looking at Moon.

"What needs explaining?" Moon asked, her face easily showing her disrespect for Luna. Luna was at a loss for words momentarily before aiming a her hoof at me.

"How does HE know you closely!? And how do YOU know him closely!?" She asked. Moon frowned before looking away in disgust, obviously refusing to answer.

"You're friend knows, ask him."

"Ben?" Luna asked turning to me, and I quickly looked away to get my thoughts sorted out.

"Remember that night you had your teeth sanked into my neck?" I asked her being direct. As an obvious response, that got blush from her, but she nodded. Moon laughed as she nodded with an evil grin.

"That was me, I was feeling a bit winded up." She easily took pride in those words. And I expected such, from what I see, Moon has a strong difference with Luna.

"What!?" Luna outraged. "Why would you!? How!?"

"Yes, you had intoxicated yourself to the point I was able to take control of you while you were sobering, so I took advantage and got to know this strange being known as Ben, the Human. Might I add he's got quite the slippery tongue."

She really took it there.

"B-BEN!?" Luna asked turning to me. I quickly put my hands up and defended myself.

"Hey, in my defense, I thought I was dreaming at the time!" It was quite the dream too.

"But you weren't, and Luna could learn a thing from sleeping with a strong alpha like you." She expressed in a oddly comfortable manner. I caught that just like Luna did; her first words that didn't have harsh intent in them.

"What's with the slippery compliments!?" Luna asked, and Moon shrugged as she looked over to me.

"Hush, before I force you to wake up and leave myself in here with Ben." Moon threatened making Luna flinch slightly but she wasn't taking it.

"Y-you can't do that!"

"You're naïve Luna if you believe your own advice." Moon threatened again, her horn near to blowing a fuse, giving Luna some advice in return. Luna, out of fear of leaving me behind, held back on arguing momentarily.

"F-fine!"

Moon smirked and I sighed to get her attention.

"But why Moon?" I asked, and she turned to me. "You want to see me suffer, then why did you choose that scene from my youth, when you could have easily have chosen grimmer scenes of torture and mental scarring…I suffered enough, but I've come to the realization that it was a dream now, so I can't really hold a grudge."

"Ben! Don't give her any sense of reason!"

"Goodbye Luna." Moon dismissed and like that Luna faded, I looked up watching the place that Luna once stood at. "Don't worry, she's waking up."

"What are you doing?" I questioned as she got up close and personal. She looked at me seriously before looking off to the side.

"You're right about what you just said, as much as I hate giving others credit for their words, you're an exception."

I got curious, too curious as she got close enough for me to feel her breath on my shirt. I backed a step. "What this all of a sudden!?"

She sighed and nodded.

"As much as I wanted to see you suffer drastically, I couldn't pressure myself to do so."

By this point, she was speaking in poetry leading up to a conclusion that would be a twist. The vibes have changed now that Luna wasn't around and she was highly suspect.

"Wait…what are you saying!?"

She remained paused for a moment, before looking off to the side and thinking. She got a hold of some words and turned to me with a smile, the first I've seen from her that seemed to carry a meaning.

"I like you."

I knew it, that poetry wasn't for nothing after all. I gulped and asked out of suspicion. "…Like…for real?"

She lost the smile but her oddly positive vibes still radiated from her.

"I don't want to repeat myself."

I got the point and directed her attention to the most controversial name. "What about Luna?"

The postive vibes stopped and she gritted her teeth as she denounced it in seconds.

"You tell her, and you'll get unpleasant nights until you make up for it!"

"Oh right! Understood." I assured with a nod. She lost her sudden anger and lowered her head humbly.

"Wake up now, I over did the sleep spell, it'll be almost morning now. You won't see me again until Luna gets posioned again or she links dreams again."

My body slowly began to disappear like Luna's but I vanished slowly as my feet were gone first then my waist. I looked at Moon, looking slightly down as I passed away into the world of reality. I smirked and shook my head before calling her up. Her head rose in quick response.

She claims to have seen how I handled my opponents, so she should remember this cheeky one. I raised my hand and flicked her off as I disappeared.

"That's for my mother."

She stared, lost for words for a moment before giggling back with a smirk as she used her magic to conjure a magical hand and return it. I stared in amazment for a moment before chuckling and nodding.

"See ya."

I felt my dream state leave slowly, and slowly I was coming back to reality, although reality seemed to be moving abruptly and quick with desperate yelling.

"BEN! WAKE UP!"

I snapped awake to find Luna over me and shaking me violently with her hooves on my shoulders. I felt my body bounce around before quickly placing my hands on her hooves but she continued in all the stress.

"Luna! LUNA! I'm awake!" She opened her eyes in confusion, exerting a "huh?" as she came to a slow stop.

"Ben…you're alright?" She asked, not expecting such. I smiled as I gave her a nod.

"Yeah."

"Nightmare Moon didn't hurt you? At all?" She asked, looking around me and moving my head around her magic.

I chuckled in response to her worry. "Besides making me see my mom in the worst possible time, no."

She abruptly stopped her magic and stared down at me in this pinned position.

"What? Why!?" She went further on, looking for a reason to give Moon some stick and further her distrust.

"Did you want her to?" I countered and she backed her face away from mine, yet refused to free me of my restraint.

"N-no…but…she's not…a good mare." Luna explained, not holding onto the best of reasons. I didn't believe as Luna said, personally, Moon appealed to me as the misunderstood, and usually the misunderstood have ways of turning out to be hidden gems; Chrysalis for example.

"Hmm…probably, but I have reason to believe we won't need to fear her for a while."

"How can you speak like you know her all too well!? She's tormented this entire land in the past…I let my jealousy get the better of me and she appeared, now she's a sperate apparition that lives within me, and I can put anything on it that she's evil to the core!"

I looked up at her and let those words soak in as I thought about it. I connected scenarios and mixed cases from before. To some extent, I believed her, but my own encounters deceived me.

"You can put anything on it…but you can't put me." I stated and she was lost for words, semi wanting to throw shame upon me but equally wanting to protect me. I closed my eyes to explain without having her influencing my words.

"When Chrysalis was first mentioned…all I heard was how much of a monster she was, and I always kept room inside of me to oppose those allegations and see it for myself. You saw how that turned out."

I felt my body slightly sink into the bed as Luna gave me a shove down into the bed matress with her hooves, a frown exposed over her face.

"Don't give Nightmare Moon excuses for getting a second chance, her first one was enough!"

"It's that serious huh?" I asked, not moved by her actions. She stared at me before she lightened the gravity of her hooves and sat down my body. She sighed in agreement.

"Yes, yes it is."

Luna was bent onto it, Moon was evil in her eyes, and that was it. Somewhere in me, I believed her over the intensity of Moon, but now, I currently believed my word over hers.

"Listen Luna, I know Nightmare Moon isn't the kind of corrupt demon-alicorn we want as a friend, but what if it's the situation with K and Jade."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, getting that raged look in her eyes. I ignored that look and looked beyond her eyes.

"What K is to me and Jade is to Sting, is what Nightmare Moon is to you, a demon from what Celestia explained." I said, bringing up the news Celestia had told me earlier. Luna was now classifying me as suspect, her eyes narrow and curious.

"What's your point?" She asked, daring me to defend Moon in this situation. I wasn't taking the dare but I would answer her.

"K deemed me his owner at some point, and Jade said she was made for Sting. What if Nightmare Moon was made for you?" I explained. Luna clearly didn't expect that one, she froze for a second before her hooves grew heavy again and sank me into the bed.

"But how!?"

I began to feel some pain on my shoulders as Luna had started making them sore.

"Ask your mother, I can't really answer that."

"Mother!" Luna quickly responded, sinking me into the bed and shoving her muzzle in my face. "You're right! Mother should know about Nightmare Moon!"

"K explained to me that your part demon…" I informed. "Wouldn't your mother just tell you the same? Like, live with it?"

"He told you…you don't mind right?" Luna asked, a bit shy over my new discovery. I smiled as I shook my head.

"On the contrary, I find it attractive in a way." And I wasn't lying. Luna smiled as well and took it with hope.

"Thanks…but I'm more into hearing how I can deal with her or seal her away permanently."

"Seal her away…?" I asked softly looking off to a side and gulping, I wasn't at all voting for that idea. The smile strolled away from my face and clearly showed my signs of objection, which worried Luna.

"Ben?" She asked. My eyes moved up to her and connected as I let her hear me out. Her eyes widened slightly as the look in my eyes revealed what I was about to say. "Ben, you can't really defend her-

"Listen Luna, I still hold strong to the belief that she's meant to be with you for a special reason. I know from what I hear that she's a horrible being, but from these times I've met her…she's really done no harm when she's had the opportunity. Remember my first stay with you two?"

She gulped and gave a single nod. "Yes."

"Nightmare Moon took over because you were tipsy, why didn't she use that time to perform one of her evil acts or try to hurt Celestia? She was sleeping right next to us, she could have easily have executed her then and there." I explained and put up the best defending case I could. Luna was affectes greatly by my words and she stared at me for lack of coming up with anything to object.

"If she didn't, what did she do instead?" Luna asked, and I held back on refraining any infotmation.

"She fell asleep on me, and a few hours later, I woke to some numb stinging sensation on my neck, her sharp teeth clamped on my neck, puncturing it slightly. I'm guessing you were sober enough by then, because you immediately turned back into Luna, and your teeth dulled."

Luna's head rose slightly and she stared at me before gulping. "She slept with you instead of taking over when she had the chance…and spared my sister in other words."

"Yeah, basically." I assured her of the answer. She once again was silent before closing her eyes and sighing.

"You put up a good argument…and she did waste her greatest opportunity to reign over Equestria." She expressed before her hooves pushed me down to the bed again. "My head is starting to hurt!"

I wiggled my shoulders a bit before clearing my throat.

"Maybe if you lay down and get some rest it'll pass; my shoulders are starting to get sore."

"Oh…sorry." She finally noticed and stood up from my body. I sighed in relief and smiled.

"Um…Ben." Luna called me, she was still over me, although her hooves now on the matress.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Why would Nightmare Moon sleep over her chance to take over Equestria?"

I let that question sink in before I noticed the lool on Luna's face, giving her away.

"I know where you're getting with question Luna." I informed her and she recoiled slightly.

"As crazy as it sounds…do you think…"

"Hmm?" I hummed curiously, expecting the expected. Luna looked away and blushed softly.

"Well…it sounds stupid, but…do you think she…"

I remained straight faced through her struggle to find the words to avoid giving myself away and having to face neverending nightmares from Moon. Luna found some ground and closed her eyes as she quickly blurted out the words.

"Do you think she likes you?"

I blinked a few times as I wondered it. I thought it would be easy to accept it mentally but listening to Luna ask it, it gained some odd meaning of taboo and adrenaline, like a hidden relationship.

"Nightmare Moon…" I repeated before convincingly closing my eyes to think about it. "You'd have to ask her Luna, I wouldn't mind if she did though, it proves she's got some level of friendliness in her."

Luna seemed to agree with that fully. "You're right…but in the case she does…how would you react?"

I used some switching technique and raised a finger and gently placed it on Luna's chest. "I think I'd rather know how you react."

She thought about it and quickly had an answer. "It would be most strange…I wouldn't know really how to react."

I accepted her response and bowed my head.

"It's alright Luna, somethings are best left to fate, but I'm gonna continue believing there's more to Nightmare Moon than just some demon. She shares a bond with you, you can't deny that."

She bowed her head as well.

"I guess you're right on that note…but let's not let this take over our night."

Luna opened her eyes before slightly growing a blush, which got a great smile from me.

"I don't really sleep much at night, only those few times when you're around, since I thrive in it…but you don't mind if I…I don't really want to leave."

"I don't mind," I assured her and she smiled as she made her way over to the other side of the bed.

"I'll leave your dreams be as they come now, I don't want to risk another incident…thank you for trusting me." She expressed before laying down, she faced me and I faced her. She smiled beautifully in the night and smooched me one on the lips. "I love you Ben, goodnight."

I was slightly in a moment of silence before smiling back.

"I love you too Luna."

With that, I thought that would be the end of our conversation and lead to bed but it didn't. I watched as Luna giggled slightly before blushing a bit more, to which I responded with justified confusion.

"Did I say something funny?"

Luna smiled a bit wider as she scooted closer and tossed a blanket over us, her blush everlasting. I opened my mouth to have a word but she placed her hoof to my mouth before anything came out. Her eyes glistened and she giggled some more.

"It's funny to think that I held you as a baby," She finally said before throwing her hooves around me and smothering my cheek against hers. "But you were so cute! Aww!"

I blushed in reaction and let her smother me in kisses and hugs as I thought of how funny it really was. _Pretty damn werid to think that "that" baby is what grew up to lay her down in bed, but I can't deny I was one cute baby, back then that is_.

"You still are!" Luna countered, having read that last bit of my thoughts. "And that is pretty weird too, but an exciting weird!"

"What ever happened to goodnight!?"

Luna bumped her muzzle onto my nose and gave me a more prolonged kiss compared to before. I watched as she backed away but remained close enough for another one.

"Sorry, but I really like you, that's all." She whispered with red across her cheeks.

"Aww, now look who's the cute one!"

She closed her eyes and giggled.

"Just kiss me, let's see where it gets you."

I smiled with agreement.

"It'll get me to a beautiful sleeping opportunity."


	58. Chapter 58 - Wild Horses

#58

After the certain events, there was peace once more. Celestia figured out about our encounter with Moon, and she forced the "evil" agenda upon me, to which I nodded along to avoid having to express my optimism towards Nightmare Moon. Luna afterwards and when not in Celestia's presence, questioned why I was so bland in my reaction to her sister's wisdom over Moon.

"I don't want to have controversy over it, if you were as stubborn about it last night, I can't imagine Celestia's reaction, not trying to disrespect." was my response. She took it with some thought and shook her head on a disappointed note. "You don't know her like we do."

We remained silent for a moment, she waited for a response from me, and I didn't want to give her the credit. We were walking around Ponyville with nothing to do and had begun greeting individuals, and now it had gone down to just walking in disappointment. When the silence grew, she glanced at me and I had to grow the courage.

"I don't." I admitted, going along with her. She became confused as to why I didn't respond with a smart-mouth attitude, her face showing the signs. I turned to look at her, and firmly showed her my displeasure.

"Then why don't you enlighten me?"

Luna, for a moment, stared aimlessly at me before looking forward. "But you know she tried to take over, throw my sister off her throne, and engulf Equestria in darkness."

I nodded. "Exactly."

She was mentally perplexed for the moment. "But then…why-

I looked at her with a sudden smile before tapping the side of my head with my finger, telling her to use her head. She stared before her eyes widened slightly and she jumped in my direction aggressively.

"That's not enough to convince you!?" She asked and I bowed my head in agreement.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's that there's a rule I follow."

"What rule!?"

I raised two fingers in her presence and wiggled them. "The Second Chance rule."

"You're naïve!" She criticized. I lowered my hand and continued walking around, she kept up with the same pace I was going at.

"Really?" I asked. "Because I've been like that since I got here. I've trusted everything you've told me, you and you're ponies, and even put myself in life risking situations, no need for example. I guess our first encounter in Twilight's home wasn't example enough of how naïve I was. I may be naïve, but I still take precautions, that's being me, and luckily for me it's worked out these recent times."

I wasn't carrying a harsh tone, but the message was there to make up for it. Luna looked to the side with a sigh.

"I just don't want to see you hurt again, that's happened too many times, and it's dreadful to see."

I nearly stopped my walk but quickly made up for it with a sudden skip of a step and continued. I turned to see Luna facing her side of town, not daring to look back at me. _I'm guessing I'm being shamed then?_ I stared at her for a while, while I had the advantage, and sighed as well.

"I won't argue with that, you're right." I sympathized. Luna slightly turned, looking at me off the corner of her eye. "Listen, I'm sorry. I don't mean to put some faith in Moon when it makes you feel like this, it's just…she hasn't tried anything yet, and if she has, then it's been petty. And you two are like a broken relationship, you may not agree, but that's how I see it. We've all had friends or close ones who've done horrible things, we may never speak to them again, we become enemies or we make amends, but I've not been subject to that experience with Moon yet."

Luna returned her sight back to me, and I know she saw me staring at her off the corner of my eye before I quickly looked forward awkwardly. I continued on ward to the point and picked up where I left off.

"Luna, the Second Chance Rule is not a law, it's a right. We give others their right to a second chance subconsciously or directly, and when they screw it up, then it's up to the giver to repeat the process and allow another second chance. I know you're done with second chances, but I've not even had time to give one chance out to this Moon."

Luna looked around herself for a moment to get her thoughts in order. Alas she gave me a smile from her side and seemed fairly please to an extent. "You make sense. You put up a good argument. Yet…I also have my precautions," She said with a smile. She looked ahead. "High precautions."

I smiled too and directed my view forward. "I don't expect you to not have them, but tell me of a time you've hated anyone, any creature to their gut…and tell me where they are now." I placed a question on the table, just to carry conversation. Luna seemed intrigued and became serious.

"Discord." She bluntly answered the question. I lifted a finger subconsciously to count her answer, but upon lifting my finger, I realized how blank the answer was. I turned to her, a question in mind.

"Uh…that didn't make sense, repeat that again."

"Discord." She answered again, lifting an eyebrow and directing it towards me, making me look like the one with blank responses. I fully lifted my finger out and nodded in suspicious agreement.

"Well sure, you can hate that, no one want's discord in their life anyways."

Luna braked to a halt and I was as well stopped. I felt something weird in my gut, almost like guilt that I had done something wrong. I turned to Luna and dropped my hand with the finger.

"Yes?"

She stared at me for a while before clearing her throat. "Did you mean that?" She asked.

"Excuse me?" I asked back, firming my foot on the ground for confidence.

"Discord!" She cleared. I nodded firmly this time, hoping this was some misunderstanding, and that the confidence in my answer would back me up.

"Discord! Yes, of course, no one…wants…that…" The look Luna gave me forced me to slow down and take a small breather. "…right?"

She thought about it for a moment before looking towards the ground and thinking on a level I would say is too dramatic for the word. She went a few seconds without saying a thing and I took a step in her direction.

"Would you want chaos and disharmony?" I asked. She quickly picked her head up and sighed one of relief before giggling. I crossed my arms and gave her the look of aggravated confusion.

"Oh! You mean that _discord_!" She said with joy, and a glistening of her hair and eyes. I undid my arms, and my face remained the same as I watched her smile, there was something afoot here.

"Is there a better definition in this world that I do not know of?" I asked, and Luna quickly nodded, her teeth showing with this smile.

"Yes!" She answered to my surprise before she died the smile down to a hoof under her chin as she thought. "Oh…well maybe he's not a definition, but a…thing…a noun."

"Discord is a thing? A 'he'?" I asked.

"He's a cluster of things into one." Luna answered, her back side turned to me, distracted by her train of thought.

"An abomination?" I smirked.

"Ben!" Luna quickly scowled and my hands shot up in defense.

"Sorry!" I apologized with the smirk. She lowered her mildly offended look, and I grew suspicious about this "Discord" she spoke about. "Now, if you don't mind, explain: Are you telling me there's a creature called a Discord?"

Luna quickly gave me a nod.

"He's called Discord, that's his name."

I felt my gag reflexes come in, not of disgust but humor. I held it down with a simple chuckle, getting Luna to frown again.

"Well, what a horrible name! Have any of you told him he's named after chaos!?" I asked, looking out for this anonymous creature while smirking at the thought of having his name. Luna looked to her side and closed her eyes, almost mournfully.

"…you'd have to know the backstory."

"Backstory?" I asked before inferring the rest from her look. "I'm guessing his name has something to do with his actions in the past?"

"You inferred that well." She complimented before sighing. I stared at her for a moment, seeing as she had already walking into my hands, and checking to see if I could pull off the "gotcha" factor. Like any great detective, I placed my hand over my chin and _cliched_ it.

"Hmm…yet you defend his name?" I asked with a new smirk, one with "Gotcha!" all over it. As expected, Luna was quick to defend herself.

"He's changed! He's a peaceful and misunderstood being. True we all hated him at some point for his malevolent ways, but he was just misunderstood." She explained finally turning to look at me and backing a step upon getting my face in her sights.

"You waltzed right into my hands, Luna." I revealed extending my hand out towards her and tightly closing it into a fist. Luna quickly jolted before fanning her wings out slightly.

"Huh!? What does that mean!?" She asked in with a bead of sweat going down the left side of her face. I closed my eyes like a wise man and lifted a finger with an answer.

"Did you forget the reason we're talking about this Discord fellow?"

Luna froze for a moment before gritting her teeth and jumping towards me with aggression.

"Moon isn't like Discord!"

I opened my eyes and looked down at her, the confidence in my smile never leaving.

"So you say, yet Moon and this Discord you speak of, have what appear to be, similar stories, except one isn't completed: Moon's."

"What's you being a wise-mouth all of a sudden!?" Luna fired back.

"Do I have a wise-mouth? Or are you arguing against facts which make you sound like you're in the wrong?" I deflected back at her.

"There you go again!" She said, absorbing the fire and frowning.

"And there I go again being right! You won't beat me in this argument Luna!"

"I-I can't believe you!" Luna finally said pouting and turning away. I laughed at her childish reaction and shook my head as I called her name out, she refused to look at me, only closing her eyes tighter and holding her breath, her head held high and to the sky.

"Come on, don't be like that! I'm just playing around with you, you child!"

She let her breath go and opened her eyes, turning to me. A flair of "I'm gonna bury you alive!" in her eyes as she held her pout. I shrugged as I moved up a step and landed my hand on her head.

"Listen, I understand your worry and I've got something planned for next time we encounter our mare in the dream realm, don't think Moon can just wipe me from existence like that." I assured her before staring directly into her eyes and giving her head a small jerk with my hand.

"You hear me in there, Moon? I'll be waiting for ya!" I mocked the one beyond Luna. Luna giggled and shook her head.

"Oh great, now we really got something to worry about."

"Nah, Moon is probably going to hunt me down in my sleep and strangle me in my dreams." I sarcastically chuckled back. Luna closed her eyes and nodded.

"That's what worries me."

I paused for a moment, thinking how it would feel to be strangled in my dreams.

"Oh…" I re-placed my hand on Luna's head and awkwardly smiled a fake one. "Well then, I beg thy forgiveness, please don't strangle me in my dreams, I can only have one a night, so mercy." I added with a clear mocking tone, trying to be semi-assertive of what I said but remain subtle. I knew this Nightmare could manipulate dreams, and that's a strategy of hers which I must be wary about.

Luna stared at me for moment before laughing and using her magic to shove me away.

"You really do belittle her! You've got a hooffull confidence."

From her tone, Luna seemed to like it when I'm mocking Moon, she also had a cute laugh. I found my balance after her shove and winked at her.

"More like I try to play around, but as you may know, when I play, I always win."

"With Moon?" She asked, almost daring.

"Is that a challenge?"

Luna shook her head and smiled. "No, it's just talk."

We left it at that. Just talk and nothing more.

We moved across Ponyville, continuing our morning stroll until Luna glanced over at me. I glanced back and lifted my head to hear her out. She got the motion and smiled once more.

"I've been wanting to ask you something."

She spoke with a small thing lodged in her throat, something with worry. I slowly leaned her way curiously. Luna having a worried tone is always going to get to me.

"What's going on?"

She looked one way then to the other. Probably thinking on how to phrase what she was going to say.

"…I just wanted to ask, how has it been these days in Equestria? Don't think I've forgotten you're still new here."

She caught me off guard with that one. I haven't reminded myself yet that I'm still in a new world, Moon did it for me last night, but that was a dream, and this was reality now. I gulped at such a sudden question. It wasn't fear, it was the deepness of the question. I sighed and shrugged.

"I haven't really thought much about it, I've been too busy."

"We can speak while we walk about, I just want to help you relax and relieve stress." She responded walking a bit closer to my side, trying one of three things. One, make me feel comfortable. Two, a genuine attempt at getting closer. Or three, pressuring me. I watched her for a few seconds, seeing no reason to leave her request hanging.

"Alright, but let's talk on our way to something to eat, I've been walking on an empty stomach."

Luna nodded with a cheerful smile.

"Good point, I've been without a meal too."

We found ourselves resting at a terrace with a shade provided by an over-head umbrella, and a table with something I had ordered new, outside of a small restaurant which was open for breakfast. I watched my plate carefully with a hand over my mouth, pondering what strange thing I had ordered as Luna spoke opposite of me.

"You make it sound like you've been here almost a year." Luna commented with humor.

I nodded subconsciously before looking up and ignoring the plate.

"I guess so, and can I ask you something?" I asked, out of sake of prolonging what I had to eat.

"Yes." She agreed, smiling happily and waiting patiently. I didn't think this far into what I wanted to ask. I struggled for about three seconds, and that was too long for a response. I placed a hand on the table and cleared my throat.

"I…uh…hear from Celestia that you're all actually some pretty formal mannered princesses, language wise."

I watched Luna look down at her own empty plate of whatever she ordered, which looked like some soup of sorts, and she thought. I watched her as she thought about it before lifting her head and nodding in respect to my question.

"Oh! Yes, we do respect our founding teachings…but we…how do I explain this…" She said, a hoof under chin as she closed her eyes and thought more. I shifted a bit in my seat to give her better attention. She looked at me and blushed slightly.

"We found it easier to speak like Twilight and her friends do, like most of Ponyville actually. It made us feel better when speaking to Twilight and everypony else. Why do you ask?"

"Oh…uh…"

I had to quickly come up with something new.

"It's interesting because in my old world that was the same formal language used by people centuries ago." I swiftly answered, trying to follow the rhythm of conversation. Luna's face lit up and she leaned over the table to my side.

"Really!? That is interesting! Did you know any historical figures from the time?"

I bobbed my head slightly, agreeing and disagreeing to parts of her question. "I'm twenty-one, I didn't know them when they were around. But there was Shakespeare, he's the most famous author to use such formal language as far as I know. He used the "Thou" and "Thine" and multitude of old English words in his plays."

She thought before smiling and then erupting in laughter. I stared at her a good while before shrugging to myself.

"Well I'm glad you're having a good time, but what's so funny?" I asked. She blushed as she hushed up and focused her sight on me, excitement all over her face.

"Twenty-one?! You're so young! Compared to my age at least. It's kind of funny…and cute."

I leaned away from the table and backed up on my seat, crossing my arms and thinking on it. It sounded weird. Luna was older than me by some exponent, and I'm the one worrying about the age of consent of others.

"Do you even age?" I asked out of lack of a better question. Luna blinked a few times before shrugging.

"I was a filly before, some long time ago, but got to around three decades of age and I got stuck like this."

I remained silent and nodded in acceptance of this conundrum. "Same for Celestia…right?"

"Well, she got stuck at around four decades, she a bit taller than me."

I couldn't relate at all. I was stuck between coughing out of irrelevance or shivering away the feeling of shock.

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"You said you're twenty-one, when do you stop ageing?"

I was flabbergasted by her question. Luna's eyes buried into my own as I tried to find a way to make her question sound better. I got uncomfortable and straightened my back, sitting up right.

"I don't, I'm not immortal…" I revealed the news in a negative tone. It seemed though, Luna had some postivity in her, she quickly began where I left off.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, you're like ponies-" She choked up and aimed her eyes straight at me. "Y-you go through the…life cycle…" Luna started off at somewhere with good intentions, but slowly came to a stop and she hushed up, looking down at the table. I watched waiting to hear more but she was lip shut.

"Luna?"

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking of something."

I knew well what she was thinking about, or at least I was 99% sure I knew. It was a confusing topic, life that is. No one knows the good reason as to why all good things come to an end. Of course, that never kept me down, I'm too forward minded for that to bother me. Although, Luna had a good heart meaning she would feel these painful things. I leaned in over the table and smiled to lighten the mood.

"Say…you'd miss me, wouldn't you?"

She looked up from the table and remained locked to my gaze before looking down again, nervous about answering.

"Be honest." I added with a spike of tease in my voice, getting off my seat slightly. She blushed and looked away.

"I would."

I chuckled inwardly and sat back down, relaxed.

"Good, then I won't leave. I can't have you looking down now."

I sighed in relief and crossed a leg over the other, facing the sky as my head rested on the plastic back of this seat. Within seconds, a sudden shift from the table moved my sight back down to Luna who held a smile as she made herself comfortable.

"I like that about you."

"What? The positivity?" I asked readjusting myself, placing both arms on the table.

"That too," She said before closing her eyes. "But I like how you know how to make others feel better."

My head picked itself up instantly. "I can do that, but don't let that blind you, I can still be quite a rude, loud, and forceful guy…at times that is."

Luna almost chuckled, her body jerking slightly from holding a laugh.

"But if you are what you say at times, it's for a reason, normally you're always a good human."

"Thanks, you're a good…" I chuckled as I found it hard to decide between what to address her as. "Mare too…?"

"It's alright, that is what I am, right?"

I had to agree with that.

"Yeah, a pretty one too."

Luna smiled and looked a bit lower from my face and down to the table. That conversation was over, but now a new one would arise, one concerning what was in front of me.

"And now…" Luna began.

I closed my eyes as I prepared for what's to come from Luna's mouth.

"Are you going to eat or…?"

I looked unwillingly down at the plate, trying not to show discomfort of any. I became star-struck as I watched the plate and its components. I was usually up for something with meat in it, never really greens. I can eat vegetables, they're healthy, but I'm not too fond of them. To add on, what was in front of me seemed like the ultimate vegetarian meal: Basil, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, etc.

"Do you not like it?" Luna asked. I looked up and chuckled nervously. I had become silent for too long.

"Um…I'm not really a salad guy." I admitted, trying to avoid being silent again. Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Then why did you order it?"

Honestly, I didn't know. I was too distracted when we ordered and this popped up in front of me in the end. I chuckled and shrugged. "I was a bit too focused on talking to notice."

Luna sighed and looked away from the salad, up at me. "Then, what do you like?"

"Well, besides the obvious foods I won't find for sale here, I guess eggs and toast." I answered. Luna quickly recoiled slightly and coughed a bit to excuse herself. I watched as I hoped for her to understand my situation, but she quickly placed both hooves on the table, supporting herself for an exclamation.

"That's it!? You don't have anything else!?"

I looked off to a side and used my fingers to list off a few more. "Well, noodles, pizza, pastries…I think that's as far as I know."

"What are the foods you can't find!?" Luna further asked, desperate to find something for me to eat. I slowly returned back to facing her before placing a hand over my mouth to hide the smug smile I couldn't contain. The idea of Luna's reaction to the answer seemed to be getting to me.

"Why are you smiling?"

I lowered my hand from my mouth to under my chin as I smirked.

"Meat…"

"Excuse me?" Luna asked. I let her take in my answer before reminding her again. "Meat, that's what I can't find here."

Luna leaned away from the table and silently stared down at her hooves, her eyes wide with shock.

"You're…you're a carnivore…" Luna whispered under her breath. I nodded partially.

"My mom would say so."

"You find the taste of meat…satisfying!?" She asked next, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. I played along clueless of her feelings.

"When it's well cooked, raw is just disgusting."

Luna sat back down on her seat and blinked a few times before looking down at her hooves again.

"At least you're civil about it…but I can't imagine eating meat. How…just how?" She asked, almost ashamed to look at me. I took notice and gained the clue to stop playing clueless.

"You're a pony, a herbivore, it's not in you to eat meat." I reasoned. Luna looked up and semi-agreed.

"You're right…" She said before closing her eyes and facing away. "But you don't lust for pony meat, right?" She opened her eyes once more, facing me with the intent to bring something out of me. I smiled as I closed my eyes as well and placed my hand under my chin in deep thought.

"Pony meat? Hmm…"

"Ben…" Luna warned and I opened my eyes glaring at her with a full toothy smile.

"Don't worry, I've never eaten a pony, and I don't think I ever want to. No offense." I joked. Luna didn't take such joke lightly but it did make her a bit more secure. She dropped her shoulders.

"None taken." She said, looking at the salad plate in front of me. "Twilight hasn't told us about your eating habits, but since you like pizza and noodles, I assume you're a hybrid?"

Her eyes met mine again and I bowed my head for her. "An omnivore, yeah."

"How much meat do you consume regularly?"

"Oh, I haven't had any since I got here."

"…does that harm your health?"

"I don't feel any different."

She thought on it deeper, and I was close to just telling her she had nothing to worry about, but she quickly stopped me with her sudden uprising of a point.

"Thinking about it, you did have meat!" She pointed out, making me glare at her with a lifted eyebrow and curiosity. She used her magic to draw something on the table, and quickly, an outline of a past foe appeared. "That's why you ate Yuson's heart with ease!"

I looked at Yuson well drawn on the table before using my hand to sweep away the magic with a frown. I sighed and shook my head.

"Luna…that was the most disgusting thing I have done since I got here," I told her and her head sprung up.

"Huh? Really?"

I nodded with disgust. "That taste of raw flesh in my mouth swirling…BAH!"

"That bad?" She asked, looking worried over me. I closed my eyes and gave a nod.

"Disgusting…"

Luna looked down at the table before pulling in the plate in front of me. "Fine, I'll just-"

I reacted quickly and grabbed the plate, mistaking it for falling or spilling, before Luna blushed. I watched Luna as I remained stretched across the table over to her side, my hand reaching for the plate. I blinked a few times before looking off to my sides and noticing the town's ponies staring at me, my body and hand stretched across this table with their princess on the other end. I blushed as I slowly recoiled myself back to my seat. "Sorry, I thought it was…nevermind." I said, looking down at the table with a level of embarrassment, hoping the town's ponies just walked on. Luna giggled and used my magic to pet my head, embarrassing me further.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you do that, or embarrass you." She apologized, contradicting the fact she's petting my head in front of an audience of ponies who I know will remember me. I looked off to the side and watched as a photographer aimed camera at me. My eyes widened in a moment, and quickly shut as the bright flare blinded me.

"You could've smiled at least, but ze best pictures are only taken once!" An English-German accented voice thanked before I finally gained sight again. I blinked a few times, noticing the horribly visible spots in my eyes. I ran my hand to my eyes and rubbed away the spots before looking at Luna who blended in with the spot I was seeing.

"Luna, I think I might be blind."

"Nope, it's just a camera, technology!"

I blinked twice before seeing the spot begin to fade. "Do you think that picture will be used anytime soon?" I asked, rubbing away at my eyes gently.

"Maybe, you don't like the attention?"

I scoffed at what she said and aimed a finger at the photographer. "Did you see how I came out looking!?"

"Ze moment was perfect."

I looked off to the side at the photographer and remained silent for a moment. "Are you linked to any press?"

"Many!" She enthusiastically revealed. I sighed and rested my head on the table, defeated for now. "Well, at least I'll be on a presser again."

"If it makes you feel better, I'll take your plate, and you go and ask for something you like, I'll pay due amount." Luna offered with a comforting smile. My head rose slowly with a smile forming ever so slowly.

"Thanks."

"Oh, great choice it was to stay here a few days! I like ze direction zis is heading!"

Luna enjoyed the attention, but she knew as well as I knew that this would be coming out with some headline if it does reach a press. In the end, I ate what was inevitably eggs and toast. They weren't as good as Flutters though, hers still top the competition. The photographer decided to leave us finally when she needed to recharge that camera of hers, and by then me and Luna were finishing some topics of discussion. Food, fun activities, and some more insight into each other, the usual conversation stuff.

"Ben!"

I turned around and watched as two cloaked beings landed in front of me. The time with Luna ended almost an hour ago, and I let her go meet up with her sister without taking much of her time. Now I was stopped here in mid-pavement as two pegasi came to a swift and clean landing. Took me a moment to notice their eye and mane color before I figured them out.

"How's it been?" I greeted, a smirk of joy from seeing them again.

"Nice, we just got some practice done, you?"

"Great, had a rocky day yesterday, but I'm up and strong again."

 _They wouldn't believe how rocky_. Both smiled and accepted it.

"Great, we saw you walking and stopped to check on you."

"Cool, glad to see someone's got my back." I said making them smile with pure joy. My eye wandered down to their getup and curiosity grew. "So…are you ever gonna tell me what's with the fancy track suit or…"

Their smiles fell and they looked at each other before both equally jumped.

"Right! You're new. In that case," Fleet acknowledged before jumping slightly and landing in a stance full of confidence. "We're the Wonderbolts!"

Spitfire giggled. "There you go."

"I'm guessing Soarin is in it too?"

"Yeah." Spitfire filled in. "And plenty more, some recruits and others fully pledged."

"And what exactly do you do?" I asked. Fleet hopped in front of me with blazing confidence again and a smirk as confident as the feeling she radiated.

"We're High Flyers and serve our helpful purposes!" She answered with Spitfire just laughing her.

I took a moment to get it through my head. I knew High Flyers from the U.S who put up great show's in the summer, was this the same? I took her words into consideration and asked, "Do you perform?"

"Yeah! And we compete!" Spitfire excitedly rose this time and plugged in a drug-of-a-word in there for me.

"Compete, you say?" I asked, showing clear signs of action and motivation. Fleet picked up off of that and flew up to meet me face to face, floating in place.

"You heard right! Races, derbies, marathons, etc.!" She explained and I had a moment of thought.

"Who's the fastest?" I asked and there was reaction, a strange one. Spitfire and Fleet both met on the ground and took a deep breath to lower tensions.

"…Dash." They both revealed, ashamed to be in the position to say such a thing. I had a small pause and backed up a bit.

"Dash…she's in it with you all!?" I asked, utter shock surging. They nodded with shame.

"So that's why you wanted to keep that thing a secret, this was your personal connection with her!" I finally pieced together, proud that I did as I gleamed with pride. Spitfire and Fleet both scoffed at my connections of information and I gave them a stink eye.

"I'm sensing some issues here, what's going on?"

Spitfire and Fleet both discussed who would be the one to explain the news and, in the end, Spitfire stepped up.

"Listen, in every race, every competition…it's…it's like she's got some speed hidden within her that catches us off guard at times, it's insane!"

I chuckled at how obvious that was. "I'll agree on that."

"Yeah, but we can beat her, it just takes some severe training." Fleet added, trying to sound hopeful when it was way too easy to see that they were scraping the bottom of the barrel for confidence. I studied their looks and to cheer the mood I tightened my body and became a bit confident.

"What if anyone were to go raw into a race with her?"

"They'd lose." Spitfire shook her head negatively. I looked up at the sky and smirked as I raised a fist to my chest and squeezed to hold in the confidence, no matter how stupid it seemed.

"Hmm, this is getting interesting." I whispered to get myself pumped, but quickly felt Spitfire from my side breach my confidence zone.

"You think you have a chance!?" She laughed. I felt the shield around my pride tighten up.

"What are you trying to say!?" I asked, showing her I was serious, to which she continued on shaking her head and laughing at me. I glared at her before looking away with a pout and sighing.

"Hey, remember, he's really quick too," Fleet suddenly came from my other side. "You remember that time he was fighting that monster."

Spitfire was shut up like _that_. Her wing met her under the chin as she glared carefully at my anatomy.

"Right…and he can fly."

Fleet turned to me. "How fast can you fly?"

I had to debunk that question unfortunately. "I don't know, I'm sorry to say."

"Well, the fastest I've ever seen you, was when that monster had Rarity in his hands and you rushed at him, I'd say you were a blur." Spitfire rewinded my memory to that unfortunate event, which thankfully had a good ending. I nodded slowly, not really wanting to go back to that time.

"How did you even see?" I asked and Fleet explained that it was almost as if they were seeing the whole action scene go down through Yuson's eyes.

"Oh, so a blur you say?" I asked, getting back on point and losing the irrelevant topic of the past. Spitfire nodded.

"Yeah, and a good blur too, but Dash is still secretly leagues above that."

I was stuck now, if not even when I'm in full despair for saving a friend is fast enough to top Dash, then what is!? "Geesh! I might not be too cut out then!" I expressed blowing some wind.

"She uses her wings…and you have none…" Fleet added, making Spitfire peer over at me with growing intent. I looked down at myself and smiled at how funny it actually was for her to point that out.

"Yeah, I kinda break physics with manipulation of my energy or something like that."

"…Do you know of the race taking place soon?" Spitfire came at me. I turned to her and watched as she glared at me seriously.

"Soon?" I asked.

"Yeah, soon." She replied.

"The one in a few weeks? Dash mentioned it." I asked next, going off of what Dash had told me before. Spitfire seemed to grow a bit frustrated, her eyebrow slightly twitching up and down before she opened her eyes and glared at me with a far more serious look than what was required for this conversation.

"How about in…oh, I don't know, TWO DAYS!?" She corrected making me get some goosebumps from the emotion she put into it. Then again, those goosebumps might just be the adrenaline that is surging through me now, just pulling me by the hair to join this race. I smirked and showed full acceptance.

"Well then! I'm down!"

"It's a charity race…but there is a trophy to be won!" Fleet added with a zealous smile.

"Oh! Some silverware!" I excitedly exclaimed, fully convinced I needed some recognition for something fun.

"How do I sign up!?"

"You really want this?" Fleet asked.

"Well I got nothing to lose, now do I?" I confidently returned before Spitfire cleared her throat from behind me.

"Well, you can easily lose to Dash and her ever increasing cabinet of, as you call it, " _silverware_." Then get reminded every time she's around."

"Then I'll break her streak!" I shouted with as much pride and zing I had, I heard my echo in the distance. Just then, I heard the sound of wind getting cut behind me before an impact of wind caused my shirt to flap in the gust of wind that kicked up. I felt my body lean forward before balancing.

"Good luck!" The voice of the all too holy speedster of Ponyville emerged. I looked down at Spitfire and Fleet by my sides facepalm/hoof themselves and groan in frustration.

"Oh great…" Spitfire groaned followed by Fleet saying the same thing. I slowly turned around to get the blue pegasi in my sights and smiled at the competition.

"Dash!" I greeted. "You look slightly more prideful than usual."

"Hey ya, what this I hear about breaking my streak?" She quickly greeted and dived straight to the point. I couldn't describe how much my hand trembled before I closed it shut and held back a grin.

"You heard?" I asked.

"Ponies have good hearing, ya know?" She said wiggling her ears.

"Right." I followed along.

"Now, about my streak?" She redirected.

"I've got a fight to pick with it." I quickly admitted letting the grin I held back show, and both Spitfire and Fleet climb from behind me. Dash closed her eyes for a moment, her shoulders bounced up and down, before she finally lost to laugher which sounded evil and demeaning in every way.

"Oh, you don't know how silly you sound!"

"What with this swelling confidence?" I asked, not losing my cool to this mockery. Dash calmed down and shook her head.

"You're no match Ben,"

Like I said earlier, some words have a drug related reaction, and hers were just getting injected into my veins. I stomped a foot firmly to the ground and held my head strong as my grin turned into the same one I gave Luna a while back, when I was first challenged her those days back.

"I've proven so many wrong already! You won't be an exemption!"

"Ha! As if I'd lose!" She boasted.

"As if I'd back down!" I fired back. She closed one eye, keeping the other open and staring at me with her smug smile.

"Geesh, this would be worthwhile." Spitfire commented with a smile, growing her own confidence.

"Well I would like to see Dash's butt kicked, I'm team Ben." Fleet sided, stepping to my side, making Dash open both eyes, shocked by such an action from her.

"Hmm…picking teams, are we? I guess that leaves me with you Dash." Spitfire sided next, making Dash chuckle with ever-soaring confidence.

"Don't worry, you're safe with me!" Dash assured before Fleet stepped up, her own confidence swelling too.

"Might as well bet something now!"

"Oh yeah! More fire!" Dash agreed.

I looked around at everyone to see if they were serious. I had nothing to bet besides bits that I have. I looked to my side where my bag of bits would usually be, but I left it at home and brought only about six bits.

"Well, I got _bits_ , I'm not sure about-

"Bits!?" They all asked. I jumped slightly and just watched in confusion.

"W-what?" I asked.

"We have enough of that!" They all explained. I shrugged as I listened in.

"Fine, but I don't really have much else to bet."

Spitfire and Fleet both acknowledged that and spoke in whispers before smiling.

"Do we have permission to make the bets for the both of you?" Fleet asked turning to Dash, then me.

"Yeah, just do something already!" Dash impaciently gave naïve permission. I looked at her and looked down at Fleet who watched me as she expected an answer. I was naïve as Luna said, and here I go again.

"Sure."

Fleet and Spitfire looked at each other before looking at Dash still in hovering in mid-air, which made her glare down at them with a confused frown. "What?" She asked and I as well thought on it, something was becoming suspicious.

"Well now…me and Fleet here think alike, so we got something in mind."

"What is it!?" Dash asked, insecure about it now.

Spitfire and Fleet glanced at each other once before turning to me, which forced Dash to look at me, trying to figure it out. I as well looked at Dash, to show I was also in the lost void she was in.

"What are you purposing?" I asked. Spitfire and Fleet nodded at each other before moving. Fleet moved to Dash and Spitfire moved to me. She jumped into the air and hovered over my ear, ready to tell a hidden message. I leaned in, and as I did, I could see Fleet and Dash both in the same positions me and Spitfire were, getting ready to hear something.

" _Listen, Dash is a smug pegasi, and we'd love it if you could comply._ " She whispered into my ear, making my spine shiver.

" _Fine, what is it_!?" I asked back with the same whisper. Spitfire giggled which made me shiver from how her voice bounced in my ear.

" _Take away Dash's foalhood_ and make her an actual mare." She finally said, with an arousing voice to top it off.

"WHAT!?" Dash asked from across me and I quickly blinked a few times as I let that run through my head. _Foalhood? Dash's foalhood…_?

"B-BUT! HE…YOU…DO YOU KNOW…ARE YOU SERIOUS!?"

"I thought you said you could win the race?" Fleet asked smugly and Dash turned to her before growling and tightening up.

"You're darn right I can!"

I looked down and finally got what it meant, I looked to Spitfire and I just stared at her as she watched Dash swell back up in confidence.

"Isn't this a consent thing!?" I asked Spitfire and she nodded before chuckling.

"It's Dash, she he biggest risktaker I know, she'll deal with it."

"But I have something in return!" Dash suddenly sprung up, and everyone's attention went to her.

"What now?" Spitfire asked.

"If I win, the you have to give up your foalhood, both of you! To him!"

I was stuck in place with that one, I couldn't even argue with anyone anymore.

"WHAT!?" Both Fleet and Spitfire shouted.

"Justice! And it's this or no race at all!" Dash exclaimed with a grin and blush perfectly mixed together. I looked around myself to see if there was something I could do or say.

I had to think critically, _what is it that I really want_? I divided my thoughts and tightened my fists as I thought. I had split it this into two sections. One, I get laid, and get some silverware. Or two, I back off and accept Dash as winner by default.

"B-Ben…y-you're not going to be too rough if you lose, right?" Fleet asked nervously and my brain snapped. I looked down at my hands, trembling with excitment before a rage of adrenialine surged.

"I…I never have and never will back down from a challenge!" I said before lifting my head to see Dash, Spitfire, and Fleet, all evenly surprised. I aimed my sights at Dash before lifting my finger and striking it's glory upon Dash, who slightly tightened her whole body up.

"I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE!" I assured her, an order was what I was saying, and it was not going to be impeded. "THAT'S MY FINAL STATEMENT! DASH YOU'RE LOSING NOT ONLY THIS RACE BUT YOU'RE FOALHOOD TO ME TOO! YOU'RE MINE!"

"IN YOUR DREAMS! IT'S THOSE NEXT TO YOU WHO WILL LOSE IT AND YOU WILL LOSE THIS RACE!" Dash frowned and exerted the same potency I had, in her own come back.

"Holy shit! Calm down, the both of you!" A certain voice flew down and made itself present.

"K!?" Dash exclaimed looking over to him. It was K, and he looked fancy with some new attire, some deep-blue jeans and a all-black T-shirt. He chuckled before nodding.

"Hey." He greated before turing to me. I could easily see some excitment in him. He grinned before lifting up his thumb towards me. "You got this Ben, go and take her virginity away and get a trophy! Hey, she might like losing for once."

K seemed all smiles and motivation today. I grinned and nodded firmly.

"With pleasure! Once I win this race that is!"

"Hey! You're K!" Spitfire trotted up, excited to finally meet face to face with K. Fleet also excitedly greeted him.

He turned to them in a second.

"Sure am, any questions?" K asked back with his smile. Spitfire was quick to react and jump ahead with a question.

"Does Ben have what it takes to beat Rainbow Dash!?" She asked. I listened closely as K closed his eyes and thought deeply on it, hoping some good news.

K smirked and opened his eyes, the red of his eyes glowing a bit.

"I don't know, Ben can be random and unpredictable. We'll see soon enough."

I smirked and nodded. "Soon."

Dash stared at me closely before I gave her my attention. She was staring almost as if dazed before she turned away and pouted.

"Hey Dash?"

"What do you want?" She asked, moody about the situation. I laughed a bit before asking her a question I have been wanting to ask since this talk about foalhood started.

"You wouldn't lose the race on purpose for me, would you now?"

"Backing down already!?" She asked.

"Good, then you won't have an excuse for when you lose." I chuckled and she frowned, not amused.

"And you wouldn't lose just get those two by your side?"

I simply smiled and nodded. "I would lose to get these two, they're worth it, but nothing is better than seeing someone's ego fall to me. And having you in bed once more would be great too."

"Again?" Fleet asked before Spitfire asked equally.

"Yup, again!" I assured before winking towards Dash. "Ya ready Dash, because I'm ready to win!"

"Bring it!" Dash accepted before I moved up and reached my hand towards her, ready to get bumped. Dash stared at it, unsure what to do, before I smiled a friendly one.

"Rivals, but still friends," I said and she thought about it before chuckling and meeting my fist with her hoof.

"Right."

"Well, normal friends don't bet their bodies to others, but cool! Now we all scram and find something to do until then. What will you do Ben?" K asked, turning to me.

I thought for only a few seconds before smiling.

"Well, in that case, go see someone who needs to be seen." I said, finally taking off in the direction of my next target. "See ya! Have a good day!" I waved as I moved about, I heard the goodbyes of everyone back there before finally being far enough to have peace.

Or so I thought. In almost a few seconds, I quickly heard some trotting hooves behind me get nearer.

"W-wait! You done this before with Dash!?" Spitfire asked catching up with me, the only one to actually persue me. I turned to her and smiled at seeing her again.

"It didn't really take away her foalhood, it was like what we had." I explained and Spitfire gulped, not wanting to admit that was the only reason she had stppped me. "Oh…then, are you…you know, rough?"

"Rough? Well, I can be, if you're into it." I followed.

"What gave you that idea!?" Spitfire overreacted and I smiled at her mistake.

"I didn't assume anything, but since you reacted that way, do you like it?" I asked and she looked away. You couldn't see it past the getup but she was blushing.

"N-no!" She held her ground.

"Well, you've never had _it_ in you, have you now? You wouldn't really know."

"Don't talk like that!"

I laughed a bit in the awkardness.

"Right-right, sorry, but…as embarrasing as it is, would you like to find out?" I asked. I guess I asked to see what reaction it would get. Spitfire gulped before blushing some more and looking away again.

"W-what?"

"Would you like to find out?" I asked again, not turning on my words.

"Y-you don't plan on losing because of me, right!?" She asked, trying to shield herself from the fact I was actually giving her a choice here.

I smiled before shaking my head.

"No…if you ever feel like it…you know," I cleared up for her. "When you want to, not forced into doing so by some bet."

"You really want that?" She asked timidly.

"I'm asking you." I returned.

She looked around herself before looking down at her hooves, ashamed.

"Are you really asking me?" She asked further, and some wave of guilt covered me. I didn't want to force her into anything, it wasn't my intention in the first place, I just wanted to see her reaction and it came to this.

"Hey, don't let it bother you, I was just asking, you can easily say yay or nay and we'll still be the same as always." I assured her with a smile to prove it. She had to catch her breath which seemed to have ran away for a moment before she scooted slightly closer in my direction.

"Would you really do it with somepony like me?"

"I've sorta done it before, remember?" I reminded her.

"Is that a yes?" She asked, her head still down. For her sake, I agreed.

"Yes."

Spitfire raised her head up finally but she wasn't looking how I expected her to look like. She was smiling calmly, as if glad. Above all, she was clearly showing a joy, which was confusing me.

"You're smiling…" I whispered out of confusion and she giggled before trotting up closer.

"After you beat Dash, buy me a drink." She said playfully before backing away and fanning her wings, ready to fly away.

"Huh? A drink?" I said to myself before noticing her lift off. "OI WAIT!"

I quickly met her high in the air, she was a quick flyer for sure. She turned to me, hovering in place.

"Hmm?" She hummed. She was happy looking and fully showed off her joy with her smile and eyes, even the way she loosely held her body showed comfort. I knew quickly what my question was.

"What's your favorite drink?" I asked her, quickly changing the question at last second. She smiled even wider and giggled.

"You." She answered with a wink before finally taking her leave. I waved slowly before smiling almost with no control, I covered my mouth with my hand and returned to the ground, looking like had heard the greatest joke.

"Damn, I'm lucky!" I whispered to myself before looking back to the direction I was heading before Spitfire came along.

"Right, time for Pinkie."


	59. Chapter 59 - Split Personalities

#59

Sugar Cube Corner is a funny name for this place but it fits like a glove. Speaking of gloves, I actually put my own back on. After my 'debate' with Sting, I could finally start feeling the soreness and slightly burning sensation starting to appear.

"Hmm…I might need a cream." I whispered closing and opening my hands, feeling the tiny sting tickle my palms. I was here anyways, watching Pinkie inside through a window. She was busy tending to customers and enjoying it too, a sight that could lean either way on the balance of emotion; for me at least. I couldn't help but smile, seeing such peace was warm and ticklish. But still, the other side of the scale would be the feeling of guilt, guilt of finally getting to know Pinkie on a deeper level after getting to everyone but her.

"Hey! You!"

My face twitched a bit as I closed my hands at the sudden call. I turned over to the line that extended out of the bakery and looked around before finding a pony waving me down. " _What's with the smile?_ " I thought cautiously as I looked at him for a moment before moving up.

"Hey," I started conversation, planting both feet firmly before him. I approached with a slight deepness in my tone for a good reason. This guy was with three friends, the types that stood behind him and encouraged anything he did. He smirked and looked at the trio behind him before nodding a suspicious one to them.

"Hey, you're some talk of the town, aren't you?" He said, holding that smirk strong, confident in himself.

"So, I hear," I answered back, smiling a bit at the recognition. He slightly scoffed and shook his head, looking to offend with his sly smirk.

"Why?" He asked. I let my confusion show as I questioned back.

"Excuse me?" I asked, confused as to why he was asking such a self-explanatory question. The bad vibes began circulating as someone responded ahead of him; someone behind him.

"You heard him." His friend behind him barked. I looked at him almost intrigued to say something rude, but I held back. I turned back to the main one in front of me. He raised both his eyebrows waiting for a response.

"I won't answer that, I won't boast about anything." I answered him. I surveyed the rest of the group he was with, or his three pals. They seemed normal enough for bullies, all except one that is. One of them had a sattle on his back, for carrying stuff like _bits_ and tools. Unlike the others, he was clearly not one with them: he seemed to almost frown upon what the three in front of him were doing and was internally holding back something. I locked eyes with him for a second and the frown he had almost disappeared, as if a sense of insecurity arose before I looked back at the one in front of me. He nodded slowly before chuckling and opening his mouth.

"What's it to you anyways?" I asked him before he could say a thing. He closed his open mouth and thought on it before opening it again, except nothing came out since I quickly opened mine first.

"And you know why I'm some "talk-of-the-town," stop acting stupid or ignorant, your smirk has "troublemaker" written all over it. So, I'll ask kindly: tell me something I want to hear or you can go and have your two buddies suck you off someplace else, I don't have time for you." I added, personally excluding the one pony with the sattle from my insults, this time looking to be rude. He glared at me like I expected him to: mildly pissed. I was starting to get the adrenaline in my body from getting the _up_ on someone and entering a roll.

"Ben!"

I paused the insults on the spot and ducked my head slightly as I forced my teeth onto my lower lip. I looked over my shoulder at Pinkie trotting up behind me and snapped back to my casual, non-insulting, self.

"Hey ya!" I greeted with a shift in tone, not wanting to be rude to anyone in front of her. I glared at the bullies an evil glare to assure I didn't want anything funny in the presence of the zealous pony.

She came to a stop by my side, smiling enthusiastically until looking over to the four in front of me. She stared at them for a while before giving them a pout, annoyed with their presence.

"You're back." She said, a mildly threatening jab in her voice. _Oh?_

"Back?" I asked, shooting my head up. She nodded with a new frown formed from the pout, one I haven't seen from her.

"These guys are trouble. They're always trying to scare customers away." She said point a hoof at the main one of the group. "And he's the one who tried to set the Corner on fire!"

" _Fire?_ " I thought for a moment before the seriousness of the situation got to me and my breath got cut off for a split second.

"What!? Why!?" I asked. I anticipated trouble from them, but not such a low, pathetic act that could've probably hurt or killed someone. My sight travelled back to the troublemakers and glanced at them off the corner of my eyes, they seemed to express no remorse, all except the one I've been keeping an eye on as the odd-one out of the group. I tried to see if what I was seeing were actual ponies trying to sincerely hurt someone, but that was too hard to make out when that one in the group who seemed to be regretting his acts while Pinkie was clearly putting all of them under the bus.

Pinkie shrugged.

"I don't know, they've got nothing better to do I'll tell you that!" She explained before turning to them. "But since you're here, why did you try to set this place on fire!?"

"Watch your mouth Pink One!" The main one of the group of four yelled. Clearly not wanting others to hear about the arson attempt. I was quickly one to take action and loosen my arms.

"She's not the one who needs to shut up, you might want to hear yourself first. Setting a place on fire is what a worm like you would do! Your mother must be really proud to have given life to a pony who wouldn't mind nearly taking the life of another." I criticized him harshly. I was in no place to speak about mothers giving birth to bad kids, I was a dead-on-the-spot example, but I knew my wrongs and admitted them. His eyes widened for a moment before he growled back. As if growling would do him any good. I placed a foot ahead of me.

"Bare your teeth all you want, but you have some issues if you have nothing better to do than sit here causing trouble." I lectured him. No one likes getting lectured on what's right or wrong, that's the truth. This prime example would be seeing red if I continued.

"I'll hurt her if you don't shut up!"

Or he'll be seeing black once I get a good one on him. I was easily getting ticked off having to open and close my hands, the anger I was building up was only fueled by the sore pain of my hands. I restrained myself a bit and forced myself to not close my hands again and let them remain loose for a few while I teach this guy a lesson.

"You're a lost cause if you can't see what you're doing is helping no one. But keep persisting, you might just convince me to give you something you'll remember me by every time you hear or see my name. And for you, I'll leave it scarred where it most hurts." I threatened to my weakest possible degree and I'm sure he felt it: the small bit of energy seeping out of me. Menacing and horrid is what it feels like, not like my normal-self that's for sure. Emotions are something I like to keep in check, but when it wins over my restraints, it seems I can't hold back a bit of my mystifying energy back from seeping out.

All his friends backed up one and he stared directly at me before doing as his friends.

"Y-you!" He shuddered. I kept a firm stance despite the strange feeling of negativity from inside.

"Get lost and find something better to do. I'll say it once more, you're not worth my time." I warned him and he must have taken the words seriously this time. He looked back at his friends and with a swift movement of his head, he ordered a retreat.

"Let's go," He ordered and his friends questioned it. He paused before looking back at them. He showed a pissed look that made two of them back away from him next. Although, one still persisted, the one with the sattle, the one I've been curious about this whole time. I watched closely as the main guy stared down at this unique pony. This pony was clearly trying to test authority, but it was too painfully easy to see how afraid he was. He gave up in seconds.

"Fine, fine, let's go." He backed up, not trying to start anything. The bully nodded as if to say "that's what I thought" and smugly turned.

I watched as all of them walked away with a pace. My head processing what I had seen. The only time I ever let a bully get one over me was in Elementary, when I was too much of a child to understand why someone would be so mean to me. By now, I knew a bully far too well and the sight of one was enraging; to think I could've let them to that to me and not fight back was a regret waiting to happen in the near future. And a regret this pony who tried to stand up would get if he doesn't do nothing!

"You're afraid of your friends!? That's all you need to know this nobody isn't your friend! He's good-for-nothing bully who gets his damn _high_ off of making others feel like shit, that ain't no way to treat others!" I stood up for this interesting pony's pride and self-esteem. He turned to me, shocked to some degree and the rest did too. I huffed a bit before closing a fist and tightening it to the point the stinging was actually burning my hand. "There's no way I'll ever let someone get bullied in my presence and not have done a damn thing! As if causing trouble would ever get you where you want to be! There's much more to life than making others miserable: go get that girl you wanted, go make those friends that are worth it, go make that money, go and travel, go do something you're gonna remember and be proud you did! Forget this nobody, he's hopeless!"

"A nopony?" The bully asked and I nodded smoothly.

"Yeah, a nopony! You have no right to treat others the way you do, especially if they're your friends, if you even call them that." I said without hesitation, knowing he'd react to that.

"These are my friends!" He quickly sprung up, looking insulted in everyway. Serves him right to feel insulted, that's what needed after getting away with as much as he's gotten away with. I shook my head to his argument and aimed a finger at his ' _friends_ '.

"I'm sure your "friends" wouldn't have a problem when it comes to who gets left behind in a fire to save themselves. It would easily be you, you wouldn't even be a sacrifice, just a burden taken off someone's shoulders." I broke the news to him. That seemed to have gotten under his skin the most. He closed his eyes before stepping in my direction, planting his hoof firmly on the ground.

"Y-you want a problem!?" He asked, forcefully trying to get me to back off.

I wasn't threatened but I was intrigued by how foolish he was. I shook my head and gestured my hand in front of him.

"No, you clearly have one too many to be concerned about me." I explained starting to gain back some soothing feelings, knowing this problem would soon be out of my sight.

"And you'll be another if you don't shut up!" He warned for the final time, yet he remained still in place, waiting for a response that I had ready.

"Don't make me your problem, heed my warning and back off, you may be an asshole, but at least be a wise one." I warned, conjuring a smirk out of feeling some comfort with myself. My odd vocabulary got to him, but I somehow knew he understood the magnitude of the insult.

"Whatever that is, you're one too!" He yelled back before spinning right the other direction. "Let's go!"

I thought about it. Being an asshole at some point, and there's no doubt in my mind I've been one before.

"Sure," I smiled as they all left but the smile only lasted until I realized Pinkie was here all along. I quickly turned to see if I hadn't disturbed her but on the contrary, she was for sure gloating with her tempting smile, impressed to some degree as well.

"Well, you sure knew how to deal with those four! Thanks!" She thanked me. I nodded along, taking a sigh of relief as I let my body gain some control and stopped the seeping dark feeling from coming out.

"No problem, I can't stand bullies." I explained with a clear exhaustion from having dealt with that. She smiled, glad to hear that. "Me neither!"

"Hey, uh, I need to get something to eat so I'm gonna lag behind." A new voice appeared, putting up an act but with a shaky fear to it.

The both of us, Pinkie and I, turned to look at the pony who was between us and the bullies. The bullies were far from us now, but in between him and us, the sattled pony stood. My attention focused on the pony.

"That's interesting," Pinkie whispered over to me and I nodded silently a smile slowly forcing it's way onto my face.

The bully turned and faced him suspiciously. "You know what happened last time. Don't make me remind you again."

"Last time?" I whispered as I fully gave these guys my attention from my place.

"Come on, I haven't eaten anything!" The pony responded to the threat showing clear pain in his face. The pain of hunger, legitimately this time, no acting involved. The bully glared at him before turning to me and I was quick to react.

"I thought you were leaving, you still want that scar?" I asked, crossing my arms and frowning. He silently turned over and began leaving, mumbling some gibberish I couldn't make out.

We all watched, the now three of us, as the other three left. Alas, they turned and disappeared from sight, yet we remained quiet for half a minute to make sure before finally getting our frustrations out of our systems with a sigh of that it was it was finally over.

"Geez, I can't believe that bully! So mean! And such a-such a-!" Pinkie sternly exclaimed, not finding the words to describe it.

"Stupid, faithless, moron." The pony who lagged behind spoke finally approaching us now that the three assholes disappeared from sight. I turned to look at him almost with an urge to smile, but I held back for trust reasons.

"And you," He called out, turning over to me.

"Yeah?" I asked, friendlier than I was to the other crew. He smiled at the uplifted tone.

"Thanks, you know, for standing up for me there. I would've gotten some beat down again from them if you weren't there."

What would've been a smile to come from me flipped to the other side. I locked eyes with him and questioned him on that. "Beat down?"

"Wait-wait-wait! They hurt you!?" Pinkie asked, disturbed by what he revealed. The pony nodded, laughed to deal with it. "If they tried to set your place on fire, what do you think they're capable of doing to a single pony."

Pinkie was speechless for the first time in a while. The pony looked at her face before looking away with a gulp, realizing laughing at his problems wouldn't get him a softer reaction.

"Hey, but, it ain't that bad. I'm still…kicking it…you know?" He explained with his faked smile before softening his voice a bit. "But it does get bad sometimes…"

"Bad?" I asked, whispering subconsciously. Thinking on how much 'bad' really was.

"How bad!?" Pinkie asked, finally finding air for her lungs after that speechless moment. He looked at her anxiously before turning to his sattle. I looked at it as he reached a hoof under his belly and undid the belt-strap.

"I can't describe with words, but I can show you." He said, jittery as he slid off the sattle in which the sound of bits clanked as it hit the ground and revealed what looked like someone had played with a hot searing knife on his back. Cuts, burns, dry blood stains, and probably some scars, all hidden under that sattle. _You never really know what such an innocent look can hide._ I leaned over him to get a better look and watched in some relatable position having had my skin fucked with too. There was something wrong with this. Since when do friends cut your back and burn your skin off!?

"W-why!? Why did you let yourself!?" Pinkie asked next, unbelievably concerned and who could blame her, as far as I know, the worst threat to a pony was unearthly monsters.

"Well, I told them to go easy on the elderly." The pony laughed a bit to cope with the obvious physiological pain. "And, why I let myself? I don't know."

I stepped forward and gave the new pony a soft but straight look, hoping that I was pulling off the right look for the situation.

"How many times has this happened?" I asked him and he became serious. His head ducked slightly and his body shrunk a bit.

"Too many times."

I remained frozen for a few seconds, taking in the thought of a pony hurting another, before shaking my head and clearing my throat. "I wish I knew how a baby who never even thought of hurting a friend, grew up and got it into his head that it's alright." I expressed, closing my eyes to find peace for a moment. "Why?"

"I know, it's confusing. But don't think too much into it; I owe you a 'thanks', sincerely."

I opened my eyes and turned to him.

"What you said about 'being afraid of a friend' is true, and I liked hearing it. No one has ever said anything like that to me. And it made so much sense to hear it from you that I still feel stupid for not believing it earlier."

He had me speechless for a moment before I got the plot of the situation and smiled.

"Glad I had some positive influence." I said before looking off to where the other three had abandoned the area to. "Listen, those bullies can get it hard all they want, but they're just ponies, like you. Stand up for yourself next time." I ordered. He closed eyes and nodded as if frustrated by my command.

"I know!" He exclaimed. "But what divides us is the fact he's a unicorn! And I'm just a normal pony!"

I lowered my head a bit and had to agree with him on that, I didn't really take that into consideration. He was right, that magic would leave a lot to the imagination when it came to a fight between a magic manipulator and a normal being.

"Yeah, I guess he has some advantage. Just leave the guy, he's trouble as far as I know." I influenced and he looked down and to his side, thinking about it not convinced right away.

"Yeah! Twilight says to be friends with everypony, but even she knows when to draw the line!" Pinkie supported with a half-smile trying to manifest. The pony laughed a bit at hearing her speak before nodding and strapping the sattle back on.

"Yeah, you're right Pinkie Pie, Ben." He agreed before turning to me and flashing a bright look. My eyes expanded a bit as they turned to him in a snap; he knew my name and that's where I knew he was going to get interesting. "And I do know who you are. You're Ben, that creature-pardon the term-from another world. You easily defeated Luna's most powerful guard, defeated Celestia in battle, killed that monster that took half of Ponyville, which we were lucky to have Twilight shelter us away. You're some type of hero as far as I know. I've been keeping up with your story on the _Daily_!"

The _Daily_?

Last thing I expected was getting recognition in the newspaper over my feats.

"So, you do know me! And what's this about the _Daily_!?" I excitedly jumped with a smile that flashed all my teeth in his presence. He smiled to no avail too.

"The press! I heard about you about a week ago or so and heard about some type of super powerful being was able to take down Luna's favorite guard, and absolutely obliterated Celestia in battle! And then you saved all of Ponyville and I saw it with my own eyes! How did you do it, how are you so powerful!?"

I bit my tongue to hold back the smile, but painfully came out as I held in the laugh I tried to hold back. "I've had some combat before then, and I just mixed it up a bit with what I've learned since coming here." I explained with a smirk making up for my painful smile.

"Oh yeah! You're not from this world too!" He exclaimed before backing a bit cursing under his breath. "Oh sorry…how's that working out actually? I've always wondered how it would it feel to go to a new world and…well…it's would be sad if you just left behind everypony."

There it was again. The same question again. I leaned back on the question and let it slide past me.

"Don't worry about it. I needed to leave the old one anyways. I've done more than my fair share of trouble there."

"Oh…you did bad things?" He asked, a bit discouraged from hearing that. Pinkie quickly smiled and got his attention like _that_.

"Well, Ben was a crazy human in his world, but he-

"I wasn't crazy," I cut into Pinkie's excuse. Pinkie and the pony looked at me hoping for an explanation. I crossed my arms and shook my head. "I was just…put through a bad experience that hurt me in ways I pray no one else has to go through." I explained and the pony looked down, nodding with shame.

"Well, on the bright side, you're a hero, no?"

I smiled and nodded. "If you say so, thanks."

"You're welcome." He said. "I wish I could do something like that. But I'm probably not even worth somepony's time, everypony thinks of me as bully." He said, remorse in his words. I shook my head, encouraged to be this pony's source of encouragement.

"Don't demean yourself, you just hang around the wrong types. I'm sure you can get a good rep." I backed him up. He liked being told such.

"I know, but I like hearing somepony else say it to me." He chuckled.

"So, you're a good guy!" Pinkie exclaimed with a smile getting close up to our new friendly. The pony shrugged with a pitiful smile.

"Sorry about the customers." He apologized. Pinkie quickly jumped closer in his direction and shook her head.

"Don't worry, I'm just happy you aren't a bully!" Pinkie gladly forgave and pushed it aside, giving the pony a reason to lighten in spirits.

"Good, I don't really know how to make up the months of customers lost." He brought up and Pinkie placed her hoof under her chin. In a moment, Pinkie lowered her hoof and shook her head.

"It's fine, but since you're a new friend…how about some cupcakes!? You said you were hungry, right?" Pinkie asked, offering up an offer that our hungry friend wouldn't deny for anything.

"Sure am!" He exclaimed, a robust smile in full display.

I watched closely as Pinkie trotted away into her bakery before noticing how the line of customers had actually disappeared. I observed it closely before sighing. _I guess it's true, those guys do scare away customers._

"Actually, maybe this time it was you." The pony said from my side. I turned to him, confused as to how he heard such, but he quickly got ahead of me with a smirk. "You spoke out loud."

"Oh…why?" I asked. "Why was it my fault?"

He nervously chuckled as he looked at my body. "Well, at some point during your argument, you kinda started…uh…"

"It was that energy, right?" I finished for him and he nodded.

"Yeah that was it, you had me terrified down to my soul!" He laughed, taking it with ease. I smiled as I shrugged in response. "Whoops, my bad."

Soon enough, Pinkie called him in for the offer and I was left alone outside to contemplate on Ponyville life. I managed to conjure up another question. A question I probably knew the answer to, but I needed more evidence before making my conclusion. My whisper slowly let out what my mind was thinking.

"Perhaps…ponies also have their flaws, like humans, too. But how close are these flaws?"

I turned for the bakery and decided to take advantage and step in while there was no one around. The gentle smell of warm bread and pastries hit me first before I fully stepped in past the front entrance. The inside of this place was familiar considering I've been here before, but I still had to ask myself where the hell that light switch is!?

"About time you visit too!" Pinkie suddenly sprung from my side. Her wide eyes sparkling with beaming joy and a smile that was all too perfect managed to mess with me as I nervously smiled.

"I'm here now, right?"

Pinkie closed her eyes to make the perfect smile. "Yes, you are!"

I got a hold of some pastries and sat down on behind the counter in which Pinkie took orders and hid there as I thought. I thought about the bullies. _How could they be so low?_ _What's the point in doing so? Why hurt their friend?_ It made sense by my human logic that there would be those heartless types, but by the logic of these ponies, it didn't, or at least what I expect of them.

"Don't think about it too much, I'm fine."

I turned to my side to find the pony at the register, a small baker's apron and hat. When he had felt it was time to go, Pinkie asked if he wanted to help run the cashier and he accepted in a blink. He was a kind one, that's for sure. I respect that. He was slightly at a height advantage since I was sitting down here.

"Was I speaking out loud again?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yeah."

I sighed. "Well, since you're here, might as well get to know you. You got a name?"

He thought about it carefully before looking away. I looked at him with unleveled eyebrow as I waited for his interesting answer. "Charm." He answered, ashamed by his answer. I blinked a few times before getting comfortable and turning my body to face him completely, still sitting down.

"Charm?" I asked with an amused smile. He nodded, embarrassed by his name.

"Yeah…Charm."

"It's a nice name." I complimented sitting up straight and leaning against the counter. He looked at me before frowning slightly.

"You don't mean that. My dad gave it to me to purposefully embarrass me." He groaned.

"Your dad?" I asked back.

"Yeah, he's…he's gone." Charm admitted before smugly smirking. "But how I would've loved to see him suffer before that."

I smiled as I shook my head. His story reminded me of a song I knew about the same problem. He turned to me at the sight of my smile.

"It's a nice name." I repeated, confident in my statement. He almost gagged a bit holding back a sudden urge to yell out or laugh. He adjusted himself to a single-worded question and let me have it.

"How!?" He asked, sounding confident that he was in the right here.

I looked at him before I shifted a bit in place and made space for him to sit down if he wanted, next to me on the floor. "I'll tell you a story." I offered. He stared at me a few seconds before sighing and dropping down next to me.

"Fine." He accepted.

I admired his consistency and for his sake, I'll get jump to the case.

"It goes like this. A boy's father left him when he was about three and you'd think that's reason enough to hate him, but that wasn't what bothered him, surprisingly." I began and Charm suddenly jerked his head back a bit, intrigued off the bat.

"What then?" He asked. I used my hands to motion out the story.

"Before his father left him, he named him 'Sue' the most feminine name for a boy." I answered with an amused smile still going, a small tempt to chuckle a bit at the thought of being named 'Sue'. Charm looked at me before thinking on it.

"Huh…" He expressed before turning over swiftly. "And what happened? Was he bullied?"

"Oh yeah! He was! Plenty! When some other kid would laugh, he would beat the absolute crap out of them, but when a girl laughed, he would turn red with embarrassment. Oh man, how life was hard for a boy named Sue!" I answered him excitedly, he seemed to almost laugh a bit.

"Dang, I can relate!" He agreed.

"Yeah. So soon enough, Sue went in for his pride, looking for his father after promising himself he'd kill the awful man who gave him that name. And soon enough, he found him. Drinking in a bar, sobering up from having some drinks."

"And?" Charm asked scooting a bit closer. I got into the storytelling mood and began playing around with the drama with my hands making fists and etc., the stinging in my hands pumping me with adrenaline.

"He walked up to him and sat down next to him. The old man turned to him and Sue ordered a drink. The old man greeted him with his drunk breath and Sue greeted back with, "MY NAME IS SUE, HOW DO YOU DO!? NOW YOU GONNA DIE!" Sue grabbed the bottle of wine and swiped it across his father's face and they went at it. Going to the death. Soon enough they both got to the point they both drew a weapon on each other but Sue drew his faster, having his father's fate in his grasps." I explained in a sudden clash of dramatic storyline. Charm leaned in, obsessed with hearing more.

"Did he do it!?" He asked. I smirked as I shook my head.

"His father smiled proudly." I proudly told him. I knew what response I was going to get for that sudden twist.

"What!? NO WAY!"

 _That's the response_.

I hushed him down to continue. "Just listen. This is the good part."

He sat back and watched as I deepened my voice to match Cash's legend of a voice. "The dad said-

"-Listen son, this world is rough and if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough and I knew I wouldn't be there to help you along. So, I gave you that name and said goodbye, I knew you'd have to get tough or die, and it's that name that help make you strong. Now, you just fought one hell of a fight and I know you hate me and you got the right to kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do. But you oughta thank me before I die, with the gravel in your guts and a spit in the eye, because I'm the son of a bitch that named you Sue."

He stared at me almost as if he was about cry. I wouldn't mind if he did, it would prove to me he actually got the message. I continued the story nonetheless.

"He threw down his weapon and called him a Pa and he called him a Son and they finally understood each other. Then in the future, Sue recalled his Dad after he passed away, and thought about him every now and then, only to remind himself of one thing." I said leaving a few-second cliffhanger. Charm quickly came in with the burning question.

"What's that!?" He asked. I smiled wider before holding back a bit before telling.

"To name his kids Bill or George! Any damn thing but Sue, he still hates that name!" I revealed with a full smile and he laughed and cried softly at the same time, and I joined his laughter. That story was beautiful, a Johnny Cash special for sure.

After a few seconds of laughter, he sniffed back a bit.

"I kinda miss him." He admitted and I smiled.

"Did he leave or is he…?" I asked, letting him figure out the second part of the question.

"Yeah, he's…not with us."

"Sorry to hear that. But remember, you're not alone." I sympathized, patting his shoulder to provide him with some man to _man_ support. He picked his head up and turned to me, slightly shocked.

"Yours too?" He asked, referring to my old man.

As much as it was a shame to have lost my dad, I'm glad he taught me what I still have to this day. I nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't there though when it happened and I didn't know until a few years after."

He watched me as I ducked my head a bit.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but, at least you and I can relate now. It's been too long for me to start crying anyways." He consoled back and brought up a topic that got to me: Crying. I recalled the time I cried in Canterlot, it felt deep and almost endless, but it brought forth so much relief.

"I thought the same thing but…sometimes there's nothing better than crying." I said and he looked at me closely.

"You've cried?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, some time ago, I've been through so much tragedy and kept it in me for so long…it was killing me until I finally managed to cry, for the first time." I explained before sighing. "I've done what no human could ever do: do the worse thing a human could do, and then live to regret it."

He was silent for a while before smiling. "Worst thing a human could do, as far as I know, the worst a pony could do is kill another…" He began saying before looking me straight in the eye.

"You've…killed other humans? You've killed your own kind!?" He asked. As ashamed as I was I nodded straight forwardly. When he put it that way, there's no hiding the fact that I was a scum of a human, but there was a reason to make up for all of it. He lost his words for a moment before asking.

"Why?" He whispered out this time, avoiding his voice cracking. I turned to him before lifting my head and getting comfortable.

"War."

"War?" He asked. I turned my whole body to face him and firmed my back and voice.

"It seems wrong, but I'll tell you what! If all of a sudden, a group of random ponies start killing off your friends and wont stop, you'd do the same." I explained my point of view only to receive a glare of 'what the fuck?' from him. I laid back a bit on my words. "Well, you'd probably not do it the same way I did, but you get the idea."

"Was that you're old world?"

"Others' lives peacefully, watching the news about how we soldiers were dying out in the enemies' territory, sitting down with their families while we were over here making sure their lives weren't endangered. It's our duty to be those the innocent people could count on to keep them safe, but how much are you really willing to sacrifice for freedom, peace, and liberty?" I explained before I paused myself and almost choked up. It's not that I was talking like a patriot, it was something else. This something was breathtaking and I couldn't believe I was barely realizing it. Charm gave me a shake to bring me back to senses.

"Oh god…what was I doing?" I asked closing my eyes and shaking my head. "It seems every time I think back on it, it's almost like there's something worse to look at."

"What?" Charm asked. I weakly lifted hand and placed it on my knee.

"My job was to protect the people and fight the wars that they couldn't…"

"That's good…isn't it?" He asked back.

"It would be, if I did." I said. He gave me an odd look as he questioned it.

"What?"

"Now that I think about it, what fight was I fighting!?" I asked myself squeezing my knee. "I was fighting a fight for revenge, I never fought to protect the people, it was all about revenge in the end!" I said before realizing my voice was getting out of hand. I toned it down as I let my knee go, the shock of the moment trying to manifest itself was getting numbed by Charm's look of utter fear and confusion.

"Huh?" He asked, tried to calm me. I was calm. Calm enough to close my eyes and shake my head in shame.

"The people who died by my hands…they died because of revenge not for the peace of the world Charm…how am I only realizing this?" I asked myself, letting my body slouch against the counter. "Oh what have I done to deserve such a backstory?"

"Ben, you got a bad backstory, but hey, many heroes have bad backstories. And that's what makes them awesome and unique to the rest."

I was silent for a while, just taking in that quote from him. After a minute of silence, it was true. Batman's parents were killed, Peter's uncle was killed, and so go the stories. I straightened my posture completely and turned to Charm.

"You know, all I've gotten since I got here has been some life virtues." I said before laughing a bit. "And boy, when it seems there's no hope, there you go!"

"Hey, there's always an answer to everything!" He spat out another wise one.

"And there's another one!" I said aiming my finger at him.

"Are you two getting along?"

We both picked our heads up as Pinkie suddenly appeared before us. Her smile was surveying us as we sat on the floor.

"Uh, yeah, were just talking about our similarities and past stuff." Charm spoke getting up quickly to not look suspect. Pinkie held her smile as she moved a silver platter over to the counter, via her mouth.

"I know, I was hearing." She said, leaving the platter on the counter her voice calm and casual. I picked my head up next and got off the floor. I watched Pinkie as she threw some dough onto the platter and slid it into the oven. Seeing her again, I quickly remembered my business here.

"Pinkie, do you know much about me at all?" I asked her and she stared aimlessly at a brick oven, thinking deeply.

She finally blinked before looking off to a side. "I know…some."

"Not much, huh?" I sighed, disappointed by her answer.

"I could learn!" She enthusiastically approached back.

"Yeah, but that's kinda on me. I've been ignoring you so much. I feel guilt from it actually." I said, trying to understand what was up with my absence in her life. She was one of the ones that was there when I first discovered this world, yet she's the last one I've spoken to: Something was wrong. I knew how much it took to get Pinkie to remain quiet for this long, and I wasn't enjoying it.

"Yet," I sharply changed direction of conversation. "Even when you didn't get to know me one on one, you remained hopeful when it seemed all hope was lost, that's a gift." I followed up, turning the mood.

"Really?" Pinkie asked, raising her head.

"It is," I said with a proud surge. "And I just can't stop thinking about how I've ignored you for this long."

"You've never ignored me." She suddenly said, backing my own self from myself.

"This is the first time we ever speak like this to one another."

Her mouth quickly opened.

"When not in danger." I added and she closed her mouth. Even if I had her quiet for that moment, I knew Pinkie would always comeback with something new and I'm glad she does.

"Well, let's enjoy it then!" She excitedly said. I watched her, amazed but not surprised of her attitude.

"Alright then, lets enjoy it…how?"

"Am I getting involved with something here? Because I can leave…" Charm slipped in awkwardly and I laughed at his reaction.

"I appreciate your consideration, but you're fine." I assured him and he smirked easily. Soon, there was a silence that rang before Pinkie suddenly rose with an idea.

"How about I bake cherrychangas!?"

I stared at her for a few seconds. "Do you mean Chimi-

"CHERRYCHANGAS!" She quickly responded ahead. I stared again before Charm came up, jolly about the strange name.

"Oh, it's those things again?"

Now it was Charm's turn to receive my confused glare. "What the hell is a cherrychanga!?"

At Twilight's fancy home, Dash had gathered the lot of her friends to share the news about her race with Ben. And by friends, that meant: Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Derpy and Chrysalis who lingered around K for the moment. K watched curiously as Dash spoke to him about his own part in such an event.

"You want me to bet something?" K repeated. He sat, one leg over the other and his hands covering his chin as he thought, slowly rocking back and forth on the maneuverable sofa he sat on.

"Well, yeah! There's always stuff to win in bets!" Dash asked him, hoping he'd respond with some smirk or grin, she wasn't let down.

"Oh, it does sound exciting!" Twilight expressed from her seat, putting down her cup of tea. Fluttershy also did the same as she expressed her own interest in the event.

"Have you told Ben? I'm sure he'd like to see you race!" Flutters mentioned getting agreement from all around the room. K looked at her before smiling knowing well Ben's part in the race. Dash had left out that Ben would be competing in the event and didn't even mention his involvement at all with the race before Flutters. Dash slowly sat back down, and smirked as she slouched a bit on her seat. "What do you mean?"

Flutters backed up and thought before shrugging confused by Dash's question. "I just thought he'd like to see..."

Dash looked at her before getting back into formal position, realizing Flutters had took it the wrong way. "No, Fluttershy, I mean as in…nevermind, but he does know."

"Oh, then...why did you ask that?" Flutters returned back and this time Dash returned to her with a smirk.

"I was trying to get to the point that Ben is actually a racer!" Dash spilled the news with a flair of excitement, her hooves raised to the ceiling in celebration. There was silence as everyone gave each other a small look. Dash blinked a few times before slowly lowering her excited hooves.

"What?" She asked.

"Ben? Against you!?" Twilight asked for all.

Dash quickly turned to Twilight and gave her a reassuring hoof gesture.

"Don't worry, I might go easy on him!" She said and up from the other end of the room Applejack sprung up.

"Now-now, ain't a good idea!" Applejack warned. Dash turned to her with a slight frown of confusion. "Yer a bit too thick in the head to understand your competition, you may be fast but what about Ben?"

"What about him?" Dash asked, mildly offended.

"I'm still wondering what's going on." Rarity said cutting and rubbing the side of her head with her hoof, not making sense of what's being said.

"Ben ain't normal, you know that!" Applejack reminded Dash. Dash laughed a bit before shrugging.

"But he ain't fast enough!" She returned back with the same accent making Applejack pout.

"How do you know, does anypony?" She asked back.

"I do." K raised his hand. Everyone turned to him as he smiled leaning forward and stopping his seat from rocking.

"How fast?" Derpy asked suddenly intrigued by K's voice appearing. Dash agreed in an instant. "Yeah! How fast is he!?"

K held his smile as he shrugged.

"That's something you need to learn for yourself," He said, leaving them all and Dash in the darkness which is Ben's mystery. "But a warning," K suddenly said making them all jump slightly.

"Don't go easy on him." K raised the bar of worry.

Dash nodded slowly, processing that before closing her eyes and smiling.

"Fine. But if I end up embarrassing him, that's on you." She said, cocky the whole way. K raised a playful eyebrow and smiled.

"Oh? And if he ends up embarrassing you?" He intellectually asked. Dash remained with her eyes closed and softly answered.

"In your dreams, K."

K closed his eyes as well as he responded like he would.

"You'll be losing the race, a trophy, a streak, and your-

"Hold it!" Dash quickly intercepted, and K obediently shut up and sat back on his seat, letting it rock again, a smirk, that only made the room grow rowdy with questions, held over his face. Dash smiled at his obedience.

"Thanks, at least you know how to obey."

K shrugged smugly. "Win, Spitfire and Fleetfoot get it ahead of you. Lose, you get second to Applejack."

Dash opened her mouth to respond but only air came out as she opened her eyes and pondered deeply for a moment before turning to him.

"Wow, you really took it there." Dash said biting her lower lip in deep thought.

"Just something to think about." K finished before sighing. "Hey, does anyone have food?"

Twilight quickly picked her head up.

"Spike…uh…can you get K something to eat, please?" Twilight asked politely. Spike sighed as he hopped off the couch and onto the floor where he used his three-clawed claw to gesture K to follow.

"Okie dokie, come on K…uh…let's find you something you like."

K leaned back on the seat before leaning forward and getting to his feet and following Spike into the kitchen. "Alright, lead on baby dragon!"

With K gone, everyone glanced at each other in silence before Rarity spoke up.

"Um…not to be rude…but who is this?" Rarity asked as she aimed her hoof at the pony who sat next to her on her for-two couch. The pony turned to her before hissing and sticking out her snake-like tongue making Rarity lean away cautiously. Soon, the pony slowly reverted back in a green flash.

"It's me." Chrysalis spoke, and she received everyone stare. Rarity nodded her head slowly and with a smile that was too easily forced.

"Hello dear, sorry, I didn't recognize you…in…that appearance." Rarity apologized trying her best to be nice, and Chrysalis shrugged with a smile.

"Good, that means I'm actually fitting in."

Rarity gave her an odd gaze before slowly becoming understanding.

"How's it been then?" Rarity asked next, trying to start something. That was odd from Rarity and Chrysalis knew so. She became curious by the odd approach and lifted her head slightly.

"Er…it's been, fine I guess. There's good food, and nopony is really getting on my nerves."

Rarity smiled as she heard more than she expected. Initially, Chrysalis would have been more simple-minded and just said how she felt, but now she went in further and explain in detail. ' _Comfortable are we now?'_ Rarity warmly expressed to herself. "That's nice to hear…"

"I guess." Chrysalis simply answered back looking away to another place in the room, feeling the moment getting too _comfortable_.

Rarity smiled as she shifted a bit closer to Chrysalis. "It's awkward isn't it?"

"Hmm?" Chrysalis hummed back to Rarity's sudden movements towards her.

"This conversation, it feels awkward, doesn't it?" Rarity said going further. Chrysalis was silent for a moment before looking towards the other ponies surrounding her and nodding in agreement.

"Oh…yeah," Chrysalis said. "It does, sort of."

Rarity studied Chrysalis's body language before smiling. It's a good feeling to get someone who's awkward to show signs of comfort.

"I guess it should be, things are changing so quickly that we don't know how to react anymore." Rarity said levitating some the tea pot and pouring herself some of what was left and handing it over to Chrysalis. "Here, this tea isn't just us, it's yours too." Chrysalis picked her head up a bit more, and this time she was impressed with what she had heard and what she was seeing. She wasn't the only one to pick her head up, so did the rest of the audience as they realized the truth in such a statement and move from Rarity.

"That's the smartest thing I've hear all day, uh…Rarity." Chrysalis complimented as she took the tea cup with her magic and held it before her. Rarity took it with full satisfaction and almost gushed a bit from the joy.

"Wow…hearing you say my name in such a formal tone feels oddly satisfying."

Chrysalis smiled back to that. "It's like you said, things are changing quickly."

Rarity looked up and smiled towards her, glad to hear that from her. "Exactly."

Chrysalis looked at her for a moment before blushing slightly and smiling back.

There was an odd moment of silence as everyone realized what was going on and Flutters was the first to stretch across her couch, reliving all the muscular stress.

"Oh my, I can't wait for bed today." Flutters said with a smile as she laid back on the couch, just to get some more words flowing around. Dash peered suspiciously at her.

"Why? Because Ben is always there?"

Flutters quickly realized how dash had fired back and shook her head. "N-no! It's…it's…" Flutters quickly tried to come up with an excuse but she lagged.

"Come on Fluttershy, you can't even come up with an excuse." Dash said landing right next to her on the couch and giving her a playful smile as she got comfortable with her. If Flutters had learned something from being around Dash, it's to not let Dash get anywhere near your personal material.

"…well, what about this "bet" you'll be _losing_? That's surely more important." Flutters asked back and she was so smooth in throwing that insult to Dash that Dash completely missed it before she could react. "The bet isn't impor-HEY! What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Oh yeah!" Derpy agreed with curiosity. "What is it?"

"Yeah, why'd you have cut K off about it?" Applejack asked adding to the pressure.

Dash looked at them, refusing to let her embarrassment get the better of her.

"It's a bet of bets, that's all you'll get." Dash said, trying to be sly with it. A sly Dash is a Dash who's hiding a secret, the whole group knew that well. And still, getting a secret out of Dash is as hard as getting Dash to go easy on someone. If anyone knew how to get under Dash's skin, it was Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and the only one here was the gone-country one.

"Fine, we'll just ask K or Ben, they'll surely know." Applejack said, threatening to jump off the couch and march over to K in the connected kitchen. Dash quickly broke her security and quickly zoomed from her seat to push Applejack back down.

"NO!"

Applejack stared at Dash before using her hooves to detach Dash's hooves from her body. "O…kay?" She said suspicious of Dash and Dash quickly retracted herself and stared at her hooves as they trembled slightly.

"I mean…uh…dang it…" Dash cursed in a whisper as she dropped to the floor from her hover.

"What's with the embarrassment?" Chrysalis asked and Dash took deep breaths to get herself calm.

"Uh…just…afraid of…" Dash couldn't go through with that, the stares she was getting and the lie she was making up were too much. _Dash…afraid…nah!_ Dash quickly spun around, her hooves crossed across her chest and with a spoiled attitude. "Geez, mind your own business!"

Everyone who had leaned in suddenly fell back into their seats and sighed in disappointment. "Oh great, now we got this attitude from her." Applejack expressed with a pout.

"I know." Chrysalis said with her casual tone before smirking. "I know what the bet is."

Dash uncrossed her hooves and swiftly turned to her, just as everyone did.

"How do…HOW DO YOU KNOW!?" Dash asked.

"I follow K a lot and stayed at a distance when he stopped to speak with you, Ben and the other two." Chrysalis pointed out and Dash had no choice to but to give her story credit, it was too realistics considering Chrysalis does tend to follow K a lot.

"Alright, so don't say a thing! You're not evil Chrysalis anymore, don't go talking nonsense." Dash said trying to remain calm but failing by the second as soon as Chrysalis glared at her with her toothy grin.

"Oh, I still got evil in me, enough for me to say that your bet was to lose your virginity if you lost to Ben, to Ben. Oh, and I don't talk nonsense." Chrysalis exposed just like that, and just like that, Dash's muzzle scrunched up to the point her head sank down in embarrassment. There were gasps and awkward coughs from all around as they tried to not look too suspect towards Dash.

"Oh my gosh…you're the evilest of them all!" Dash exclaimed turning to Chrysalis and with teeth glaring in anger and a face to be remembered.

"Thank you, you look like you mean it." Chrysalis thanked with an arrogant smile.

"Dashie…how did you get yourself into this situation!?" Twilight asked trying to contain her laughter from seeing Dash get some karma, but equally curious as much as it is humorous.

"I blame-!

"Yourself, you agreed to it." Chrysalis cut in front of Dash's excuse.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Dash defended herself.

"Oh! hush up and admit you want it! You absolute child!" Chrysalis pressured fully exposing what she was doing. Dash twitched a bit as she shook her head, standing in the name of defense.

"NEVER! YOU ACT AS IF I'M GOING TO LOSE THIS RACE ON PURPOSE!"

"Nope, but you know that either way Win or Lose, you get something you want out of it."

Dash held in the urge to argue and dropped her words to only let out a breath of tainted air. "Tsk."

Chrysalis turned to Rarity who was looking back at her with a look of surprise. Chrysalis gave a surprise wink back before clearing her throat. Rarity reacted to it with the obvious question in mind: _What are you doing_?

"Fine, how about this." Chrysalis offered and Dash's head rose with clear anger. Chrysalis smiled as she wafted her hoof in front of her before placing it over her chest. "You lose, I'll go changed into you and do your end of the bet."

Dash's breath cut out for a good two seconds before she realized how her eyes had widened in that very instance and quickly looked away and to make up for it, she let her ego speak for itself.

"…F-fine! Do what you want!"

"It's not hard at all." Chrysalis said, quickly morphing into Dash in a green flash. Dash stared in disbelief before looking away, the urge to bang her head against any blunt object around her

Dash shivered a bit before gulping.

"He'll never know the difference." Chrysalis added forcing Dash to close her eyes in the stress of the moment.

"…Just stick with K…" Dash whispered to herself, not really in an urge to yell out her anger yet. Chrysalis's ears perked up curiously and she giggled inwardly.

"Say that again?" She said using a new blue wing to cup her ear in her direction.

"I SAID STICK WITH K! ALRIGHT!?" Dash suddenly erupted and forced Chrysalis to lower the wing and stab the inside of her ear with it.

Chrysalis laughed as she nodded and finished rubbing out Dash's voice from inside her ear. "That's what I thought…you left me half deaf."

Dash huffed out the rest of her anger and recoiled slightly as she let her wings return to their place and her hooves loosely hang, ashamed after realizing how she, herself, had exposed her sensitive side. Applejack was silent this whole time like the rest, although now that she knew this key factor, she knew she had a role.

"There's no shame in it." Applejack budged in. Dash turned to face her, red faced all the way with embarrassment. It was almost frightening to see Dash so out of character and color.

"Easy for you to say…you've done it before!" Dash sniffed and reacted. Applejack gave her a shrug before shaking her head.

"…I wasn't ashamed about liking it…it's just embarrassing to speak about."

Dash looked at her for a second before shamefully staring at the floor. "But…it's weird ya know, having friends know about liking somepony…and willing to do "that" with them."

"It's not." Applejack said, getting Dash to tilt her head curiously.

"Huh?"

Applejack blushed a bit as she took in some air.

"It's not. Don't think about _This_ like it's some challenge you're beating everypony to, there's somethin' that's beyond that…there's the pleasure that comes from it, yeah, but there's also the feelin' that…somepony 'loves you' and that 'this is what you mean to them.' It makes you feel special and that, _that_ bond is stronger than it ever was. I've never felt so happy until then because I know he trusted me and I trusted him with my body…it's special Dashie. If you lose, Ben knows what he is to you and he won't treat you like just some trophy he won, he'll treat you with love and respect."

"…" Dash remained silent as she aimlessly blinked towards the floor. She gulped before clearing her throat. "I…never thought about it like that…"

"…Me neither." Flutters responded, as well as everyone else's did as they pondered deeply on it.

"Has anypony?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know." Derpy said in response, messing around with her hair.

"I do." Chrysalis said raising her pored hoof for the sake of speaking. Rarity smiled as she bobbed her head in agreement. _Well DUH!_

"Wow…Applejack…I…would you mind writing that down so I could send it to Celestia?" Twilight asked and Applejack was resilient of it.

"Would she even understand?" She asked and threw Twilight back some mental notes.

"Huh?" Twilight asked.

"She understands friendship…but does she understand love?" Chrysalis asked, clarifying for Twilight and Twilight was on track again but without a clue on where she was going.

"…oh my, I…I…I don't know…"

"I don't understand." A voice bounced around before sudden flash over took the room and before them appeared the solar and lunar grace.

"Celestia!?" Everyone asked as the lights dimmed.

"Good morning." Celestia greeted everyone before turning to Applejack, which made her hic* slightly and stiffen in the limelight.

"I heard what you said Applejack…and you have truth coming from your mouth. That's knowledge that even I don't understand." Celestia admitted and giving Applejack a reason to be afraid. Applejack never liked being above others especially the princess.

"Sorry." Applejack apologized, looking down at the fabric of her seat.

"Don't be, it's good to have such experience in the subject. We have yet to get there." Celestia ended, backing up to speak to the rest, but Applejack was tossed around by what she heard. Her mouth shivered but she got a firm grip on her feelings and opened her mouth.

"It ain't some test your highness either."

Celestia slowly returned her eyesight back to Applejack. "Excuse me?"

"You speak about getting' there, but it ain't that simple. It's somethin' that happens, it's like the sudden motivation to suddenly do it! If there's no actual feeling of connection, then what's the point? It takes tremendous amounts of trust, friendship, love, and you have to build your way there. It ain't a test, it's simply loving him and him lovin' you back, it's love. Don't treat it formal neither, I know being royal is part of being a princess, but when it comes to "this" you must be what you are, don't fake out an identity." Applejack explained to her best and hoped for the best. Celestia had given her full attention to her and suddenly she was speechless. Celestia opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, so she tried again, and this time her truth came out.

"…Thank you, Applejack." Celestia smiled, having a great feeling after hearing Applejack speak so professionally, emotionally, and highly about the subject.

"Your welcome, your highness." Applejack ended with a smile going back.

"What a way to wake up." Luna said with a giggle.

"Just another day in Ponyville, with some slightly new changes." Rarity giggled back and Chrysalis smiled.

"Not slightly, huge."

"Right, dear." Rarity finished.

Everyone shared a smile at the calm aura in the room, for the moment at least. As soon as Luna surveyed the room, she quickly found Dash at the edge next to Flutters on the seat0. Luna quickly remembered the main words tossed around and turned to Dash. Dash noticed the swift action and turned in attention.

"And about Dash's race, you've got some ego to accept such a challenge." Luna remarked making Dash curiously stare, hoping for an explanation to which Luna didn't fall short of giving. "When I gave Ben his challenge, I was actually afraid of him winning, because I had set myself to lose. I had seen his eyes flair up when I told him about the challenge, he told me that he never backs from a challenge and I took it as a bluff. I was very mistaken. And you Dash, are going to learn it the hard way." Luna said adding to the pressure upon Dash. Dash took in a good amount of air before grinning and chuckling.

"We'll see, I still want to win though, it's in my blood to win!" Dash said with a firm hold on her determination, glad to get have gotten a few things off her chest. Luna smiled calmly as she bowed her head in agreement to Dash's bold statement, but deep down, she held back the urge to grin.

"It is, isn't it. But guess what Dash?" Luna asked back.

Dash turned slowly as Luna's eyes lit up in a deep blue and a daring look bestowed upon her.

"That blood is also in Ben."

You know, Cherrychangas aren't what I initially thought it to be. I had imagined some of the most disgusting flavors in my head until the actual trial. I was fearful until they assured me of my safety. I'll admit, it was good, but something I don't want to eat on a regular basis. Now I was joyfully sitting about on a stool, eating some sweet-frosted bread with a sweetened water whose flavor is undeniably addictive: Punch flavor.

There was an unexpected silence as Pinkie happily rested with her own sweet bread. Unexpected because Pinkie would always be there to begin something if it ever got quiet, but this time she didn't. Charm was also quick to identify the disturbance I detected, he turned from the cashier and gulped at the uneasy silence.

I looked back ahead of me before clearing my throat to add some sound that remained ignored. I sighed before turning over to Pinkie once more and she was in the same way eating her bread, but this time my mind rewinded. It rewinded back to a time there was an uneasy silence. I swallowed what was in my mouth and lightened my look.

"Pinkie, I have to ask you something." I said, and like that, Pinkie came to life before me.

"Oh! Sure!" She responded, not the unexpectedly quiet type from earlier. Now was the time to word my words to not sound rude.

"Well, back at the concert, a while back, when you came up to speak to me…" I began and Pinkie was quick to remember.

"Oh yeah, I remember!" She happily exclaimed. I thought for a second before responding out of the anxiety of silence between us.

"You…acted a bit strange…"

Charm's head slightly rose and turned to face us. I looked at him off the corner of my eye before turning to Pinkie, who looked confused, but not surprised.

"Really?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. I fiddled the fingers of my left hand to unstress myself as I tried to get the images back in my head.

"Yeah, you looked…different…" I said and she remained quite confused, naïve to the whole thing.

"Different?"

"Yeah, like…you seemed a bit more…stressed to the point you acted calm. If that makes sense." I explained and I could see Charm reacting before moving off the scene to somewhere where I couldn't see him anymore. I focused my attention on Pinkie who was genuinely lost and scratching her head.

"Sorry, but I don't know what to say. I've never felt like that." She answered back and my bullshit alarm was not reacting. I looked aimlessly at my hands before giving it one more shot.

"You sure?"

"Yup!" She happily assured me and I nodded with it.

"Uh…okay then. Sorry if that was a weird thing to ask."

"Not at all! It's caring." She kindly returned making me glad I could have spoken on it.

"Yeah." I said lifting the bread I had in my hand to my mouth and chewing another piece off.

"Psst…Ben."

I jerked a bit as I turned to look over at Charm, peering from a room and signaling me over, trying to not attract Pinkie's attention. I looked at Pinkie, absent-minded to it all, and excused myself.

"I'll be back, I gotta talk to Charm."

"Alright!" Pinkie dismissed with a smile. "I'll be on the counter!"

I came to the room where I'm sure Charm was and stepped in carefully before closing the door behind me. I turned to look at the room, seemed like a bedroom, and dead in the middle was Charm. A serious curiosity washed upon him.

"You've seen it too, right?" He asked as his first question. I blinked a few times before becoming equally curious.

"Excuse me?"

"Her other side."

"Other side?" I asked, pretending to be stupid for a moment.

He checked to make sure pinkie wasn't listening. He put his ear against the door and looked at the light shining under the door checking for shadows. "The side in which she acts…evil." he said, coming back off the door carefully.

"Evil?" I asked, keeping my act up for the sake of information.

"Yes!" He exclaimed before covering his mouth and looking back at the door. "I mean…yes." He whispered. I thought about it, and evil Pinkie, before putting back Pinkie at the concert in my head again.

"I wouldn't call it evil, but…gothic maybe?" I said, trying to not make it sound like Pinkie was really some evil being. He thought about it before shaking his head, ignoring anything of evil and gothic.

"Listen, there's something up with her, I know there is." He claimed in a strong whisper, almost desperate for me to understand. I remained silent as I waited for some more. He sighed and destressed to speak clearly. "But I truly believe she's a good pony, but there's something…something inside of her that doesn't belong."

I gulped as I found my bullshit alarm quiet again and locked my thoughts. "…how bad is it? This _side_ you speak of? Should I be worried?" I asked carefully whispering. I reflected a bit, wondering what in the actual hell is going on. I don't expect my friends to be evil or in any way tainted, but it seemed that's the wrong idea to have now. "And how could this be…she believes in me, and I know she's a good pony too." I said going further.

He stepped in my direction, holding something in mind.

"I don't know dude…listen, it doesn't just manifest itself, that split part of hers only appears on certain occasions. And it's rare too. But listen closely, this is important."

I looked up unwillingly.

"What?"

He slowly went for the door and pried it open and we both peered through it, at Pinkie. She was with a customer, happily taking his order.

"Take a good look at her now." He informed me to do. "How does she look?"

"She's happy." I responded blankly.

"Yeah but look at her mane." He pointed out and my eyes traveled up to her mane. It was normal, poofy and like cotton candy.

"It's poofy." I again answered blankly.

"Exactly, now the trick is her mane." He said, backing from the door. I listened closely as I held my sight locked on Pinkie through the crack on the door, the only friend who believed in me when no one thought I could come back from the dead.

"When she's happy, her mane will stay poofy and soft. But shall that mane ever become droopy and silky, you've come across her alternate side."

My eyes remained deadlocked as memory of Pinkie surfaced again from the concert. He was right. Pinkie did have mane down that night, and she was acting as he explained. This would be simple to take in if it wasn't for the fact that this Pinkie was slowly becoming more and more special and closer, and now she was becoming a fear factor just like _that_.

"Fu…damn it…" I said toning my words down, watching Pinkie dance about as she prepared the pastries. "I like her Charm. She doesn't deserve this. Why hasn't no one else told me about this!?"

Charm quickly gasped.

"Exactly! They don't know! They called me crazy because I was the only one to actually notice it…sorta! Everypony acts as if they've never seen her with her mane down, it's crazy I tell you. They're…like…blind to it or something!"

"So…only a few of us can see it?" I asked becoming slightly depressed that I was accepting these words from him.

"I hope not, that would be creepy, but I think it's just ignorance." Charm shivered.

"So, is she…evil?" I asked hurt by the negatives.

"No, listen, I know it's hard to understand, but right now…she's normal Pinkie, she's cute, funny, and happy. Nowhere in her head or body is there evil intentions." Charm explained and the amount of curiosity in me doubled.

"So, are you telling me there is something that just completely takes her over when it wants? Something that isn't her!?" I asked, hopeful and almost begging for the right words to come out of him.

"Correct. And whatever it is, it doesn't belong in such a kind-hearted mare like her." He said. I watched as Pinkie lightly stepped about, opening the oven and taking out pastries and serving them. There was a level of truth here that I couldn't deny, and I wasn't going to. But still, Pinkie as my friend shouldn't be subject to exposure to the public like this.

"Let's keep this between us, alright? We can't give Pinkie a bad reputation for something she can't control." I said, ignoring the negative after hearing such news and become optimistic about all this shenanigan.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, we don't want to get the town to turn against our friend." He said with a smile, agreeing to my point.

"Right. And thank you for telling me, it's happened before and I know it has, so there's no point in not believing you. I hope you're right on that it's something else that controls her…I can't imagine her hiding something like that."

"She's not hiding anything, she just doesn't know it's there. I've seen enough to be case-closed about it."

"Good, I like that assurance. But…"

I looked out the door to assure the both of us that Pinkie was still busy: she was.

"Are we really the only ones who know?" I asked.

Charm cleared her throat and shook his head.

"No. Princess Twilight knows about it too, as well as Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Her closest friends."

"And they haven't done nothing!?" I asked, suddenly outraged by the news.

"I don't know Ben, I tried to warn them, but they found it offensive for me to talk about it and turned me the other way!" He explained back.

"Why!?" I asked, outraged by the reactions that my friends had. Charm looked at me pitifully and looked away.

"Because I helped almost set this place in flames…"

Suddenly, my outrage was gone.

"Oh…" I expressed, mildly shocked. I knew he did wrong but he had it in him to regret, that's hard enough to do as is. I sighed as I looked away as well to not make him feel isolated. "That explains it."

"I'm sorry about that, I was blinded by those who I hanged with." He said, spewing an apology. I smiled and wafted my hand to dismiss the issue.

"Nah, it's alright. Don't linger on the past. Just be glad things ended up where we are, unless it was some bad place we ended up at."

"Thanks."

We had a brief silence before I had to ask on encounters with this alter Pinkie.

"This Pinkie Pie…any idea on how she acts." I asked. Charm did a small frown before nodding.

"Yeah, absolutely freaking insane!"

"…how bad?" I asked, determined to get to know this odd side of Pinkie better. I thought maybe if I figured out how to approach this alter then maybe I could connect, but all I managed was to become worried. Charm gulped as he neared me a bit so we could hear each other through our whispers.

"Well…one night, a while back, I moved along this home and I could just hear whispering…like whispering of an insane patient. I was terrified and dashed home, I mostly kept away but when I was curious I would sneak in a look, and I noted a lot of things she did. And in the end, I got all the information I gave you."

"Wow…really crazy shit?" I asked.

"Yeah, "crazy shit," and there's more." Charm repeated.

"Oh great, more!?" I asked back.

"She doesn't like feeling isolated."

My head bounced a bit as I quickly asked on that loudly. Charm hushed me in a second.

"Shh…Like I said, I heard her whisper…she whispers about, "how could they forget about me?" then "No, they didn't forget about me, they hate me!" and then "They'll pay for all of it!" and stuff like that."

All the things he said made me question the sympathy I'd show for this character. At first, she's insane, then she's acting like a teenage girl who's lost all her friends…maybe she is a teenage girl who thinks she's lost her friends.

"Why didn't you say that earlier!? Maybe Pinkie is just really sensitive and she kinda crashes!"

"N-no! I'm losing you now Ben." He warned me and I watched him as he sighed to calm himself.

"Listen again. Pinkie isn't sensitive, it's this alternative. And now that you mention it, here's another note to add to your notebook. If Pinkie becomes weak emotionally, I think that's when this alternate takes other."

I closed my eyes and grunted a bit at the logic of his. I had a hard time not believing him, and the resulted in a hard time having to accept this.

"Fine, I trust your judgement. I wouldn't really know as much as someone whose seen it with their own eyes more than one time. But it's crazy! First there's Luna and Nightmare Moon."

"Oh, that ordeal!?" Charm asked smugly.

"Then there's K and I."

"K?" He asked, dashing an eyebrow.

"My demon: the guy who sang next to me at the concert, guitarist?" I described and he nodded with a smile.

"Oh! You have a demon!? That's so cool! And creepy, but cool!"

"Thanks, and then there's Fluttershy and now Pinkie." I explained with all four of my fingers extended out to count for each one.

"Fluttershy?" he asked before smirking. "You know, I always thought she'd have something hidden behind all that shyness of hers. She did handle that freak you fought pretty good. Must be some crazy alternate, huh?"

"Yeah." I smiled back before putting up a hand on my head. "But damn, too many alter personalities!"

"Tell me about it. But she's not a bad pony alright, it's-

"That thing that doesn't belong." I concluded.

"Precisely."

"HEY! WE GOT A LOT OF CUSTOMERS!" Pinkie barged in and the two of us went into a screaming frenzy. _So much for whispering_. Charm fell on his behind and I froze stiff. Pinkie glanced at the two of us with a raised eyebrow, surveying us.

"P-PINKIE!? DON'T DO THAT!" Charm was quick to respond and I followed up with a series of consecutive nods, my breathing everywhere at the moment. Pinkie made an awkward smile as she nervously scratched the back of her head.

"Y-yeah! I can't breathe straight!" I said catching my lost breath. Holy shit, if that wasn't the most terrifying but innocent surprise up to date!

"Whoops!" Pinkie chuckled nervously before aiming her hoof out the door. "Sorry for scaring you, but we do have customers." She chuckled.

"No doubt." Charm said with a small frown, taking the words right out of my mouth. Pinkie looked at him before sighing, almost disappointed which made Charm's frown break down to some ashamed look.

"Well, when you calm down then." Pinkie said stepping out. I looked at Charm before sighing as well, feeling somewhat ashamed as well.

"Maybe we should-

Pinkie quickly appeared by the door again with a gentle smile. "And we'll be closing soon too!"

"Huh!? Why!?" I asked along with Charm, fearing it might have something to do with our attitudes as of a few minutes ago. Pinkie gave us the confused look before walking away from the door.

"Umm…we always close early on this day of the week." She explained, her voice sliding in through the open door. Charm looked down and swallowed his shame down.

"Oh…right."

"So…what are you two doing in here?" Pinkie asked, stepping back into the room with a smile to our surprise. Charm's head lifted eagerly.

"Talking about guy stuff." He lied but with a smile, glad to see her step in with a smile again. "And…I'll uh…go take care of those customers!" Charm quickly added slipping out the room. I watched him leave and laughed a bit as his slyness.

Pinkie giggled as well.

"Guy stuff?" She asked, amused. I lifted an eyebrow and played with my setting.

"You look pretty happy. Anything got your mind?"

Pinkie shrugged. "I like the company, it's great to have somepony besides customers here."

"You don't get much visit?" I asked.

"No, not really." She said, not exaggerating her voice to her high-pitched tone. I lost the smile for a second before giving the soft mane of hers as good messing up.

"Well, you got me here!" I encouraged with a smile.

She looked at me with no words before smiling and nodding, the mystical red coming from her cheeks.

"Thanks, it means a lot!" She thanked, an ever so cute blush forming.

"Yeah." I agreed. Pinkie looked out the door to check on Charm, before turning back to me.

"Well, since you're here…" She thought about something to offer before jumping to action. "Would you like to learn to bake!?"

I got up in action.

"Sure! I need to improve on my culinary skills, starting with baking!"

"Yes! I'll teach you how to make some amazing sweets!"

Pinkie closed down for the day at around an hour or two past noon, it was a good thing too since the flour flying all over the place was starting to make me a bit _choked up_. But still, the benefit was making Pinkie blush directly for the first time, I knew she liked it which meant I got a good feeling from it too. And that doesn't take away the fact that kneading is wonders for my sore hands. But on the main note, I need to start being a bit more serious with relations and how I keep them up, Pinkie is an important one, that I need to protect.

Charm did his part and got some bits out of it, to which his kind-self refused but Pinkie convinced him of taking the offer. Charm went his way after a long departure speech. He seemed to really have enjoyed my presence, and I would say the same about him. Charm isn't like most, he's a guy, a pony, the type you could speak to and feel like you don't need to sugar coat things too almost like K, except this guy is softer and a pony, and not some demon who confused a bunny with an egg, I wonder just how much he's learned from being in the open for a week and some.

The race was on it's way and so that should be my next step going forward. Yet, going forward, I also need to figure out some of the secrets that these ponies are hiding from me. If Pinkie's got some secret in her, there's no point in not looking into the others. If Luna's got a split side, then why can't Celestia have one too? They're both from the same mother. And then when is their mother going to meet me again!? All this information would of course be my own to hold and no one else, so keeping my plans on low is the limit. The answers will come to me. Everyone has their secrets, even me. Hell, I might be finding a secret from my own self.

I paused to think about having my own secrets hidden from myself and chuckled.

"And that's why I should've gone to therapy."


	60. Chapter 60 - Old Friends

#60

 ** _Fair warning - A long fucking chapter, enjoy._**

I skipped past the two days to the race only doing what I do best: mess around. One after another, new ponies seemed to present themselves to me, and like that, I checked off some mental tallies on key notes on their special traits. I also checked on Sting and company to see how he was doing. He was fine, still a bit mentally shaken about our ordeal. I assured him he was fine, just as long as he never did something like that ever again, and that would've been the end of that if he hadn't handed me an object to hold dear.

I looked down at the odd jewelry he gave me. I never noticed this stone on him when I first met him. It was some type of charm or symbol of luck as he described it, but it looked valuable and majestic to me. It was a blue crystal, shaped into a perfectly symmetrical decagon that from any angle you looked at it, it was always fine and flawless. A golden ring surrounding the edges of the crystal to add a level of fashion to it.

I was a sceptic when it came to odd objects just handed to me, so I asked about as much as I could about it. Jade assisted me there and explained that it's an ancient relic that they brought with them from pre-Equestria and that it was better in the "hooves" of someone who could do much more than just protect his friends. I asked why this wasn't in a museum or something, and they gave me the most _tip-of-the-ice-berg_ answer.

"It still has it's use." I said to my lonesome, flipping the relic like a coin over and over again. It was deep into the night and I was finally going to get home after messing around with some local townspony at a local pub. They underestimated my concentration and accuracy when it comes to darts. _Suckers_. It was almost robbery how many bits I won but to deal with the grunts and frustration, I put drinks on me. If there was anything I learned tonight, it was that ponies love me in taverns and bartenders aren't fond of it.

I chuckled a bit from the slightly light head I was coming home with. I wasn't a drinker at heart, but when I figured they had ale, I had to give it a taste. It was bitter and funny tasting and I probably won't order it again, but there's always a chance I'll hit it again on the rare.

And now, there's nothing better than the cold, open, and peaceful embrace of the night to sober me up from the drink. _I wonder if Luna has something to do with that?_ but that's probably a stretch. I was again around the outskirts of the town, and there was reason for it too. As much as I like the company, here in the outskirts, where there is no pony, just the night and me, I'm calm. No way do I imply that ponies are a pain, but they do remind me of how much I don't fit in, I'm not a pony, I'm a human. Being human is what I must be, it's not a choice, it's an honor, and an honor I must keep to the very end. For all that, I've walked the outskirts of town for the last two nights.

I flipped the relic once more before the jewel suddenly felt out of place. I was flipping it with such concentration that the sudden misplacement became obvious and now I had stopped my walk to stare at it. It seemed about as beautiful as the most flawless diamond around. It was so clean and smooth that I couldn't even leave behind a thumb print on the smooth surface.

"What's your use?" I asked, trying to channel my inner detective and study it for the moment. It was brief, but for a second it seemed to almost faintly light up before dying down. My sobering had become complete, and my system was clean of distraction as I went into a full inspection of the object, trying to see if anything else could appear. I turned it over a few times, blew on it, rubbed it against my shirt, I even tried to bite it once I was out of ideas, but it wouldn't light up again, so I back tracked.

"What's your use?" I asked again, seeing if I could get the same reaction by saying the same thing again. Surprisingly it did, the thing lit up again for a split second, almost like a dying breath before dying away again. I looked at it carefully before taking into consideration the reaction.

"Is this normal?" I asked further, and this time it did something besides light up. It barely but noticeably twitched in my hand, which sent my hand into a panic, almost dropping the relic before I assured myself and gripped it. _What the?_ I asked myself in my head before I brought the thing up to my face and held it with a firm grip.

"No, this ain't normal, no mineral I've never seen, heard, or held has ever lit up or shook in my hand." I whispered to myself, my hand shaking nervously from the object's sudden reactions. My cautious instincts kicked in as I quickly transitioned into a fit of curiosity before curiosity turned into confused rage. _It was probably that ale messing with my head_. "And if that's that, then what am I holding!?" I suddenly yelled out and from my exclamation the relic reacted once more.

My body received a violent jolt of voltage through my hand and I threw the damn thing as far away as I could from me. My other hand quickly tackled the other and gripped it tightly to stop the shaking. I took a moment to stop the shaking and it finally ended when I decided to do what's best and whack the traumatized hand to the hard ground and force it to stop. I took in a long breath before picking myself from the ground and letting go of my hand. That relic was all but normal.

"Son of a…" I whispered before grunting a bit as I tried to get rid of the numbness of my right arm. I looked up at where I launched the traitorous object and it was reacting again, this time lighting up brightly in the distance. I wasn't in the town area, more like in the outskirts and it was all open field with some trees around. I stared for a while before getting Jade in my head again.

" _Please, it's the only one we managed to salvage_!" She had told me back then. _Salvaged a damn taser that's what she salvaged._

I closed my eyes to calm down but Jade found her way into my head again, this time saddened by the fact I lost the relic. I couldn't deal with that guilt, no matter how much petty pain it puts me through. My eyes opened and still in the distance, the thing was lighting up its surroundings in a blue light ominously. It was strange, why was it reacting so bright when it wouldn't even light up that much in my hands.

" _Maybe it's lost?_ "

"Huh?" I turned to look around but no one was around.

" _In your head_."

"In my-

I stopped before changing my confusion to sense. It was Strike with a comeback, she's been in my head for quite a while now without saying a thing.

"What do you mean lost?" I asked her as I began towards the relic and all was not normal with it as I got closer to it. The closer I got to it, the less it glowed, meaning it knew I was coming for it. This relic was interesting by all means.

" _I don't know, but it seemed to not light up in your hands meaning it was safe with you, and now that you threw it away, it wants to be back with you._ "

"Where the hell did you get that idea!? The damn thing sent a bolt of lightning running through my veins!" I asked aggressively, but only because she had a point and her explanation made sense contrary to mine. I just thought Sting had given me some taser-like stone that I didn't know how to operate.

" _Well, it's right there, find out._ "

I had it right in front of me now as Strike had announced. I squatted down and frowned not yet reaching my hand out for it. I still had questions for it which I wanted answered.

"Why the hell would Sting give you to me? And why are you hurting me!?" I asked it. It glowed a bit in response and I lifted an eyebrow. It did seem to listen and react as I had suspected, but that didn't take away from the fact that this stone was not normal. And I knew better than to touch something that just hurt me.

"Like hell I'm gonna pick you up after what you did!" I sternly assured it, waiting for another response. It flickered now, going bright and dim, bright and dim, bright and dim. I stared at it confused as to what it was doing now.

" _Hmm…Ben, I think I know what this is!_ " Strike suddenly exclaimed in my head and I quickly picked my head up as twigs snapped behind me.

"Ben! What's wrong with you!?"

The relic responded to the voice and quickly killed the light it was conjuring and I quickly turned to look at my nightly visitor. It was Flutters to my surprise, worried and unsure what to do. "F-Flutters! I…was…arguing with Strike!" I made something up as I reached my hand behind myself and searched for the relic, without drawing attention to it.

" _That's not true._ " Strike's voice disappointedly sighed.

" _Always listening, huh?_ _Just follow with this lie this time_." I asked of her through my thoughts.

" _Fine._ " She obediently responded, slightly cheerful in her voice.

"But she's not around…" Flutters tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"Yes, I am."

Strike's voice appeared before us before a blue light spawned by my side. "Surprise." She greeted as the blue hue evaporated and she stood gracefully down my side. I admired the fact her introduction was a blue light which would "explain" the light from the relic if I carry this lie forth. Flutters blinked a few times before gulping.

"B-but why the screaming? And arguing?" She asked, shivering a bit. That was strange, it wasn't cold enough for Flutters to be having shivers. Strike didn't think that one through and neither did I, it made for an awkward few seconds of silence before Strike rose up to the occasion.

"Uh…it's kind of embarrassing…" Strike put up an act, blushing a fake one. I stared in amazement at how she was able to do that, create a blush that would buy me even when I knew she was faking it. Flutter's head kicked back a bit and she became a bit unnerved.

"W-what!?" She asked loudly before toning it down and blushing herself. "W-what happened?" She asked in a whisper after her outburst. I tried to act it out as well, acting as if I was actually embarrassed as well using the awkward silence. Strike looked at me with her frown which I couldn't tell if it was acting to go along with it, or if it was an actual frown from the frustration I was putting her through.

"He went to those places where ponies go to drink."

"The tavern?" Flutters asked and Strike nodded before winging it for me. I wasn't getting positive vibes from Strike anymore, she was revealing too much.

"Yeah, he had a lot to drink too."

As my fear had feared, she was winging it the wrong way!

"It was only a few drinks…" I argued back semi-acting and actually being honestly deceiving. Strike laughed a bit as if not buying it, which was greatly forcing me to lose some of my acting ability. Right after her laugh, she blushed once more and put up a face that was aimed to make me feel guilty.

"Whatever, you still tried to…I'm not even going to say." Strike ended crossing her hooves and pouting, turning away from me. " _W-what!?_ " were the words running in my head as I got a kick up my ass and I was ready to defend myself against that accusation.

She was rubbing a knife against my thin line of thread I had on staying on act. I knew what I had to do immediately, because I'm not a harasser, at least sexually not a harasser, and she damn well knows it! And I won't let Flutters think of me that way either. I forced a look down at her and denied it on the spot.

"Hey-hey-hey-hey! Wait a minute! I didn't try a thing, you saw the opportunity to seduce me while I was a bit under the ale, and you took full advantage!" I accused back going rogue of her act. I put faith into that accusation so it would burn Strike so she realized what she's gotten into.

Strike's head swiftly turned to me and she sprung up with an immediate objection.

"That ale is messing with your head!"

"So you say, but I'm not a heavy drinker, and if I was, I'm quick on sobering up, just in time to figure out what you were doing!" I ran with my lie and Strike was now getting something flaring, her eye twitched as her nerves where ticked.

On the outside, I was all acting and arguing without reason, but deep down inside, I feared and hoped Strike wouldn't blow my cover because I was still in her hooves as far as it goes. Strike gritted her teeth and forced out her magic, enveloping herself in a glow and making my eyes squint slightly as she brewed up a gust of wind. I tightened my fists jumping backwards ready to follow along but not without the obvious fear of having pushed her too far.

"H-hey! This isn't how we settle arguments!" I reminded her and she charged up some magic as she frowned towards me, her new target. Now I had no clue what she was doing! Was she acting!? Was she seriously gonna fight me now!? Strike quickly growled as she sparked off.

"Screw that! You've humiliated me enough!"

I bared my teeth as I responded equally, charging up my own plasmatic energy around my body and readying myself. I couldn't tell if I had actually pissed her off or if she was going along with the act, but either way I was unsure of my safety. _How did it come to this!?_

As soon as I could see it in Strike that she was going to make the first charge, someone quickly appeared between us, sliding into that position, both her hooves out to each of us in a desperate attempt to end this unexpected fight.

"N-NO! DON'T FIGHT PLEASE! I WAS JUST ASKING A QUESTION!" Flutters voice begged from between us. She got into that position to hold us off from each other. I lowered my hands in response and lost the will to act on from Flutter's convincing cries, and thankfully Strike obeyed as well and returned to a normal stance, dropping her magic. Strike shivered a bit from realization of how out of hand that got before gulping.

"F-fine! I'm…I don't want to be here anymore!" Strike finally yelled putting up an attitude all the way till she faded away and seeped back into me. For her to even seep back into me indicated she was still, at the very least, fine after that, or at least that's what I'd like to believe. I was shocked into a small silence before hearing Flutters whimper.

"Flutters?" I called out before seeing her off a few feet away, whimpering as I thought about what I had done. "…Damn it," I sighed as I moved towards her and settled down behind her putting my hands on her shoulders. I felt her shoulders moving up and down as she held in her some emotions. "Don't cry, Strike is like K, she likes to fight a lot, she wouldn't really hurt me."

"B-Ben…" Flutters whimpered before turning over to me, crying as she showed me her hooves. She was sitting down with her two hooves before her, glowing faintly red and smoking a bit. I blinked once before widening my eyes in some shock. This was something new, since when did Flutters have the ability to make her hooves burning hot.

"Oh wow…" I said under my breath, not taking the matter as seriously as I should've. I was too thankful I wasn't at fault for making her cry.

"B-Ben…I'm scared!" Flutters cried throwing her hooves around my neck and holding on tight. I won't lie on how much I wished I could've cried as well as Flutter's hooves burned into my neck, she was really not controlling her magic again. I held my breath to withstand the pain a bit longer before trying to pull off Flutters, but she was latched on like a leech!

" _Strike! Help!_ " I begged for Strike to come up and save me, even if it was far cry.

" _Oh snap! It seems my little act got her excited!_ " She excitedly responded before laughing. " _And this is for making me do that embarrassing act!_ "

"Excited?" I asked out loud, ignoring Strike's last words. I quickly grabbed Flutters the moment her grip weakened and held her away from my neck and over the ground as I stood up, finally getting her off with ease. Flutters whimpered a bit more as she cried.

"W-what?" She asked in a high-pitched whisper. I laughed a bit at that. Flutters has an urge to fight and that's special, she was just afraid. I'm still impressed K really did do something to her and gave her some power like this. Upon hearing my laugh, Flutters began waving her hooves towards me like a rowdy baby would, swatting at me in frustration and embarrassment.

"D-don't laugh! I don't like this!" Flutters pleaded. I lowered my laugh down to a chuckle for her. "Oh Flutters, you're too much! Stop crying, it's too cute for my eyes!" I begged of her with a smile. She blushed and covered her face with her wings.

"You're going to make me cry more!" She sobbed and actually cried like a baby would. Her hooves lost the red glow, along with the smoke as expected. I laughed as I brought her in and cradled her like the baby she acted like.

"Come on, let's go home! I need to sleep for tomorrow!" I said, gushing out in a blush and excitement from seeing her act like never before. She quickly looked up from my arms, sniffing back.

"B-but, what about-!?"

I hushed her with my finger going over her mouth. Her eyes looked directly at my finger before she turned up to me.

"Trust me, Flutters. You're scared over nothing. I'll explain too, but first let's go home." I assured her taking a step over the direction to her home which I had memorized its location by heart now from the outskirts. Flutters was still skeptic but I could see her calming down slowly.

"Well…you promise?" She asked. I easily nodded firmly.

"I promise."

Flutters swallowed her tears and rested her head on my arm, still sniffing back some of her fear which I knew would linger in a nervous pony like her. "I'm sorry if I cried, I was scared…"

I looked down at her for a moment before looking back up again. "It's okay, I understand." I said feeling some sympathy for her, I didn't like that apology.

Flutters took in a deep breath and absorbed the nightly atmosphere to comfort herself but her voice remained shaky. "W-why am I so scared of things?"

I thought about her question for a bit before clearing my throat. "I'm scared of things too, Flutters."

Flutters shifted a bit and her ear perked up. "You? What are you afraid of?"

I smiled a bit and chuckled as I opened my mouth to speak but it was quickly closed as I thought closely about what I was going to say. I asked her to keep it a secret from anyone and she agreed becoming a bit more curious. I sighed once as I opened my mouth once more, this time ready.

"I'm afraid of…chickens…" I admitted with a smirk strong as I recalled my little child years, oh the pain I went through. Flutters was stunned for a moment before she seemed to almost cry again as she held in some laughter, and I wouldn't blame her. After all, it's not every day that someone says they're afraid of chickens but I had a good reason, really. Her eyes were closed tightly before she finally let out a giggle followed by what would be the most expected laughter of the night. As cute as it was, this my past she was laughing at.

"Alright Flutters…you can stop laughing now." I ordered almost losing the smirk now. Flutters closed her mouth and took a deep breath to calm down before finally speaking clearly again.

"B-but chickens!?" She asked hysterically before holding back again. "Why?"

I sighed as I closed my eyes.

"When I was a kid, I was half-urban, half-ranch. I lived on a ranch a few years and my job was feeding the animals-"

"I like that!" Flutters commented. I agreed with her on that, it was fun to feed animals especially when most finally recognize you as the symbol of food and start following you around like some warden of power.

"Yup, and it was all easy," I explained before toning down and clearing by throat. "Well…all except one animal."

"Do I even wanna guess it?" Flutters asked closing her eyes to imagine the scene in her head. I smiled a bit and gave Flutters the credit for insinuating.

"Yup, chickens. I wasn't expecting it when I first stepped into the coop, I was tiny kid, my height back then is where my waist line is." I explained, trying to get her to understand my situation. Flutters opened her eyes and blushed a bit.

"Aww…that's cute." She complimented my younger self and I had to agree too, that little kid was so damn innocent when he entered the coop and came out to the realization that chickens are a devil's spawn. I nodded to agree.

"I know, little me was cute, but the chickens beg to differ." I said, expressing some history from the golden days. Flutters asked on what had happened and I paused her so I could go on. "So, I went in, expecting the job to be like all the others…and I was mistaken. The moment I set foot in that coop, all hell broke loose."

"What happened?" Flutters asked again, enjoying the humorous story. I groaned a bit as I remembered it like a movie.

"The door closed on my child self and I was trapped with a whole bunch of chickens and roosters. They attacked me and I cried for mama and papa, but they never came, I was there until I finally figured out I could open the door from the inside too. Oh, how I remembered hating the job! But my dad was persistent on me doing the task, and I kept going, I was attacked every time I went in. I always remained optimistic about it, hoping someday they'd show me some respect, but no, chickens are as brainless as rocks and violent as snakes. But…yeah…that's why I don't like chickens."

"Oh my," Flutters giggled. "Yet, you eat chickens?"

To be fair, she had a point.

"Well now, that's when it's cooked, there's no way it'll attack me that way." I explained before nodding. "But exactly…I'd like to think I can just kill one if it ever attacks me, but I'll always have that memory to come back and haunt me." I said a bit disappointed that I let myself get bullied by some chickens, then again, I couldn't hurt them since Dad wouldn't have liked that. Flutters giggled some more before laughing cutely making me blush a bit in embarrassment. _I guess no sympathy for the bullied._

"Ben…that's the cutest thing I've ever heard!" Flutters said topping off my situation. I looked at her and shook my head in instant disagreement.

"N-no! How!?" I asked. Flutters giggled some more before answering me again.

"I just think of a smaller you and that's cute enough for me! And then you started crying? I wish I could've been there, I would've hugged you all day long and told you that it's going to be alright."

I looked down at her, a bit shocked but once I got a good look at her in my arms, I chuckled a bit before laughing, finally understanding where Flutters was coming from.

"You know? I think the same way as you Flutters. You're cute and you were crying, so, I picked you up to hold you close to me and make you feel better." I smirked giving her a slight rock with my arms. Flutters was comfortable all the way up to that point. She shifted a bit and looking up at me. Now, clearly recognizing where she was.

"Umm…you're carrying me?" She stated the obvious, turning towards the ground I held her over. I thought off to a side before shrugged in response.

"Yeah, I like having you close to me." I explained before petting her head with my other hand and scratching her behind the ear making her twitch a bit in pleasure (as do many other animals). "And you're just so huggable and cute too! Out of every pony I know, you're the cutest one!"

She remained speechless for a moment before her already present blush deepened in hue as she moaned a bit from being scratched behind the ear. I laughed some more before lowering my voice to a whisper. "But don't tell anyone that, that's between us."

" _You know I'm still here, right_?"

I took a small pause from my excitement before smiling again.

" _Alright but come on! She's the definition of cute!_ "

Strike remained quiet for a moment before laughing.

" _We'll see! And I got the perfect thing planned! You know I can still take control of your body with ease. And I still need my payback!"_

My thinking slowed down and I couldn't react at all to that. My sweat made itself present in this cold night and my throat dried a bit.

" _Nervous?_ " She giggled malevolently. Damn right I was nervous. I knew from that tone, she had something planned to make me look bad in front of Flutters. I panicked a bit mentally as I thought of things to do to prevent what she was planning. Yet, Strike could hear everything in my head and she assured me there was no way to get forgiveness from her. As much as I nearly bought her words, through my mental panic it seemed that there was a moment of peace and my head became straight. I managed to squeeze out a few words and hope for the best.

" _Could you do that some other day, tonight is a good night._ " I explained, playing a clam act, and Strike went quiet before reacting unexpectedly, almost like she didn't approve of what I meant.

" _For who!?"_ She asked in a fury. My straight mind at the moment allowed me to follow through in an offer.

" _All of us. Tomorrow is a test of skill and new opportunities. If you let me have peace tonight, I'll let you do something interesting."_

She scoffed as if not impressed. " _What could you offer that could be so-_

 _I'll let you control my body for the whole of that day after the race as long as I get to do one thing in return."_ I intercepted her words. Once again Strike became silent and I as well had to give what I was about to ask a good second to think about it. Was what I was about to ask for, absurd? Yes, yes it was.

 _W-what!?_ " Strike asked back, interested in the offer. " _W-what do you want in return_!?"

" _Let me move around in your body._ "

Flutters, with a sudden movement, got my attention again. She was smiling and rubbing her head against my chest making me chuckle a bit. "Hey, what are you doing?" I asked her, ignoring Strike who'd become silent again.

"Getting comfortable." She said with already present comfort.

My hands traveled down to her fur and stroked gently, going back and forth on her warm surface. Flutters moved a bit and giggled making me feel warm inside.

"Your hands are warm…" She complemented.

"Your body is warm." I said back in a careless whisper. Flutters suddenly turned in my arms, flipping her body over to face me and I look down at her. _What a sudden move._

"That's not the only thing…" She revealed, her blush now in full view and her tail between her thighs, luscious eyes to follow through with it. I never understood how I've recently been in these positions, but hell, I wouldn't mind knowing the formula. Flutters can be nervous and shy, but hell, when she's alone with me, she's got some way of acting.

I cleared my throat before chuckling in some embarrassment. "Geez, let me at least tell you what was up with your hooves."

Flutters giggled some more before smiling beautifully under the moon.

"Let's get home then."

We reached home and the door slightly was ajar from when Flutters had rushed out hearing my yelling.

With Flutters still in my arms, I took a sigh of relief and gave the door a small tap with my foot and it opened smoothly. The light was on and there was a feeling floating around, almost like the feeling of being occupied. The feeling of home was great and calming, here I could consider myself king and I guess Flutters could be queen.

"Anybody home?" I asked with a positive smile as I came in, judging my feelings as just simple thoughts.

"It's still empty in here." Flutter reassured me with some laughter.

"But…I'm here…"

That voice was to our left and it was all too familiar. Flutters became puzzled as she shifted in my arms to look at whoever was to our left. I quickly turned, but by then the voice had already registered in my head.

"Dash!" I greeted once more with a smile but still with some surprise.

"Dashie!?" Flutters exclaimed, not expecting the company. "What are you doing here!?"

Dash was perfectly perched on a couch with room enough for two more, sitting obediently, almost like she's been grounded. She didn't respond to that from Flutters, but it wasn't for the lack of trying, she was truly trying to say something, but it seemed like the cat got her tongue. At some point it got a bit stressful seeing her struggle so much and I began lowering Flutters.

"Take your time Dash," I said sincerely, lowering Flutters to the floor. "There you go Flutters."

"Um…Dashie?" Flutters inquired turning over to her friend and taking a few trots in her direction.

"Uh…" Was all we heard out of her. I moved up and sat next to her on the couch and crossed a leg over the other, this is what most psychologists do to comfort their patients, so it should work to get her to speak clearly.

"You're not usually so quiet, what's the problem?" I asked.

She looked at me before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, bracing herself for anything. This got my attention and I was quick to prepare myself for anything, when Dash braces herself, I've got no choice but to become worried.

"Um…this race tomorrow…"

"Yes? What about it?"

She cleared her throat a bit and took some more breathers. She wasn't herself that's for sure and I was slowly becoming worried, no one sees Dash this nervous. Dash gulped as she looked at the leg I had crossed over, using it as an excuse not to look at me directly.

"You'd…you'd really do that…if you beat me?" She asked redirecting her look towards me, trying to find an honest answer. My head rose a bit as I recalled the bets. I was skeptical as to why they were made that way, but still, I knew that this was a matter of consent in the end. If this really was a bother to her, I wasn't desperate and I certainly don't mind her telling me.

"Well…if it's okay with you, if it's not then no, don't think I'm forcing you into anything, alright?" I assured her but she quickly put out a hoof to stop me and calm me down, throwing me off track.

"No, no. I…I don't mind, really." She said and I blinked aimlessly a few times towards a wall before coming back to her.

"Then…what?"

"So, you're planning on losing?" Flutters asked getting onto the same couch, this time on the other side of Dash. I quickly wanted to deny that, confident Dash wouldn't lose just for that, but looking at Dash once more, she was a bit ashamed after hearing that. _No way…_

"N-no…you wouldn't lose…" I said, in a bit of disbelief before looking at Dash again in the eyes. She had that silent guilt everyone gets when they know they're guilt-ridden. I stared at her for a moment before leaning back on the couch and loosening my body in shock, thinking about Dash really losing because of such a thing. It almost was enough to make me feel guilty as well, and that's a guilt I didn't want.

"Dash, I'm always here, this isn't the only opportunity-" I began but Dash cut in quickly.

"Can you be here now? Before this race?" Dash intercepted me, sounding as if trying to solidify a statement or demand something. I looked over and stared for a moment. "What?" I asked in the subtlety of the moment.

"I want to race…but knowing I'm not losing an opportunity as well." Dash answered and I become silent thereafter, Dash's voice was way too sincere for me to even think straight. So many things were racing through my mind and now this suddenly pokes its head in. My breathing suddenly became steeper and my mind narrower as I knew what was going on. Dash fiddled a bit with her hooves as she hung her head lower.

"I want to be your second…after Applejack."

I turned to look at Flutters while Dash looked shamefully at her hooves. Flutters blinked in some shock as well as she exchanged looks between me and her friend. It took some sorting out but once the confidence grew, I knew what I had to react with.

"Dash, you really want this?" I asked her like a good friend, trying not to be demanding nor guilty, but her head was too low for her to notice I wasn't shaming her.

She continued looking at her hooves and blushed as she silently agreed. I sat back a bit and laughed at her shame before running my hand over her head and giving her a small shake to awaken the Dash I knew. She revolted a bit at my hand and shook her rainbow mane back into place as she stared at me with some clear surprise.

"Then don't be ashamed, you're a good friend Dash, you matter a lot to me." I lightened her up. She stared for a few before Flutters neared her a bit from her side and she turned towards her.

"Yeah, and Ben wants a challenge like Luna said, you need to give him one!" Flutters supported from the other side. I quickly turned to look at her; she was also expecting something tonight now that I remember. I picked myself from the couch a bit to get a better look at Flutters and provide the attention I should be giving her too.

"Flutters…uh…"

"Don't worry, it's like you said, this isn't the only opportunity." Flutters gladly accepted with a smile and blush both fully present. She didn't even have to listen to me to know what I was going to ask: I don't like this treatment, I know people act this way when they don't get their ways. I watched as she hopped from the couch down and trotted away to her room in which she looked back. "Um…enjoy…I guess?" She said with a nervous giggle. I gave her a serious look as I called her by her name.

"Come on, Fluttershy…you're not too…you know…" I suddenly asked and she giggled with her blush going beyond what I've seen tonight.

"I'm fine…" She assured with a wave of her hoof, ready to disappear into her room as soon as I stopped talking. Trying to be quick at disappearing. I didn't like her moves, they were putting me to shame here and I owe her a lot for what I put her through tonight.

"Hey, Fluttershy…what if I help you a bit with that?" Dash suddenly offered, gaining a spike in her attitude. I looked over to her, her smile gleaming with a blush and confidence. There's the Dash I know. She was going to be my hope for now. "I need to get ready anyways." Dash added temptingly.

Flutters froze as she looked back. "What?"

I quickly found some ground and picked myself off the couch and aimed my fingers over to my room.

"Well, if that's how it's gonna be, I'll go shower!" I said turning to go and find clothes, but just as soon as I finished that sentence, Dash's blue hoof appeared on my shoulder and stopped me. A big question mark appeared in my head as I slowly turned my head to look at the hoof.

"How about after?"

"Huh?" I asked turning around to look at Dash, hovering at shoulder height to me. She was blushing a good one as she looked off to a side. "Uh…after?" I asked further. Dash smiled as she nodded, not directly looking in my direction.

"I don't want to taste body wash and shampoo in my mouth." She explained with her soft smile. I opened my mouth to say something but the lack of answer kept me speechless. I nodded in some mild shock and curiosity.

"Ah…okay." I said in my shock, nervously clutching my hands like a mastermind to deal with this funny request. "So…we help Flutters with her situation first?"

"Sure…but I'll be your second, alright?" Dash reminded.

"Fine, no problem." I agreed before suddenly getting Dash into a peppy attitude. She smiled joyously as she aimed her hoof at Flutters. My eyes ran to Flutters who was confused madly but knew what was coming.

"Then Fluttershy can be your third right after!"

Flutters to be the third I get to? I had to think about it for a second before it hit me: the world of exhaustion. "Hold it! That's easier said than done!" I said, standing my ground, I had a race to race as well tomorrow.

"But you've done it with me, Luna, and DJ! And you lasted a long time!" Dash responded, hopeful of me complying with the idea of Flutters going right after her.

"W-wait!? Tonight!? Me!?" Flutters asked but I ignored her as Dash was all up on me, trying to convince me of part taking. I looked to a side to think clearly without her influence.

"Well…fine! I guess I can do that. I'll be pretty damn tired though!" I complained, but through my complain Dash found a way to muster her own positive response.

"That's one up for me tomorrow!"

My head swerved around in a sudden outrage. "What!?"

Dash giggled some more before winking.

"Don't worry, it's too early in the night, you'll have enough time to replenish and even gain some stamina."

"Well, how about that Flutters?" I asked turing over to her next, remembering she complained earlier.

"I like it!" Flutters punched into the air, excited to my surprise.

I remained reactionless for a few seconds before Dash got ahead of me with a wide smile and confidence swelling.

"That's the spirit Fluttershy!"

 _Wasn't she just complaining?_

I had stored that stone Sting had given me in the cabinet to avoid it disturbing us with its light, along side the other stones with special abilities I had collected. For a moment, I actually speculated the stone belonging to the same type as the ones for Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, but the only light that manifested itself was blue so I pushed the idea aside for now. Still, I'll figure it out soon enough.

As Dash had asked, I didn't shower which had me a bit insecure but nonetheless, I was pumped. Pumped and nervous.

I going to do this act again, and I was anxious with it being Dash and Flutters now. Flutters was so shy but daring at times, and Dash is just completely daring but shy at times. It's almost like they're a mirror image of each other. Still, I appreciate the level of trust these two show, just like Applejack to have let me do that to her, now I'll provide here to. To make this easier for them, I laid down like last time I did this with them and let them get the hang of the heat.

I never put much thought into what I was doing until it got a bit to big to deal with, at least, when it came to this. What do you call a handjob given by two pegasi with their wings? I don't know either, maybe the technical term would be something like a Dual-Wingjob. I was a bit fascinated at first by their use of their wings, it was unethical to the simple mind, but soon you get those sudden waves of pleasure and you just lose any sense of complains.

"Why didn't you say you could use your wings like this?" I asked, honestly curious yet trying to keep my speech present to avoid awkward silence. Dash giggled with Flutters.

"My bad." She responded, simple and relaxed as she tightly but gently wrapped her wing around my meat. I don't know how this worked since I've never seen wings do such things, but I can't really argue nor ask for anything less.

"Yeah, we should've actually have done this the first time." Flutters added with a kind smile which was fitting. Flutters as well had her wing working the same way as Dash was working hers, Flutters wing holding onto the lower half of my pole and Dash the other.

I raised my eyebrows as I agreed. Flutters shifted a bit and perched herself on one of my thighs and met face to face with my tall and proud erection. Her eyes closed for a moment as she took a whiff and let it out as a soft breath.

"The smell is a lot stronger than last time…" Flutters commented and I knew why, just like Dash who blushed a bit more. I could feel the feverish heat from the contact both their bodies made with mine, and it got me a bit riled up.

"I like this smell." Dash said with a smile flashing for a second before her eyes closed and she rolled her tongue across the surface of my shaft and enclosed the tip in her mouth, messing around with it with her tongue before letting go for a breath of air. She giggled, licking her lips of the taste.

"And the taste…" She huffed, getting heated and doing her foreplay again with different movements taking a majority of it into her mouth. I guess Dash did know what she was doing when she asked me not to shower, she seems to be quite attracted to it. She was slick too, already knowing how to give a good blowjob and taking the risk of going deep throat.

"You really did grow to like it…" Flutters giggled as Dash recoiled and pushed herself to get my now even more impatient cock out of her throat. Dash coughed a bit before smiling, a bit watery on the edges of her eyes from having to have taken that monster down. I knew Dash was passionate about this if she's willing to go deep throat to the point it hurt, and I appreciated that from her. Flutters herself had her own go once Dash got off and she began at the tip and fiddled with it using her tongue, which was amazingly spine tingling before she took in what Dash had already done.

I was no stranger to judging things, and both have amazing techniques when it comes to a blowjob, but Flutters somehow has a way of always taking first place when it came to this. Flutters would take in what she could and make the most of it, she even had the courage of trying to swallow while having my penis shoved all in. Flutters was a risk taker on that note, and Dash and I both equally couldn't understand how Flutters was so…into it.

"Flutters…how do you…" Dash asked before widening her eyes as Flutters began bobbing her head up and down. With each bob she made, she always came down with a different angle. Dash stared in ambitious desire as she could only stare and watch her friend take what she needs. Slowly, Dash's hoof found it's way between her thighs and slowly she messed around with her slit and clitoris.

Eventually, Flutters suddenly began slowly down and exactly when I felt a small throb, Flutters came to a complete stop and let my slobbered meat stick escape her prison. She pulled away with a drool coming off the side of her mouth before she licked it away and smiled.

"Dashie was right, you do taste better without a wash."

I didn't know about that, but I guess there is a feeling of kinkiness about it.

"I guess so…" I answered back before Flutters smiled and hopped off.

"Alright Dashie, you can do what you need to."

Dash let out shaky whisper as she looked towards me and took a small whisper of a breath.

I felt what was the first sign of the beginning of what's about to go down and Dash did too as her wings became slightly stiffer than usual. She moved up to my pole and pecked the tip one kiss before standing up over the, about-to-get-swallowed-whole, shaft. I was getting a bit dazed for a moment there with Dash just adjusting herself over it, but now I was at full attention again as I realized Dash was ready. I stared at what would soon be a connected bridge between us and wondered if this would in some way be determining in the future.

"So…I kinda saw how it went with Applejack the other time…in Canterlot."

I blinked from the stare I was giving our love machines and focused up on her. "You did?" I asked, remembering her admitting to it some days ago in Canterlot, apparently it was through some "Security Cam Sphere" in which they spied. Dash chuckled nervously this time with her blush radiating heat now.

"Yeah…uh…can it be something like that?" She asked, trying to avoid looking nervous making her a bit awkward, but hey, how is sex not awkward in general? I chuckled a bit before grinning for a change, already ready to get on with it, just waiting for approval.

"Dash, don't you think you're a little too quick?" Flutters asked laying down right next to me, both of our heads side by side as we both looked at Dash. Dash looked at her before looking down her legs at the gap, that would soon close. Her legs quivered a bit from the sight and realization. She took a deep breath full of warmth and dazed desires.

"You know me Fluttershy, I'm quick." Dash responded in a huff of heated emotions. She seemed to grow weaker the closer we approached the beginning of this whole night. I dodged my head to one side as I lifted an eyebrow. "Is it still that time of the month?" I asked retaining my smirk. Flutters giggled as she closed her eyes cheerfully and nodded.

"Well…Dash is basically drooling down there…and her _mare part_ keeps opening and closing…so…" Flutters observed and noted making Dash quiver a bit as her head sunk low with embarrassment. I gave Dash one good look before my hand majestically rose to catch by surprise.

"Well, that's cute Dash but…you're not the only one turned on right now!" My hand suddenly gripped her gently from her bottom with a slap and she reacted a bit like Flutters: She squeaked a bit before giggling as she grinned nervously.

"F-fine…" She allowed as she let my hands free to do what they need. I let a finger travel down and part her slit. Warm liquid was dripping from the finger. "No kidding…" I smiled before nodding. Dash quivered some more as it seemed she was now getting to that unbearable stage, in which she won't be able to take the heat.

"It'll hurt a bit, so I'll be gentle…" I assured her and she took a shaky breath.

"It's alright…I can handle it."

I took a deep breath before finding level with Dash's cave entrance. I reached a hand down and grabbed by erection and aimed it the right way, planting the tip on the smooth, plump surface that was Dash's purity. She shivered before swallowing her nervousness heavily.

"The tip is burning…" She commented. I laughed a bit as it slid in with ease, at least the head got in before Dash let out a squeal and squeezed down on it, impeded the progress. It felt like it did with AJ, except this time I'm gonna have to force it. "O-okay…that's a pretty tight fit…" Dash huffed out some steam from her mouth before drooling a bit as she closed her eyes and used her hooves to support herself on my body.

"D-damn…no kidding…" I huffed a bit as well as my heart began pumping quicker. She wasn't really squeezing me to death, she was moderately tight but that's what her moldable insides are for. I wouldn't do to Dash what I did to AJ, in which I actually lost it for a moment and forced her completely in, I manage to control that urge this time. I regained control and looked up at Dash.

"Let's see how far you can go without letting out another cry." I challenged her and she seemed to accept the challenge as she kept her eyes closed tightly. I forced Dash a few inches deeper but Dash was no match and failed my challenge right away. I paused at her letting out a cry and chuckled some more.

"Relax…I'll go slow." I assured her as I continued and this time I could feel as I was going into her _deep zone_. Her insides were twitching and begging for more while her insides molded and shaped themselves around my stone-hard erection. As I recall with AJ, there was steam everywhere from the jacuzzi which kinda made my head fuzzy from the humidity, but here, I was clear and I was letting it all go in flow. At long last I finally made it all the way in and looked at Dash to see her reaction. She looked exhausted almost like that took the wind out of her, her breathing was choppy and with small whimpers, a stream of drool off one side of her mouth.

"Shh…you made it." I whispered to her. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a small sigh.

"I know…" She said with a smile before opening her eyes and giggling softly. "You're were right…it does hurt a bit."

"Do you want it slow?" I asked with the best smirk I could make. She laughed a bit.

"Just…don't go slow tomorrow…" She let out in heavy breaths which made me laugh a bit. I pulled out of her slowly and she suddenly moaned a bit as she let her tongue hang loose for a moment before she finally came to senses and rolled it back in with a great blush.

"Already too much?" I asked with a smirk making her nod honestly.

"Y-your thing is so…so warm and huge…"

"I hope you like it." I smiled with a wink before getting back to Dash's perfect bottom. "Alright then."

I lifted her almost to the point I was going to slip out and dropped her bottom down. Dash held her breath for a moment before letting it go as I brought her up again and dropped her. Dash gulped as she closed her eyes and did her best to hold in her voice as I pulled out of her and thrusted back in.

It was all smooth and slick all the way back and forth, and it was different somehow. It didn't feel like AJ at all, there was something in my chest that was purposefully clouding me now. I'm pounding Dash, I guess that was it, it wasn't AJ, which meant I had to treat her differently and suit what her needs demand. And as for Dash, I liked speeding things up like she does.

"How about I pick up he pace?" I asked as I gave her a deeper and quicker thrust than the rest before then to convince her. She finally opened her mouth but the moan escaped quicker than her words.

"Ah…y-yes…go faster…"

My head raised and I watched her as I realized she was already lost in the heat of our bodies. Her lust showing all over her look. I flashed a smile as I finally heard the first moan out of her. "You always were a speedster…" I chuckled.

"Dash…is that blood?" Flutters asked from my side. I followed along and quickened the pace as Dash ordered, pulling her out further but returning deeper than before, pushing her insides around. She tensed up a bit and tightened, letting out a louder moan than before. She covered her mouth with her wing and nodded to what Flutters had asked.

"Y-yeah…t-that's…ah…n-normal! Flutter-ah-shy!" Dash answered past her moans. Flutters blinked a few times in some shock before looking over to me, wondering what her first time is going to be like now knowing this.

As far I could reach is as far as I went for the moment, but the urge was there to go further, yet that's my last resort. Dash had a breaking point and it was soon approaching as she began squeezing tighter down on me. I gritted my teeth a bit as I was forced to speed up a bit more to deal with the pressure and sloppy pleasure. Dash let out a quick yelp and she finally let loose a spree of moans she'd been holding back for a while. It shocked both me and Flutters for a moment to hear Dash so loud with pleasure before I felt her gripping me completely in her hole and forcing me to respond with an increase in pace to avoid becoming stopped by her tightening walls.

"D-damn it! Dash! You're tighter than I anticipated!"

"So…Derpy…" K said with a hic from his drowned voice before laughing a bit as he lowered the bottle down onto the table that separated them. "…You look…beautiful."

Derpy stared with a small blush as K was as well blushing, but the blush came from being a bit under the drink he was taking and not who was on the other side of the table.

"T-thank you…" Derpy smiled nervously making K chuckle a bit to himself.

"I'm so nice." K giggled with a wide smile, a bit _out of there_.

"I know." Derpy said taking a bite from the half-finished pudding-filled treat K bought her while he tried some of the ale he noticed Ben taking. She wasn't at all distracted by K's drunken-self, but she was rather embarrassed to be hearing these things come from him now, alone in the dark, under a light that exposed the two of them. K, even in his drunk state, had a decent comprehension level. Enough to tell Derpy had something up.

"Hmm…there's something up with you." K sang to her with a revealing smile. Derpy rose a bit to the occasion and blushed some more a she shrunk in her seat.

"You've never said…" Derpy paused for a moment before looking away. "You've never said I looked beautiful…"

K lost some of that drunken humor and straightened his back on his seat and placed an arm on the table, clearing his throat.

"Oh…I thought I have?"

Derpy looked back at him.

"Not really."

K stared for moment before placing a hand on the side of his head and giving himself a small slap as punishment.

"Shame on me then, that's what you are, a beautiful pegasus which I love."

"Love…?" Derpy asked next growing a bit anxious, which K easily noticed and he reacted with some aggression.

"Damn it, have I not told you that either!?" K asked, and this time Derpy remained silent. K looked over at her, embarrassingly looking down at her hooves. K stared until he got it in his head what was going on and he looked around before finding the pitcher of water and downing about half of it to Derpy's surprise. K landed the pitcher down, not feeling much sobered, but enough to straighten his thoughts.

"Derpy…I'm sorry." K unexpectedly apologized trying to catch his breath from his careless chugging of water. He was looking down at his hand on the table holding onto the ale. He stared at it for moment before grabbing the cork and tapping it back up. "I'm sorry I never told you those things."

Derpy watched as K pushed the bottle away and straightened his posture, slightly wobbly but glad he was putting aside his drink to understand and listen.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I know we don't really speak much. We're probably a bit too busy to even have conversations like this. But I know that you need some attention, I'm not forgetting about you when I don't speak to you, you'll always be on my mind. Sure, it doesn't seem like it, but you are. Hell, after what happened to you back a few nights ago, you've become engraved in my head."

K shook his head slightly, disappointed a bit in himself before smirking. "But why apologize, when I could just say that I love you…and that I really do?"

Derpy looked up from her hooves, watching K study the bottle of ale before closing his eyes.

"I love you…"

K's eyes opened slightly at the words. "Huh?" He asked, but instead of a verbal answer, he was nearly knocked off his seat as Derpy clinged onto him in an embrace to leave him speechless.

"I love you, K." Derpy repeated making K blink without reaction. "Derpy…" K whispered back before slowly, it made sense as his arms found their way around her and embraced her with the same level of passion. He closed his eyes, hoping to just isolate himself with her this night, for that moment. Soon enough, K felt the approach coming and he didn't need to open his eyes to lay down the connection between their lips, it was coming and K was ready.

It was a long one with her and what was half a minute felt like hours before they finally parted ways.

"Y-you taste funny…" Derpy detached from him. K only chuckled slightly as he leaned back. "Yeah, a bit."

Derpy smiled, glad to have come off the way she wanted before blushing seeing her position on him.

"I've never kissed a male before…" She mentioned looking down to K's chest. K smirked as he lifted her head up with his hand under her chin. "I'm glad."

Derpy stared for a few seconds before blushing a deeper one and giggling. "Me too!"

K looked off to a side before widening his eyes with an idea to seal the night.

"So…want another pudding-filled pastry? Muffin? Pizza?" K offered making Derpy smile with a simple nod.

"A muffin, thanks."

I big question mark appeared in my head again and this time, it was accompanied by an exclamation point. Dash had suddenly collapsed, letting out a shriek before so. I was worried, wondering what could have happened if I haven't even gotten to my climax. I blinked a few times before tapping Dash's head.

"Dash? Are you okay?"

She huffed out some heavy air and nodded as she stood up using her hooves against my chest to push herself back up. With a look at her face, anyone could tell she was exhausted and puckered out.

"I…I think I…maybe finished too early…"

 _Too early?_ I gave myself a moment before finally getting it but not without shock. I was speechless, I didn't have a single thing to say besides my obvious amazement. Even if I did realize that she came early, I had a hard time believing it, Dash of all ponies. Slowly, my shock turned to an ever-growing smile as I found it all to cute for a pony like Dash. So fierce and so sensitive.

"You're a quick one…but then again, you are the quickest of them all." I teased with a grin. She looked at me before covering her face with her wings and hiding her embarrassment.

"It was too much, I couldn't help it." Dash explained past some self-depriving comments making me chuckle a bit. Damn, I'm sure Flutters might be able to last about three times as long. But still, even if she did let off early, I liked it. It was cute of her to be so…sensitive. It just added to her uniqueness and a uniqueness I liked.

"You'll be my fast little cummer, wont ya?" I teased with a grin before actually thinking on what to do next, I still had some way to go before I could let off. Dash looked at me with a deep blush before just dropping down loosely against my body, given up, her wings still covering her face. "I'm sorry…" She apologized.

I looked down at her rainbow mane and sighed playfully as an idea popped into my head.

"No need to apologize, it's cute actually, but Dash…?"

She lowered her wings enough for me to see the disappointed eyes she had. "What?"

"If I could go more than once, why can't you?" I asked with some sly attitude making her lower her wings from her face to find my own hands massaging her bottom as they found a plump grip. Dash quickly jerked her head a bit and looked down her laid body to find my hands locked before aiming her eyes down at me.

"W-wait! I-it's sensit-aaahhhh!" She pleaded before I began pumping her again and her moans started again. I just got back to it, falling back into thrusting what I had inside of her. Dash was cute when she was loud and swollen with lust, it was odd, seeing her go from a tomboy to a lusty partner, it added some level of erotic tense. And I still can't get over how she came so fast, it was all I needed to make my night complete.

My heat mixed with hers was an art in progress which was being completed to full force, even past the exhaustion. The pleasure and impatience to finish and gettting the main prize was the driving factor.

Soon, Dash actually became dazed again and this time, she was making her own motions, moving her hips back and forth with a steady pace: her eyes aimed to the ceiling as she was losing it: her mind in a place full of desire. I let my hands go back down, allowing myself to be pleasured by her means and recover my sore arms.

"Soo…big…" Dash whispered as she moaned softly taking her own pace now that my hands were out of the question. I smiled a bit as I found it stress relieving so just get rode on, before a shadow bestowed upon me and I was distracted by Flutters. I stared for a moment before feeling a bit awkward.

"Flutters…uh…" I began, but not before her lips grazed past mine.

"Shh…it's alright…but how about a kiss?" She asked before catching my upper lip between hers. _I guess I didn't have a choice to begin with_. Flutters was a good kisser at heart, and guess what? So was I! But that wasn't the main point of her kiss, the point was how much closer she just pushed me to the limit. I felt my rod throb hard as I finally began feeling what was the deepest region of Dash's insides: Dash had taken me all the way while Flutters distracted me with her tongue. Flutters slipped out of my mouth and giggled as she cocked her head to a side.

"Close?" She asked, reading my face like a book.

"Very…" I grunted a bit as Dash used her hooves to pick herself off my chest and began thrusting violently. I let out my shaky breath as I nodded quickly this time. "Yup! Very-very-very close!"

"B-Ben…I can't go much longer, you're too deep inside!"

"If you're that close, then just keep going, I'm not far off."

Dash loudly moaned before she gritted her teeth, and even if she forced herself more. She was going to her max, but I needed a max to attend to too. With her on me, it was easy to just pick myself up and put her under me and have masculinity over her, thrusting as much piston as I could. I could feel Dash closing tighter and tighter on my swollen iron, her slick and warm walls wrapping like perfect mold we were creating for it.

"B-Ben! T-this is amazing! Go as far as you can and give me everything you got!" Dash finally let out letting her body flexibly fold to my liking as I assumed full control of the scene. Dash was incredibly flexible if I managed to almost completely fold her to the point her hind hooves would be next to her face.

"Dash! I'm so close!" I warned but my voice only caused her to tighten even more and she wrapped her wings around my body to push me even further. I couldn't bear it, in this position we were both holding each other hostage until the first came. "J-Just let me have it! I can take it!" Dash assured as she gripped her wings together by the tips on my back helping me go further beyond what I thought I could push to.

"F-fine!" I grunted before I felt my teeth clamp down and I thrusted at the fastest pace this position allowed me to go. Dash wasn't the one who did her best to hold back her moans, she fully embraced the fact she was in heat and let everything free, emotion and sexual desire.

There was no need for pullout which was the best part as my hips jerked a bit before finally pushing as far as I could go and letting her fill up with everything I had. Dash's body arched with a loud moan from her as she also tried to get as much of me inside of her but I was already stretching her insides as much as possible. Dash closed her eyes as I planted my mouth onto hers and let her moans enter me instead of the room. She was tight and I meant it, she was perfectly sealing my whole dick with her walls and not allowing anything to slip out. It inflated her a bit. I gave her a few more thrusts, letting out spurt after spurt which felt amazing giving it all to Dash. I gave one last thrust and one final load before I knew I wasn't letting anything else out, but I let my tongue mess around in her mouth a bit more as it seemed Dash was well into mouth to mouth play.

Finally, we parted mouths once Dash had lowered her moans to simple heavy breaths of air. Being inches away from her face I could see how blissful she was, her half-shut eyes and her smooth smile showed me her pleasure which was worth to me more than anything I had just done with her. I gave her kiss on the forehead as I chuckled a bit.

"How…how was it for your first time?" I asked through exhaustion.

She closed her eyes before gleaming a bright smile, letting out those tears of bliss that AJ had as well. Something about seeing Dash crying with nothing but joy hurt, and it hurt a lot. I felt my heart lighten up and become mushy as I chuckled and tried to not get emotional myself.

"I hope it won't be our last…you're amazing…"

I laughed softly as I nodded. "It won't."

Dash smiled back before looking beneath us and giggling at the sight of my shaft still inside of her. She wiggled a bit before stopping and biting her lower lip.

"Could you pull out slowly? It's…it's very sensitive…" She said with a few beads of sweat going down. I smiled as I nodded and slowly began pulling back like she said. She cringed a bit with a grin as she semi-closed an eye and bit her lower lip. As I pulled out, I could feel her insides twitching from the feeling. My penis still throbbed as well but I knew my limit. I finally reached the end and plopped out which let out the flood of cum I had left inside of her and she giggled as she finally extended her wings and gently placed both her hooves over her belly and gave it a small massage as she laid down on the mattress.

"You know…I wouldn't mind a kid from you."

I looked down at her and stared at her for a few silent seconds before I smiled a small but sincere smile.

"Thanks…" I thanked, the thought of having a kid from her and her being a wife to me clouding my head and making me daydream. Honestly, the idea made me want to smile and feel like blushing, which did happen as I the emotions kicked in.

"Would it sound weird…if I told you that I love you?" Dash asked next and my smile grew as I reached an arm down and messed her mane up again. She closed her eyes before accepting her newly messed up mane.

"Nope," I chuckled, retracting my hand. I let her giggle out her joy before simmering down in the moment and closing my eyes. "Because I love you too." I returned with the clearest voice I had.

Her smile didn't leave, it just grew deeper with emotion. "Then I love you." She said, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes to rest a bit.

"Oh my, you've been completely drained…" Flutters giggled from my side. It took a moment to register Flutters was still here but once it did, I bit my lower lip now and nodded. "Yeah…but I might still-

"No, I'll wait, can't have fun if you're completely empty." Flutters explained and my hand reached for the back of my head by instinct. I scratched awkwardly as I flashed a look at my puckered soldier and he was just completely out of motivation.

"Damn…you sure?" I asked again, making sure she wasn't just being humble. I was tired out, more than I've ever been actually during intercourse, but I'd still go the mile for her. Flutters smiled and nodded obediently.

"Yes! I really want to do it…but alone with you." She explained and I had to take that; that was too sincere from her, her voice and eyes were enough proof for me. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Alright Flutters." I agreed before hearing Dash yawn from under me.

"Flutters, I'm confused…"

"Huh? About what?" Flutters asked turning to her.

Dash had no strength to get up so she remained laid down and turned to head to look at Flutters down my side.

"Aren't you…you know? Shy…why do you act so calm when we do this?"

Flutters looked at her for a moment before turning to her side of the bed and thinking. I looked down at her because I as well had the same question, it just never occurred to me to ask about it. Flutters slowly looked back at Dash with an answer, which I leaned in to hear.

"Why should I be shy…when we know we've done this before, the three of us, that day Ben came back from Canterlot." Flutters answered and I actually found her point of view acceptable. Dash used what strength she had in her wings to sit up on the bed and face Flutters as she kept on explaining.

"I mean…of course it's embarrassing when we do things like this…but if this stays with us…then why do we need to be nervous about it? What makes me nervous is our friends finding out about our things that are embarrassing, but when that friend knows and also likes that embarrassing thing…then why do I need to be shy?"

"What if mom finds out?" Dash asked with tempting smile which made Flutters freeze in place before shivering as she leaned in with me.

"…alright, now I'm nervous." She said before shaking those thoughts away. "And if yours find out?" Flutters asked back, just curious.

Dash hadn't thought of that one, and now she actually thought instead of asking. "Uh-huh…you know? You're right Flutters, one slip of this to mom and the whole of the world would know!" Dash said with a smile, not feeling the danger right now. She quickly used a wing and used it to shush us down.

"So, let's not say thing…ya got it?" She asked in a whisper and I chuckled as I nodded with Flutters, before the thought of something hit me.

"Say…when will I get to meet your parents? I know it's a strange question but do you all just live distant from your parents or what's the occasion?" I asked and they both quickly turned to me, both blushing a bit more than usual.

"Listen…my parents are…very proud…" Dash explained and the first thing to come to mind was a soccer mom. _Oh_ boy. I looked at her before asking. She quickly answered almost as if she's had to explain it before multiple times. I smirked as she went on to describe her parents, just hearing her talk about it was fascinating.

"Wow…" I expressed with a smirk and Dash nodded. "Yup, that's them."

"And you Flutters?" I asked turning to her. She smiled as she looked at me, ready with her answer for a while now.

"They're nice, and calm, and gentle…shy too."

"Wow, that simple?" I asked. Flutters nodded.

"You'll love them."

"Yeah, you'll like mine too, once you get talking about something else that isn't me." Dash added slyly.

I laughed at that.

"Dang, I can't wait to meet them, but all I can say now is…"

They listened in with stiff ears.

"I need to shower!" I revealed with a smirk aiming a finger at the clothes I had pre-readied before this whole thing went down. Dash looked towards the clothes before perking up.

"Hey! I go first!" Dash said but I was obviously ready with the clothes I needed and raised my fingers to my head. "Save it for the race tomorrow, my quick cummer!"

"W-wha-! I'LL LAST LONGER NEXT TIME!" She yelled before I winked and disappeared.

Dash stared at the emptiness that was the room before settling down and dismissing Ben with a giggle. "Fine…for the race tomorrow."

"I don't know Rainbow…I thought it was in your blood to be the quickest?" Flutters teased on Dash's previous comment. Dash's head rose and turn to her, the look of evil with a grin plastered all over it.

"Fine, I guess I'll have to show you how why I'm the quickest. At. Absolutely. Everything!" Dash chuckled back bringing her hoof up to her mouth and giving it a slick lick. Flutters blinked before nervously chuckling as she slowly backed away.

"D-Dash…I was just playing around…"

"Can't be fun if I don't play either,"

"Dashie…wait…I'm not in the mood! WAIT!"

I looked to the sound of the racket and blinked a few before turning the nozzle on the wall and chuckling as I stepped in. "What the fuck is that?"

K decided to give Derpy a ride on his shoulders as he moved about the night with his friend, just looking at how different the silence of the night makes things look and feel. Derpy was slowly falling asleep and rightfully so, it was soon going to be midnight.

"You sleepy?" K asked and Derpy nodded.

"Alright, you gotta a place to sleep?"

Derpy yawned as she nodded once more. "I do."

K laughed a bit before grabbing her from his shoulders and placing her down.

"Come on then, let's get you home."

K followed Derpy around for nearly half an hour, flying around and moving on the ground, each time they switched from mode of moving, K's eyebrow raised a bit higher. K continued following, hoping at some point Derpy would find her home but alas his suspicion got to big to ignore for another half an hour.

"Derpy, where are you taking us?" K asked and Derpy turned to him.

"H-home…."

"We've been moving for about half an hour, and I don't feel very at home." K said crossing his arms and letting her have his growing suspicion. Derpy got quickly shaken up by his remark and her head sunk low.

"I-it's somewhere…"

"Somewhere? Are you lost?" K continued asking and Derpy became even more nervous.

"M-maybe…"

K became silent for a moment before sighing. "Well, I don't have a home, but Flutters should let me stay, I'll ask for you."

"Do you think she'd let me stay?"

"Flutters is kind, she wouldn't say no without an internal struggle."

Derpy gulped as she nodded.

"Fine."

K stared momentarily before turning his body and waving a hand his way.

"Come on then, it's pretty chilly tonight."

Derpy quickly trotted up to K's side and looked up at him, catching a glimpse of his calm smile, which made her smile nervously, seeing there's still hope K was in a good mood after that small moment.

"Do you like to smile?" Derpy asked, hoping to not agitate him or provoke any negative response.

K became suddenly confused and looked down his side.

"What?"

"Do you like to smile?" Derpy asked again, hoping she wasn't getting that negative response. K turned to face ahead before shrugging.

"When I'm happy I guess."

"So, you're happy?" Derpy asked next and K regained his smile as he nodded.

"Yeah, I am!"

"I guess I'm happy too!" Derpy joined in and K laughed as he agreed.

"Nice! Some positivity for tonight!"

Soon enough, K had walked about a few with Derpy and Derpy complained as to why they didn't just fly over. K laughed a bit at her complain and shook his head, explaining that walking was relaxing. Derpy didn't understand very well and K chuckled as he aimed a finger towards the ground.

"We're almost there anyways." K assured Derpy as he found the paved road underneath him. Derpy smiled and nodded. "Yup! This should lead to her house! I should know!"

K agreed before a sudden but weak wind gust which hadn't appeared all night picked up. Derpy took in the nice breeze but K wasn't too easily let off by it, he turned slowly to face the direction of the wind.

"Hmm. Isn't it weird that on a day with no wind, a wind suddenly appears?" K asked. Derpy cocked her head curiously.

"No…what's the matter, is it weird to you?" Derpy asked and K looked down at her.

"Not really, it's just odd."

Both K and Derpy proceeded back to the path to Flutters but K kept glancing back when Derpy wasn't paying attention, just to make sure. Something wasn't right, it never was when K sensed something that would stop his joy. Once feet away from Flutters home, Derpy rushed to the door which was open and bulldozed in. K widened his eyes as he rushed in as well to see how the hell Derpy had just broken in, but he quickly realized the door was ajar to begin with.

"Derpy, you're gonna end up hurting yourself if you charge at doors like that!" K warned and Derpy shook away her dizzy spell, her eyes doing a few cycles.

"Sorry." She giggled, blushing as she picked herself up.

K sighed before hearing A few steps and three heads pop out of a room.

"What the hell was that!?" I asked followed by Dash and Flutters both giving their own input.

K laughed a bit as he shrugged.

"I thought barging into houses recklessly was tradition."

Derpy blushed at that and shamefully looked down. I blinked a few times before accepting it, being K he might try knocking a door down if we wasn't influenced.

"Huh…not really." Flutters said before looking at Derpy and greeting her with a smile.

"Hi!" Derpy greeted happily with a change of looks. K looked over at her before clamping his teeth down nervously and smiling.

"Yeah, uh…mind if she stays? Fluttershy?" K asked. Flutters kicked back a bit and thought about it. She looked over at Derpy and noticed her smile before sighing and smiling, nodding her head.

"Sure, use my room." She allowed and Derpy rose with an ecstatic cheer. "Thanks!"

"Hey, K, where's Chrysalis? She's almost always following you." Dash asked beating me to it. K widened his eyes a bit, probably realizing the same thing that Chrysalis wasn't around before seemingly reminding himself of something and taking a breath of relief.

K awkwardly chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, Celestia wanted to speak to her about something now that I remember."

Derpy quickly picked her head up and nodded rapidly.

"Oh yeah! About Ben's dreams!"

I turned to look at her as she mentions the most interesting I've heard from her. K as well turned and dodged an eyebrow as he quickly asked on her intel.

"Huh!? And how do you know!?" He asked and she giggled as she showed him her satchel where she delivers the mail, empty.

"I deliver mail, I over hear a lot of things!"

"My dreams?" I asked before clearing my throat. "About what specifically?"

Derpy thought before remembering, lifting a hoof.

"Something about memories."

"Memories?" I asked again and that was the end of it as I put the links together. Luna did that dream/memory illusion to me, but it was hyper-realistic and really proved to be useful for deciphering memories. Maybe Luna is going to try it again soon, but she'd warn me before that, right? I gave Derpy a small nod in appreciation. "Thanks, Derpy, always bringing the mail and latest gossip."

"No problem!" She giggled, glad to have been useful.

Over at Twilight's, while she slept.

"Luna…you told me you wouldn't do it again!" Celestia protested to Luna's decision. Luna quickly agreed with her but still had her own ambitions.

"Yes! I know! And I know the risks, Nightmare Moon that is, but I want to see what Ben did in his past and understand him!" Luna explained, standing on her high ground. "I know to expect many scarring things, but how can we go on saying we understand him if we haven't even lived in his world!?"

Celestia sighed as she agreed with her on that point, but still, her worries always got ahead of her.

"Luna, I know what you mean, but do you really think that Ben's dreams are at all light?" Celestia asked, looking out for her sister, which had quickly scowled her as she raised an eyebrow.

"I carried him as a mere infant in the last dream! I also met his mother, in the wrong way, but I met her!" Luna argued back and Celestia rose her head higher to avoid Luna getting the better of her in this conversation. "Ben has good dreams, I know he does, but even the haunting memories of his past allow us to learn more of what he was really like and we can then relate and sympathies better for him!" Luna kept persisting.

"Just give up Celestia, she's bent on it." Chrysalis helped out sluggishly. Luna turned to her and bowed her head slightly.

"I am, but I have a good reason to be! Who knows? We might just find out if he had any friends, or that lot."

Celestia looked towards the ground for a moment to recollect her thoughts before taking a firm step forward.

"Then why did you summon us here? I doubt you brought us two for permission to go harass Ben's dreams." Celestia observed. Luna shrugged off her insult and skipped over to the reasoning behind her bring along Chrysalis and Celestia.

"I can't be the only one to experience Ben's dreams and past for myself, it would drive me mad to explain what I see!"

Chrysalis and Celestia stared without reaction before Chrysalis made the first move.

"But why do I care?" She asked, and Luna jumped her attention onto her.

"You've been close to us for the past few days and I'd like it if you join. Of course, you don't have too, but a trip into Ben's mind would reveal a lot interesting things, considering he's been through Tartarus in and out." Luna explained making Chrysalis grew interested but not fully. Luna sighed.

"I'll bring K along too if it makes you come along."

Chrysalis nodded accepting the invitation. "Fine, I'd like to see what horrific things Ben's done in the past."

"Right." Luna expressed with a smirk before Celestia's shadow come over her.

"If K was that easy to bring along…then who else do you plan on bringing?"

"I was getting to that." Luna assured before using her magic to project an image of every friend Ben has met and stayed in connection with. Celestia looked at all the projection before frowning.

"I plan to show others, but only those who know of Ben's horrific deeds, I'll exclude the innocent minded ones."

"Like?" Celestia asked. And Luna blurred away the projections leaving only behind _the main six_ , Vinyl, Shining, Cadence, Trixie, Starlight, and K: all of them fast asleep.

Celestia stared at her sleeping residents before closing her eyes and sighing. Luna looked over and smiled at seeing her sister giving up slowly.

"For Ben, right?" She asked and Luna gave a firm nod. Celestia opened her eyes and turned to look at Luna.

"When will his happen?"

"Ben is asleep right now, if that's okay with you?"

Celestia picked her head up and gave her, her attention. "Tonight then? If you planned this out, I hope you've done it well."

"I have. Now, the sooner, the better. But, we only have one bed, which luckily for us is being enough for us all!"

"I am not laying down in bed with either of you." Chrysalis protested with an obvious displeasure. Celestia and Luna both turned and Luna was quick to shrug.

"Fine then, stay behind." Luna returned shrugging her down and ignoring her.

Chrysalis wasn't expecting that one and she awkwardly found herself in bed with the two of them. Luna smirked smugly as she looked over to her and giggled. "I guess you don't want to be alone."

"Just pass me out already." Chrysalis demanded and like that she was out, just like Celestia and soon Luna did the same to herself.

My vision became blinded by a light which quickly began dying down, but something was odd. Why would there be a bright light? As soon as the light died down a I quickly felt my hands grow heavy as I held something in them, what ever it was I had a good grip on it and I was very firm on my hold. I wasn't with Dash and Flutters anymore.

I blinked away the light that was slowly fading and soon it did fade, and just as the light faded, so did the little sense of life in me. I stared and stared dead locked on the weapon in my hand, a pistol, but I couldn't tell what type, the design was all blurry and all serial numbers were gone. I messed with it a bit, cocking it once to reveal a brass bullet flying out the cylinder. I quickly caught it and studied it, it felt all too real; the weight, the smooth texture and the dangerous power it held: a .45 Caliber bullet. I clipped out the magazine and placed the bullet where it belonged and re-cocked the weapon.

I remained still for a moment before picking my head up and looking around. I was in a dense and humid forest with thick palms and various tropical trees letting in only a few rays of sun that lit up the thick greenery that made this forest. I squinted my eyes as I looked up and noticed the sun at about noon. I knew well that it shouldn't be noon if I barely laid down to sleep, and it was also clear that this forest wasn't at all in Equestria because I knew where I was like a bad memory.

I took a minute or two to piece the pieces together and finally draw the conclusion. Judging by the time gap, the recognizable forest, the pistol, and the fact that I fell asleep before any of this, all lead to one answer. I was dreaming again, those dreams Luna mentioned, lucid ones. Derpy was right, Luna was behind something and this was it. But why this memory, why did I have to dream of this one in particular?

"Back here again?" I asked closing my eyes and taking some air before I suddenly knew the dangers of being here and I launched a fist into the air. "LUNA! YOU COULD'VE AT LEAST HAVE TOLD ME SOMETHING!" I exclaimed, betting that was the answer to this madness, and certain it was. I wasn't all too surprised by now, if this was a dream and I was back in the past again, then maybe I might remember something I forgot or something like that. Last thing I remember was falling asleep with Dash and Flutters, so I expect to wake up like that and hopefully to Flutter's cooking.

"Would you look at that Luna, he's figured you out like that." Celestia teased making Luna pout and shrug.

"Well, good for him, but we won't at all interfere with this dream, we're just mere spectators who have no say in his dreams. This way, Moon won't be able to get to Ben." Luna assured as she moved up to Ben and studied him up close. Ben was all oblivious to their presence due to Luna's magic, and just as he should be. Celestia moved up to Ben and looked at the weapon in his hand before giving it a curious glare. Chrysalis looked behind herself at the emptiness.

"Say, where is the rest of the company?"

"Asleep in their own dream, I'm making sure we find get a good dream for them to see and not something crazy." Luna answered and Celestia nodded. "Good idea, because if I'm not mistaken, that thing in Ben's hand is what he described as a weapon of lethal force."

"Huh? That thing?" Chrysalis asked not buying it as she moved up to Ben's side but Luna quickly rose, weary about it as she nodded silently. Clearly remembering the same designed weapon Ben brought into their world.

"It is, and he's wearing some new attire…" Luna observed as Ben himself began looking at his body.

I was not ready for this surprise, I was back in the same clothes I had when we finally touched down in this forest for the first time, located specifically in Vietnam. As so my dad told me, Vietnam was a war he'd be afraid of seeing on the newspaper again. Damn right, I had bad memories of this place and so starts this damn dream.

A bad memory which I'll have some time to mess with if this is a dream.

"Luna, this forest…doesn't it feel dangerous?" Celestia asked and Luna nodded as she studied and walked around Ben, studying his body which had no idea of how close she was to him. She studied him up and down before looking back at Celestia.

"It does-

Luna quickly froze in place as she noticed the presence of someone behind Celestia.

"Celestia! Move!" Chrysalis yelled using her magic to shove Celestia away. Luna quickly came in for a catch but there was no time for talking since Ben was seconds from impact.

My head quickly rose as a screaming maniac began screaming a war cry at the top of his lungs and chanting in that unknown language I never got use to. I knew it like it was pictured in my head how this was going to go. Behind me was an enemy with a shank and grenade in his pocket which he would try to use to kill me. I knew deep down what this was, this was a memory of a bad time, and a memory that would kill me in my sleep if I didn't react.

I quickly turned my body and aimed the pistol like I was taught to. I was clear good on a headshot and I was never going to miss from this close, but I knew dreams were made to experiment. My hand quickly ducked and aimed towards a leg and I let loose one single piercing round which sent him rolling down to the ground. He began rolling in agony and chanting some curses at me in his language probably. I knew I had to stop here, I took off the aim I had on his other leg and used my foot to push him over on his back so he could face me.

His eyes met mine and I stared cold into his eyes wide with either fear or adrenaline.

"I killed you a few years ago, a shot right between the eyes as I recall." I reminded him putting the gun barrel right between his eyes before I reached down and took that grenade he held and the shank before stuffing them in a pocket. I watched as he grabbed my foot and began pulling on it, in an effort to bring me down, I quickly shot one right next to his head, spooking him a great deal.

"Shit, Luna, come and help me out-!" I yelled out before the hand on my leg loosened as a silent whistle flashed past my side and the head of whoever I had spared had a perfect burst of blood showing. I quickly shook my leg off and bounced back to fire back at whoever had shot but a hand suddenly went over my mouth. I quickly panicked as I sent a kick behind me and spun a quick elbow to strike down who was behind me. I landed the hits perfectly but before I could see who it was another to hands went over my mouth and I was dropped to the ground by two others.

"Ben!" Luna yelled before gritting her teeth. "Who are these humans!?" Luna asked and Celestia quickly teleported to the scene of what was going on followed by Chrysalis and Luna. I struggled as I saw the silhouettes of these holders but with the sun right behind them, I couldn't see anything but their outlines. I quickly raised my gun which was still in hand and pressed it into the stomach of the guys holding me down. I quickly placed my finger on the trigger.

"Shh! Ben! Chill the fuck out man!"

My finger didn't move. I froze and stopped my squirming and looked dead into the silhouettes as one lifted me up from the ground. "Shh…it's me, Chris." I knew the voice and face as I was sat up. Chris, the supposed leader of the team I was in on my four raids of this area. I stared deeply into him as he slowly let his hand come off my mouth, he had the leathery gloves still. He looked at me as if I'd lost my mind and I was probably about to as the hands came off my mouth from the other guy and I looked around. The other guy was also an easy face to remember, it was Will. Chris, Will, Jesus, and my good friend Roger, they were all here.

"Chris, Will, Jesus, and Roger…" Luna mentioned as she looked at Celestia returning the same confusion. "Ben knows them…" Luna explained to her sister and Celestia remained silent as she stood by the one called Jesus and Chrysalis stood with Will, while Luna approached Ben to take down more mental notes. Celestia looked around to make sure of her surroundings but she quickly noticed a unique object, a helmet. She turned and stared before another one emerged.

"Luna…there are two humans hiding in this tall grass!"

Chrysalis and Luna turned quickly as the two beings slowly began rising.

"What do we do!?" Chrysalis asked and Luna quickly used her magic to break into the dream before Celestia halted Luna. Luna quickly argued but Celestia used her magic to aim Luna's head directly at Ben and Chris both looking intensely at them and at the two behind Jesus and Roger.

I almost hyperventilated as the snapping of twigs emerged and two random targets appeared behind Roger and Jesus. My hand quickly rose and with a shot I got one clear in the head and Chris was always a dead shot with any weapon, we dropped them in a second. I shook a bit as I retracted my hand to my side and gulped, not feeling the urge to say a thing. I haven't killed anyone with a pistol in a while.

"Damn…that was close. You always had a good shot Ben," Chris patted me on the back and I quickly lowered myself back down. Jesus and Roger quickly looked behind themselves both their weapons drawn but there was no more clear danger to eliminate.

"Thanks man, fuck, if you weren't a good shot…fuck…" Roger thanked and Jesus quickly nodded before shaking his head. "Same."

"Come on, Ben, get up, we need you." Will ordered extending a hand out to me. I looked at it silently not wanting to do so, but with another order from his deep voice my hand rose.

"Silent but deadly today? What happened to hope and shit? You always told us stories like that, why are you so serious now?" Chris chuckled giving me a shove which I found very emotional. He'd always shove me when I got something right that he liked. I turned to him and nodded. Chris was an odd character. He was blond haired and blue eyed, he was German American with such a heavy American accent that it was almost impossible to determine his German side. He was sharp everywhere and a great shot with anything he could get his hands on, he was also merciless when it came to enemies which is would be quiet the help in the future. He was tall too, six-foot five as he bragged childishly. He was Chris, the leader of the team.

I stood before him and watched what was a good friend to me when I knew him.

"Yes, hope and dreams, and honor. Always keep them alive, you lose those three then you die for nothing but a selfish desire." I explained to him and he laughed as he flipped open a cigarette carton and extended it out to me. "Always full of shit, but I like that. Want one?"

I knew this gag all too well. He'd always offer me one, but I always told him off. And I specifically answered the same way every time.

"Unless it'll save my life, no thank you."

"Good, just promise me you'll never go smoke one with out me if you ever get to it."

I knew this promise as well, this was the same Chris that I knew all that time ago. That line he just said, it became a joke around our group while it lasted before each of us started dying, one by one, starting with Roger.

"I promise." I said stone faced and serious.

"Aww, what's this, some romance over here?" Will laughed. And that's how it started. Will was like Chris, tall as well but only six-foot. He was African-American and once had a bit of problems with Roger, who couldn't stand his sight for racial reasons. Roger had his house burglarized as a kid by the same color of skin and he grew stubborn minded towards Will's type, but soon enough, Roger became almost soul mates with Will. How? They shared a beer together.

Roger was The Great American as I called him back then because he was the only one who could recite every amendment in the constitution and never fail to give allegiance to the American flag. He always told us to do the same and we did. I grew fond of him because of his intellectual but daring attitude.

Now, Jesus was no joke. He was our rifleman, and he loved his weapon, and that was final. I wouldn't touch it out of fear he'd chop my hand off, but he was good guy, always looking out for his friends and even putting it on the line for them. Jesus was a full-blooded Mexican who learned English and even picked up the accent perfectly, just like Chris. He was always talking about politics with Roger and even involved me into them because I was the youngest in the group of five. Chris was the oldest, being 26. Second was Will with 22. Third was Jesus and Roger, both tying in at 20. Then there was me, 18.

Luna blinked as she got closer looks at each of these guys Ben was with and with each look, she felt something begin moving her around inside her chest. Celestia studied how the whole group was having a small laugh and interacting with Ben, all cheerful and jolly despite having killed three men.

"These are Ben's friends…Luna, you actually showed us something of interest!" Celestia expressed with a smile and Luna nodded before looking over to the two dead bodies being dragged and hidden by Jesus and Roger.

"Yo Ben, who's this Luna you called out for? You got some girl you like?" Chris asked me and I raised my head up and looked at him seriously before changing it for more relaxed look. Chris was too charismatic to not be looked at stone faced.

Luna and Celestia quickly leaned in as Chris began speaking beyond what the dream was able to process. Chrysalis also listened in but she stared more at Jesus and Roger as they hid the bodies in a trench, amazed at how they went about hiding the bodies.

"Yeah." I responded.

"She cute?" He asked.

"Very." I responded, trying not to get into too much conversation to avoid becoming too attached.

"She fine?" He asked next with a smirk.

"She's perfect." I continued answering him, simple and straight forwardly.

Luna's head went back and fourth as this Chris was starting to speak to Ben almost as if a guardian of sorts. Celestia smiled as she stepped up.

"As bad as this time may be, it seems that Ben really did have good friends…I'm glad." Celestia said with a smile before turning to Luna who looked half depressed and half hopeful.

"This human's name is Chris, Ben knew him very closely." Luna expressed with no positivity in her voice. Celestia turned and questioned Luna's attitude before looking back at the scene.

He turned to me and sighed. "Alright Ben, but you gotta remember something."

This was new, I don't ever recall this conversation. I listened to him as he neared me a bit more.

"I had a girl once, and she was nice and all, and I knew she was right for me. I'd have sex with her every other day and soon enough I actually tried to convince her to marry me at the age of eighteen. I actually wish I did so."

"And?" I asked not finding the point.

"I'm just trying to relate but if you do find this Luna perfect for you, don't hesitate to show her you really love her. I wish I did with mine." He explained and I almost smirked from how his voice was soothing and firm but I didn't. The fact I knew he would disappear from my life soon was too dreadful.

"You're eighteen now…old enough to do it, so let's get home safely. Maybe then we can all get a girl and talk about it, over a few drinks."

I closed my eyes and nodded, I was eighteen now, I was three years younger in this dream than what I really am. "I'd like that." I said with some pain.

"Of course, you would, it's what friends do, drinks on me once we get out of here."

I nodded as I picked up my gun and shoved it into my holster.

"Oh, and Ben…" Chris called me up once more. I turned and gestured with my head.

"Here, it's a diary or somethin' with a cool dragon on it,"

I reached out and picked it out of his hand and looked at the picture before almost choking up. That dragon on it was too familiar. I reached for my side but it wasn't there, my sword. I took a heavy breath as I gripped it firmly. I knew it was a match no matter what, I knew my dragon all too well by now. And I also knew this book was somewhere special and really close.

It was in my vest, the one K hid for me. This book…I lost it and Roger found it for me, and I knew I wasn't responsible enough for it so I let him keep it. Roger used it as his own diary, and I found him dying with it by his side.

"I drew that dragon on it, oh and I wrote some things in there too, we all did…" Chris told me with a slight smirk. My head kicked up strongly and I finally showed my first ounce of emotion.

"You did!?" I quickly asked as my head rose up quickly but like that, my vision faded to nothing and darkness over took the world I was standing in. I was in the world engulfed in darkness again. The book in my hand disappeared and so did this whole memory, but now I had to something interesting to look forward too, that book. That book, I never bothered opening it because I promised I would read it when I wasn't so cold. I shivered a bit as I quickly looked to my left, where Chris was and closed my eyes tightly, trying to remind myself this is all a dream, but the pain was just scratching me deep down inside.

"Ben…" Celestia called for him but she couldn't interfere with him in this state. Luna gulped as she squinted her eyes trying to hold back some feels as she tried her best to deal with it.

"Those four friends of his, they went on to die later on…" Luna revealed making Celestia widen her eyes as she turned to her. "That's why Ben was so serious and lackluster in his responses…he knew."

"That…that probably explains a lot…" Celestia mourned before looking up at Ben again. "Luna…is Ben alright?" Celestia asked next as she focused on him. All she saw was how he remained still and staring at the empty void which was once in his friend.

"No…he's not…he dreadfully misses his friends." Luna explained and Celestia sighed shaking her head. "That's what I thought."

Luna nodded before raising her head and turning over to face them. "But there is something Ben will look forward too."

"What?" Chrysalis asked now, along with Celestia who came increasingly close to her.

"That book his friend gave him, it holds things his friends wrote in there…but it's hidden."

"W-where!?" Celestia demanded the answer with an excited smile. "If we find it then we can give it to Ben!"

"Ben entrusted it with K, but I have an unfathomable feeling that Ben will wake up to claiming it back. We must tell K!" Luna urged and Celestia agreed. Chrysalis nodded before she looked off at Ben. He was still down in his feelings as he took time to recover.

"Shouldn't we tell him…we, at least, were here with him?"

Luna and Celestia turned to Chrysalis before looking at Ben. Luna smiled and nodded, finding Chrysalis gesture of kindness acceptable. With some magic, Luna opened the gap between Ben's dream and theirs. Ben's head quickly felt the presence and he turned towards them slowly. He stared at them for a moment before sighing.

"So…you were here…" I expressed and Luna nodded before Celestia and Chrysalis made surprise appearances.

"We were all here Ben…you're not alone, alright?" Celestia assured me as she came up to me, I rose and straightened my body, firming up. I smiled a weak one but it was good enough for me.

"Thanks…you saw everything right?" I asked, hoping they did deep down so they got a picture of how I felt. Celestia sighed and nodded compassionately, like she would.

"We did…do you want to talk about it?" She asked, offering her time to hear me out. I was glad to see Celestia again and more importantly her compassion toward me at the moment is what I needed most.

"Yes, I do. In the morning that is…I need to get something from K."

"The book?" Chrysalis asked and my head rose a bit, I don't ever remember telling anyone about it.

"Yeah…the diary." I proved her question. Luna quickly appeared to my side with an excited smile, contrary to anything I'd seen as of now.

"Ben, you simply must speak with us, that diary must be a cave full of gems for you!" Luna shared the same passion that I had for this dairy and for that I'll also be thankful.

"Of course, I'll see you in the morning with the book. But only you three." I affirmed and they all nodded.

"Of course!"

I sighed as I decided to go with the best smile and share my thanks. "Thank you, Celestia, Chrysalis, and especially you Luna, I think you've actually helped me see a bit more into what I had."

Luna turned fully joyed before dying down to a depressed look. "I don't mean to get these dreams that make you hurt, I'm sorry."

I smiled as I assured her it was fine.

"No Luna, you helped me tonight, really."

"Your friends were amazing Ben, why did you never mention them?" Celestia asked me and I shook my head as I recalled the exact reason why I didn't mention them.

"Because they didn't last, and the one to blame was me…don't think too hard on it, I promise you I didn't do anything with bad intentions. I'll explain in the morning just come by Flutters and well talk, hell, maybe well get Flutters and Dash into the conversation." I assured them and thanks to Celestia's compassionate and understanding, she closed her eyes and nodded, accepting it.

"Sure…but Ben, your past if very intriguing, but if you're not comfortable-

"I actually really want to explain it, like I need to or I'll go mad." I restated and Celestia smiled as she accepted.

"If you say so, Ben."

"And what about you Chrysalis? I never expected you in my dreams." I asked turning over to another interesting detail in my dream realm. She jumped a bit as I called on her before she came up closer.

"I was curious, I guess there is more to you than what meets the eye. And that small weapon in your hand, that was amazing how you just…" She expressed before I stopped her.

"I was saving a friend…the least I could do." I reminded her and she accepted that answer over her own.

"You still have that weapon?" She asked next and I nodded crossing my arms.

"I do, K has it too, along with the diary, hidden along with all the other weapons I came here with."

"May we see those in the morning too?" Chrysalis asked, excited by it. I liked her enthusiasm, it was cute, and undeniable. I smirked and laughed a bit at her joy.

"Sure, just be careful."

They all took turns asking me over and over again if I was fine and each time I responded yes until they got the memo and backed off. Luna sighed and she used her horn to light up the dream world and surround each one of us in an aura of mystic light. Celestia left, the Chrysalis and Luna lagged behind for a few seconds as she got close enough for me embrace her one last time before she left.

"Ben, please…speak up when it hurts," She said before backing away and fading. "Return to your slumber."

I sighed as I waited for my departure. A minute passed and I began fiddling with my fingers. Two minutes and I was staring aimlessly at the darkness. Three minutes-

"Uh, am I going to return to dreaming?"

"I'm making my cameo again."

I froze at the voice and sighed in some nervousness before standing firm.

"Moon, how dare you poke your head into my dreams!? Again!"


	61. Chapter 61 - Before The Race…

#61

"So that was Chris, Will, Jesus and Roger. They were the closet friends I had and the only ones, but I never mention them because of what happened to them." I said as I observed the great audience. I was on my perfect seat while everyone else sat next to who they felt comfortable with.

It seemed the three vistors of my dream last night had invited a good party over. Pinkie, AJ, Dash, Flutters, Twilight, Rarity, Derpy, Chrysalis, Luna, Celestia, they were all here. K was still asleep as far as I knew.

"If you don't mind…what happened?" Celestia asked, slightly anxious to hear what happened to my unfortunate friends. I looked around at the full house and agreed to it, not really in as much pain as last night when I woke up sweating. Moon wasn't a fucking joke, and I now knew that. She really took that strangling me in my dreams to whole new level, but in the end, she assured me I wouldn't die in my sleep. I kept that event hidden for the sake of not pissing Luna or Celestia off.

"SHE DID WHAT!?" Luna asked from across the room and I blinked a few times before bringing my hands over my mouth and giving a small prayer to the one and only Moon. " _Please Moon, forgive Luna for this unholy sin of daring to question your authority, she doesn't know of the risk."_ I prayed in my head with my eyes closed.

"What's the commotion?" Celestia asked with a dodgy attitude and Twilight joined in with the same question. I remained praying, not to Moon anymore, just praying Celestia wouldn't get the news that has a 95% of reaching her, her agenda mustn't be pressed against me once more.

"Moon is the commotion! She tried to kill Ben in his sleep!" Luna exclaimed.

My eyes opened.

"No, she didn't try that." I corrected and all the eyes tackled me with force.

"MOON IS BACK!?" Twilight asked along with the majority who didn't know. Celestia blinked a few times, wondering what to think and Luna gave me that disappointed look again.

"How can you defend her!? Time and time again, you keep doing it!" Luna asked and I held myself together as I looked her in the eye.

"She knew what she was doing." I revealed and like that Luna lowered her tension and gave me a curious stare. Celestia looked over at me as well, followed by everyone's stare. Deep down inside, I knew Moon was listening through Luna's ears and watching through her eyes, and she didn't want to be exposed, no matter how badly everyone paints her to look like.

"Expose? Explain!" Luna demanded, having read that last bit of my mind. "Because you and Moon are up to something, and it's obvious!"

I looked up at her before swallowing by guilt, trying my best to not think about Moon yet think of an excuse.

"I don't want another excuse!"

FUCK! SHE READS MY MIND LIKE A FUCKING BOOK!

"Yes, I can! Now explain yourself!"

I stared at her a bit unnerved on what to do and frowned as I found myself out of ideas. I gulped and let my head swirl in pain and before I knew it, I was gritting my teeth and trying my best to protest with the absence of my answer. That protest was a failure, Luna used her magic and grabbed my head and forced me to stare down into her soul through her eyes. She was up close and began interrogating me.

"What does Moon have to do with you!?" She asked for her first question.

I felt her magic squeeze my head tightly and with force, she was really serious about this and damn I was feeling it. I closed my fists and let out a shaky breath as I quickly figured out this morning was not going as I had expected. I wanted my dairy more than anything in the world right now, my friends were in that book and I wanted to see them again! Why must I endure this struggle, this struggle that halts the reunion of my friends!

I looked back at her eyes, my own motives now flowing and grabbed her own head with my own hands and forced her to stare into my eyes now.

"You wanna know the truth?" I asked her and kept her same level of seriousness throughout her stare. I knew she had said "yes" past the glaze and I made sure she would get her answer.

"I like her, Luna." I made loud and clear to her. Her eyes weakened immediately and entered a small state of shock as her magic slipped off like butter and her resistance dropped drastically. "She may be your enemy but not mine! Because she a friend as far as I'm concerned!" I kept going, just mind boggling her even more.

That threw her into a shock and so it did with everyone else as they gasped. I let go of her face and she slowly backed away, too stunned to say a thing.

"I'm sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but that's why I don't talk about it, I knew you would react this way." I explained before shaking my head. "Do I need anymore clearer evidence?"

Luna had nothing ready to counter my words, she just stared at me. Even if she had nothing to say, she was desperate to find something to talk back with. I looked down and sighed at the silence, thinking on what I was about to do before my head made its mind up.

"She'll probably give me a hard time tonight, but…" I took one last moment to make sure I was ready to expose _her_. I looked at Luna once more and into her eyes, and I'm sure Moon was watching through them. I felt some thumping increase in my chest before I closed my eyes and crossed a leg over the over and with all the pride and confidence in the world, I grinned.

"You know what Luna? I was born to be a challenger, and if Moon thinks she can put me to my knees in fear, she's wrong." I chuckled before winking towards her, but it wasn't for her. It was the banter I intended for Moon. Luna stood in attention as I got the same attention from everyone.

"That night in Canterlot, Moon took you over again, she and I had a strange first-time encounter, she bit my neck and was self-pleasuring herself, I learned she's into some kinky stuff I'll tell you that." I laughed making Luna widen her eyes and stare the soul out of the flooring. Celestia leaned her head in and coughed a bit at the news. Meanwhile, Twilight and all her friends' mouths fell agape. I chuckled a bit as I recalled back to that night in Canterlot.

"She also said she'd be my "Special Nightmare" and in a very lustful way, and I even got to kiss her that same night. I was looking forward to a Special Nightmare that's for sure!"

They all had given me the fullest of their attention. I looked at Luna: too shocked to say a thing. I looked at Celestia and Chrysalis: To confused to say a thing. I looked at everyone else: All in clear disbelief. I sighed before smirking about with the joy and pride I had surging from having said that and stood up to Moon.

"She's actually admitted it too, that she likes me back, not too long ago." I revealed lastly, calmly and ready to accept that I've probably fucked everything I had with Moon. I'm fearless since I've been through death and no way in hell am I going to let Moon make me feel weary…well, maybe she might scare me since she can give me psychological fear with my dreams. I sighed as I turned to the princess of the night.

"Well, that's it, is that what you wanted to hear Luna?"

She stared to the floor, still too stuck on the revelation. It seems it was really that deep for her. I clapped my hands to get her attention and she slowly reanimated, but she didn't move much, it was like a twitch she had. I leaned by upper body away slightly and stared carefully.

"Why…" She asked, and I stood up and moved towards her in hearing her speak again.

"What's wrong-

A sudden flash blinded me as I ran my arm over my eyes but next to the motion I felt my back collide with the floor and I stiffened completely before my back arched as I tried to get the kink of pain out of my spine. I held in the cry in pain and let out a grunt as I smacked a fist into the floor.

"Ben? Luna? Celestia? Is everyone alright!?" Twilight asked and I grunted once more as I tried to get my back off the floor. The flash that engulfed the house faded in seconds and just as I was about to get myself into a sitting position I felt something strike me right on the chest, it felt like a someone had punched me with the flat side of a brick. I was on my back again, and I engraved my sight into the pure, dark hoof with a gauntlet or steel shoe on it. My eyes widened as I slowly looked up and before me was the last one I expected to be here. My breathing was short from how her hoof pressed down on my chest, I was in shock before I began realizing my place and looked around to see the looks of complete shock.

"How dare you defy me!?" She asked me with a snarl. There was too much shock for anyone around to react, so I had to do it myself. My eyes sincerely trembled and my hands scrapped the little grip they had on confidence. I looked up at her, towering over me. Celestia quickly rose and watched, wondering how in the world has Moon appeared before us all and over me.

"Moon!? How have you taken over my sister again!?" Celestia asked but it was all ignored by her, it seems I'm her only grudge she had to pick a fight with. I gulped nervously and wheezed a bit at the shortness of air that her hoof was causing me to have.

"I'm not afraid of you, nor do I defy you! Get off!" I demanded and she pressed her hoof deeper into my chest. It felt like my chest would cave in if she pressed any deeper. She must have been using magic on her hoof to make it that heavy. I cringed a bit before my hands reacted out of anger and gripped her hoof. "I'm warning you now, get off me or I'll take matters into my own hand! NOW GET OFF OF ME!" I threatened and she laughed like the evil being she tried to convince me off.

"You know? I should thank you, I never thought I'd be able to come out again. Thanks for weakening Luna emotionally, if not I might be here now! Maybe I'll spare you once more."

I lifted her hoof slightly off before she pressed heavier. "Damn it…Luna couldn't have been that weak!" I protested to her words before letting out a shriek as I felt her put the weight of the world on my chest.

"LEAVE BEN AND MY SISTER ALONE, MOON!" Celestia responded actually using her magic which Moon easily absorbed. Celestia backed a step and wondered how her attack didn't do a thing as Moon turned to her and winked.

"Oh, but Ben, Luna has many passions she'd love to show you, you don't understand how she really feels." Moon taunted turning to me and I painfilly wheezed as I forced my own magic to assist me. I lifted her hoof once more.

"If Luna's weak, I wouldn't care! I know how she feels and I know what she wants!" I said before she laughed.

"Oh well, Thanks for setting me free once more!"

I paused and took a moment to take her words in before I realized something. I looked up at her again and noticed how I was gripping her hoof, she was as real as my ever-weakening chest. She got distracted there and her hoof slightly lost weight.

"You're welcome, Moon…" I returned before squeezing her hoof tightly. "Huh?" She asked but in a blink of eye a I took matter into my own hands.

"But you're in my world now!" I revealed to her and her eyes widened as I turned and pressed her against the floor, my hand on her chest, holding her down and the other hand erupting in dark sparks ready to strike. My eyes quickly looked to my side at the dark sparks and I took it into consideration for second, recognizing that magic as the same dark magic from before. Within seconds of realization my magic returned to its transparent blue and Moon was in my own mercy now.

"How did you…!?" She asked and I grinned as the fear was converted into strength.

"What was that about sparing me?" I returned the question and she growled as she tried to over do my own dominance but hell if I was letting that ever happen.

"Return my Sister's vessel back to its rightful owner!" Celestia demanded moving up sternly. Moon looked at her and laughed like a mad one. I frowned before picking her up and throwing her towards the seat I was in earlier and quickly Celestia and Chrysalis used their magic to restrain her to the seat.

"Are we really holding Nightmare Moon down? Again!?" Twilight asked coming from my side and I nodded as I cleared my throat. Moon looked down at her and growled as she hissed at them.

"Twilight…you've grown well." Moon complimented slyly, gravely hellbent with anger. Twilight frowned back and nodded. "I sure have, but it seems you haven't grown out of your evil attitude."

"Tsk." Was her only response before Chrysalis widened her eyes and smugly smirked.

"You know, I've always wondered what made Luna such a main center of attention." She said and Moon glared at her and Chrysalis glared back at her. Both had equal expression, one not being over played by the other, they resembled a bit in terms of tranquility.

"I always hated bugs, their only purpose was to be stepped on."

"Geez, what a bitch." K ringed as he walked into the room, a serious glare on him which I liked. I knew he would have some way of dealing with Moon, he always something up his sleeve. I smiled as I greeted him and he smirked as he made himself known. Moon froze as she looked over at him and her eyes widened at his sight.

"You're here too!?" She asked as K came up and got next to Celestia.

"Moon…it seems you're still not mature enough to be out in the real world." K sighed as he charged something up in hands. A blue mystical magic in his hands that pulsed gently and seem to not be violent in any way. Moon widened her eyes even more as she leaned away as much as she could but she was up against the couch.

"What are you doing K?" Celestia asked, and K took a small breath of air.

"I'm going to let Luna take control of her body again."

"You have that power?" Celestia asked further and K nodded.

"Yeah, I do."

I watched closely as Moon seemed to show distress as she watched K walk up to her and slowly reach for her chest. Celestia watched closely before looking at K.

"Do you think you can permanently eradicate her from existence?" Celestia asked and K looked down at his hands before putting them down and shaking his head.

"Luna and Moon are a fused pairing, to get rid of Moon…mean's Luna goes along with her." K explained and Celestia jumped back a bit at his words, regretting ever getting such an idea in the first place. K smiled as he turned to me afterwards. My head rose at his smile and I questioned it with my glare.

"But either way, Ben still wants Moon around, he wouldn't let me destroy her." He said and I had to agree with him on that. Moon's head rose as well and turned to me. I turned to her and glared a serious one at her before she looked away and down. Celestia turned to me next and wanted to insult me and maybe even demean me for K's truthful words, but I stood my ground before she could say anything and stopped her from saying anything by extending my hand out slightly.

"Moon is mine to handle, Celestia…I'll get it straight with her."

Celestia didn't frown, instead her look softened and she looked away. "Why are you so optimistic about this, Ben?"

"Because friends aren't always easy to make: Chris, Will, and Jesus, they were all bullies like I described, they beat me till I was a bloody mess, but they soon became friends who saved my life and gave me hope." I explained and everyone listened in on that, even Moon. Celestia leaned back and gulped as she closed her eyes and smiled. And soon she actually began laughing. I tensed up a bit at her laughter, it's been a while since I've heard such.

"Ben, you keep on surprising me with your way of seeing the light in pure darkness, but nonetheless, I'm glad you have that mental strength." She complimented making me smile as I took it with gratitude. Moon listened to all that as she stared at the floor where I stood.

"Ben…"

I turned in a swift turn at the sudden whisper. Moon quickly turned to look at me and I looked at her. She seemed like she didn't intend me to hear that whisper but I did. She stared before looking away and trying her best too look offended or pissed which I knew was an act. Celestia also noticed as well as everyone did. After some silence, K sighed as he re-charged the magic in his hand moved towards Moon who reacted quickly, wanting to move away but she didn't do it for the sake of not looking afraid.

"Wait, K." I stopped him and he stopped, turning over to me. Moon and Celestia and all the company turned to me.

"What is it?" K asked as I moved up ahead of Moon and sat on the arm rest of the couch and reached my hand over to her head. She retracted a bit but in the end my hand landed on her head and she let herself be petted by the likes of me. I smiled at her obedience and shook her head with my hands which made her revolt and shake my hand off with a frown full of shame.

"I'll look forward to the next time we meet again, really. Just don't step on my chest again, I don't like that very much." I chuckled and forced a smirk out of her for a change. That got a reaction from everyone in the room they all stared at the smile she had before she finally showed her brutal teeth.

"There's more than one way to hurt you." She weakly pushed back.

"And there's more than one way to fight back." I returned and she closed her eyes, following it up with a giggle before laughing.

"Believe me, I'm not done here yet!" She assured me and I was always going to say something back.

"Neither am I, Moon."

K's hand landed on Moon's chest and the blue magic in his hand swirled around her before she smiled.

"Demon-

"K." K corrected her and she nodded unamused, shrugging his comment off, refusing to acknowledge his name. "And what is it?" K asked after.

"Ben wants a diary from you, give it to him."

That was the kicker for everyone to not say a thing as she became enveloped in a blue light and blinded us all for a moment before the light dimmed down and Luna was back in full view. K stared at Luna for a moment before turning to me. "Ben? You want the book, right?" K asked me and I nodded with a smile. He smirked and nodded. "I'll be back."

He walked off and I turned back to looked at friends and company.

"Ben…how did you ever do that to Moon!?" Twilight asked before Celestia could. Celestia cleared her throat and agreed.

"Yes, how were you able to become so civil with her?"

I chuckled as I smiled a wide one.

"I'm a charming and a romantic young man." I felt a seat cushion hit me making me stagger a bit before I tossed it over to a seat and laughed.

"Hey, isn't that what you called me Twilight? I haven't changed, have I?" I asked her as she retracted her magic. She blushed a bit and looked away.

"You're as daring as ever, but you're still what I called you that first day." Twilight giggled back, I agreed fully.

"I do try to be." I winked towards her and she couldn't hide that smile from anyone. Celestia smiled, just like everyone else did at the throw back of the phrase before Celestia looked past me and to her sister coming back from the shock of having Moon overtake her body again.

"Luna! Are you alright!?" She asked joining her sister behind me. I turned over and smiled as Luna smiled with her sister.

"I'm fine, thank you." Luna assured Celestia before turning to me. She didn't seem to have the tenacity in her eyes to rip out answers from me, she was now happily smiling and enjoying herself.

"So…that's where this trust comes from?" Luna asked. I laughed a bit to myself and firmly make it true.

"Yes."

Luna looked down before sighing.

"Ben, I don't really know what to say, things are changing so fast…"

"That we don't know how to react anymore." Chrysalis and Rarity both finished for Luna with smiles. Luna looked up and stared at them before smiling and laughing.

"Yes, that's summarizes it all." Luna agreed and Celestia had to give it up to them for such a way to reveal that revelation. "How about we finally get some rest? Here in your home Fluttershy, if that's alright?"

Applejack, Pinkie, Dash, Rarity, Twilight, Derpy and Chrysalis all agreed.

"Yeah, this mornin' is all but calm, time to slow things down a bit!" Applejack gave her input before Dash.

"Yeah! And I got a race! So does Ben!"

"Yeah!" I followed.

"Who ever wins gets a party!" Pinkie cheered and Derpy fully pledged with that idea. "Yeah! More food!"

"I just want some tea." Rarity mentioned in which Chrysalis, Celestia, and Luna all agreed to.

Flutters looked at them and how could she refuse?

"BEN, I GOT THE VEST!" K poked his head in and threw it at me. I quickly caught it and gave it an embrace before noticing that K had hit the side of my head with the blunt edge of a knife. I shook it off and looked at my lap at the bowie knife.

"Oh…I thought you might want that back as well." He chuckled nervously.

I laughed as I picked it up and tossed over to him. I quickly looked for the holster for the knife and pulled it from the side of the vest and tossed that as well.

"Nah, keep it, you know how to do those weird pentagram rituals with it."

He jumped in excitement as he stuck the knife into the holster and strapped the holster from shoulder to his hip, like it's supposed to be worn. "Ha! Now this is blade! K exclaimed quickly drawing the knife, like he was about to have a small bar fight before holstering it back. "Thanks!"

"No problem."

"Alright…I'll go make some tea, please have a seat, everypony and human and changeling and demon!" Fluttershy joyfully exited the room and my attention went towards my hands and the vest. Heh, never ceases to amaze me how much I've actually missed from my old world, but at least here's my memory of it. I looked at it for a while, studying it for old times sake before laughing a bit.

"So, Ben…where's this diary?" Luna asked, trying her best to not rush me. I smiled as I reached for the three clips that held the vest closed and undid each one, the vest came open and inside there was what I expected. A good number of knives, a small box of tissues, and a few bullets, .45 caliber hollow points.

"Show us! We wanna see!" Pinkie enthusiastically exclaimed and I laughed as I turned I over for them to see. They all became wide-eyed as the vest was revealed.

"Wow, quite the collection of knives you got there." Applejack complimented as she got close up to see them. I agreed and pulled one out. These knives weren't knives you took to a bar fight, these were throwing knives, meant for throwing and send spiraling towards your target.

"Yeah, throwing knives, almost like darts, just more dangerous." I explained as I flipped the knife and grabbed it by the vertex threatening to throw it. I gave them a small scare before I chuckled and lowered it down to my lap.

"Hey! Twilight make a target so he can hit!" Dash asked of Twilight and Twilight nervously laughed as she shook her head.

"I don't think I want to see a knife thrown across the room-

"Here you go Ben, hit this." Celestia offered as she magically spawned a wooden plate and flung it across the room like a frisbee. My eyes followed quickly up to the plate and as soon as I saw enough of the face of the plate, my hand rapidly swiped across my face. There was small thud, before everyone became confused.

"Uh…where did the plate go?" Dash asked looking around. I smiled as I raised a finger and aimed at the wall. Dash lifted an eyebrow before turning to look at the wall and her wings popped up in excitement as she spotted the plate.

"Oh wow!" She exclaimed as everyone gawked at it. I must say, I don't think I threw it that hard for it to have passed the plate and even passed the wall and get stuck up there.

"That's a mighty fine throw ya got there! Hey! Ya have to come and play darts at the local pubs!" Applejack complimented and I smiled. "I've already beaten a few at darts!" I revealed and she smiled.

"Wow, I guess these throwing knives are no joke!" Twilight said as she used her magic to pull the knife out of the wall and he plate disintegrated by Celestia's magic. Twilight pulled the knife in closer to her and studied it. "Wow, it's so light but so sharp…what's this metal?" she asked and I had to think about it before getting it.

"Stainless steel."

"Hmm…Pinkie, do you think-

"Yes! They have some of everything that comes from minerals, rocks, stones, and that sort of stuff!" Pinkie answered ahead making Twilight smile. "Thanks."

"Keep it if you need it for reference, I got plenty." I said and Twilight smiled with glee. "Gee thanks!"

Luna quickly leaned in closer as she looked at the bullets and picked one up with her magic. Chrysalis quickly looked up at the brassy color and appeared before me demanding her own view on something.

"Ben! Show me that weapon!" She demanded. I laughed as I turned the vest around and unclipped the holster and tossed it to K. K quickly extended out a hand and grabbed the pistol, asking what I was doing giving it to him.

"Chrysalis wanted to see it, but…take out the round in there for me."

"Ah…right." K said as he pulled out the magazine and cocked back the handle making a bullet fly out the cylinder. He lowered the gun to Chrysalis to anxiously got it with her magic and studied it.

"Oh…it's heavy," Chrysalis observed and K laughed as he nodded. "Sure is, it's gotta be so when you shoot it, it doesn't go flying out of your grip."

I smiled at Chrysalis enjoying herself and returned back to the vest, now that everything was out of the way, only thing left to check.

"Ben, where's the diary?" Celestia asked and I looked at the vest and there was a zipper through the inside. I unzipped it and I felt the wave of anxiety hit me as I reached my hand in and gripped firmly to the leathery texture of the dairy's cover.

"It's here…" I said before I let my hand follow through, and slowly the eight by five-inch book revealed itself. I brought it up to my face and looked to see if it was the same from my dreams. As in the dream, the dragon was there, same as the one in the blade. I had readied the blade for this moment, I asked Dash to got fetch it for me and in a flash, she was back with it and handing it to me.

"A perfect match…" I said as I showed them all. They all smiled as I had preciously explained my hope that the symbol of the dragon was on this book. They were pleased to see it was there. I smiled as I ran my fingers over the dragon. This was Chris's work at my fingertips.

"Open it Ben, let's see what your friends had to say…" Luna pushed and I looked over before taking a small breather. This was a lot to take in. This book may hold something dear to me, or maybe my only physical memories of humans from the other world. I was anxious, but I was willing to go through.

As easily noticeable, the dairy was a bit bloated, there were things inside of it, pictures I had put in there from when I found Roger, but then who knows what else might have been put in there. I opened to page one, and easily the first thing I see was Chris's, Will's, Jesus's, and Roger's name all in the first page. Their signatures from war. Roger's and Chris's stood out because of how amazingly they knew cursive, and Will and Jesus settled with causal print. I looked at the names before getting everyone around me.

 _Chris Lindenburg_

 _Will A.J_ (Alexander Jordan)

 _Jesus Rodriguez_

 _Roger Lewis_

"That's them…" I said as I lifted my head up and showed everyone who wanted to see so badly. They all smiled in amazement as I smiled and flipped to the next page. The moment the next page came by, a small object fell to my lap, I closed my legs in an effort to catch it but Celestia was way ahead of me. She picked the object up and observed its components. I needed no explanation for this object, I've known Chris for far too long to not recognize this.

"Didn't your friend offer you one of these?" Celestia asked and I nodded as I reached over and nicked I away from her.

"Yeah, he always had these, at least a carton of these with him." I said before looking at the dairy, and without coincidence this next page was in Chris's hand writing. I crossed a leg over as I began at the start.

 _Chris Lindenberg_

 _I've never really written my thoughts on paper so this will be a first for me. I don't really plan on keeping this diary for too long_ so _I'll be passing this down to Ben, a friend of mine. If you finally opened this book, don't nag to me about what I write, it only meant for you. That's why I'm the last guy to actually write in this damn book, so no one else could read this. Up ahead you'll find what Will, Jesus, and Roger wrote._

 _Anyways, to you my friend. War is never easy and it never was, we're all too young to be here, well, at least you Ben. I like how you were when I first met you in school. I was too old to still be in middle school as you noticed. I fucked you up a bit some times and got suspended from school before actually getting expelled, but that was me, I'm not proud of it. So, when I saw you at the barracks, along with Will, Jesus, and Roger, I was excited to give you another one but you were only fourteen then. I saw how serious you were and how you were too traumatized to even notice us. When you had your first brawl match and took on that fucker, what's his name…Brian! That muscly fuck. I was actually afraid I'd see the death of you then and there, but no. You surprised me when you actually managed to hit him right in the spleen and make him hunch over. I cheered for you even if you don't believe it, I was there. Everyone cheered. Then you went at him, actually having your own fists bloody for the first time and I was proud. I felt as if I was the one who taught you how to fight._

 _When I heard you were coming to stay with us in the barracks, I thought you'd give me a knock but you didn't. Because I came up to you and offered you a cigarette behind the wardens' backs. And you said something I'll never forget._

" _Unless it'll save my life, no thank you."_

 _I laughed because that's the first time you've spoken to me, not in fear, not in anger, not in anything, but like guys talk. So yeah…we became friends after that. You still never took my offer on that cigarette._

 _Well…this war has gone on long enough, and I'm tired of it already. You'd think that killing others is exciting but it's wearing me out mentally. I know I'm the oldest out of us all, so I'll ways be out there to take care of all of you. As corny as it sounds, I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of losing what I value most. So yeah, if I'm dead when you're rereading or finally reading this, I hope I died doing what I said I would do and that at least you're alive to tell my story. Lord knowns I need some living legacy, even if he'd just shoot me straight down to hell._

 _Oh, and if I never get to smoke a cigarette with you, then I'll throw one in here, I'll write my initials on it, if you do ever decide to smoke it then you'll technically be smoking with me, how's that?_

"Much love, Chris Lindenburg…" I whispered as I held the cigarette in my hand and stared at it. His initials were there, written in pen. I took a small moment to myself before sighing.

"He did die as he said he wanted to die." I said making K come up to me and pat my back in an effort to comfort me. He should know, K's been watching apparently. Luna and Celestia leaned in. Fluttershy was by now in the room.

"How?" They asked and I gulped as I painted a picture with my words for them.

"We were someplace new, somewhere in a country called Africa, we were hiding out in some bushes when we were figured out. Almost immediately they sent dogs out to get us and vehicles savagely tore apart the roads. It was me and Chris in the trees just watching the chaos silently, but before I knew it. Roger, Jesus and Will had been captured by the enemy, they radioed in. Both me and Chris were lost for words. He panicked as he pulled on his hair but that was only before he finally grew a special look. The look they get when they make their minds up on something ridiculous."

"He jumped down and ordered me to stay in the trees, I argued but he was serious and I listened."

"What happened?" Twilight asked, all their concerned eyes wide. I liked their worry, but there's no way this wouldn't pain them to hear.

"I fell asleep from weariness and I woke up to the sun rising barely, and everything was peaceful for the while before I realized I was still in a dangerous area. I sprung into action and went down the tree but before I could even make I down, I found all of them, Will, Roger, Jesus…but no Chris."

I heard them all gasp and I recalled the painful memory of their explanation. They knew what had happened to him, everyone in the room. I shook my head before raising the cigarette to my face to show them.

"They told me they tried. And they did their best. But it wasn't enough. Chris had gone full berserk and did his best to free them from where they were headed, but he was so full of holes by the time he was coming back, he couldn't go any further. The holes were caused by those weapons like the one in Chrysalis's clutches." I said and Chrysalis looked down at the weapon. She cocked an eyebrow before putting it down to listen.

"He bled out and died." I revealed which wasn't as much of a shocker since everyone had already figured that out from my tone of voice. But they weren't ready for the way he was treated after death. "I asked where his body was and they all just made my heart sink when they pulled out his dog tags…which are identification. I stared a good while, knowing he was dead so I asked again where his body was."

I actually wiped away at my eyes as I shivered a bit. I wasn't going to cry, it was not the right time, nor was it what I want. I just had a bit a soft spot that these ponies managed to crack open, and now these memories tickle that tear trigger. They all remained silent before Fluttershy, with a an all too disturbed look, asked, "So, what happened to him?"

"They told me they grounded up his body to nothing but a gruesome pill of human meat and fed it to dogs and pigs they had…" I explained and this time I actually let one travel down my face. I quickly lifted an arm and wiped it away before gulping. They all froze, and of course they would, why the hell am I telling these poor beings about something so close and so traumatic!?

Luna shook a bit and the thought that she'd been hearing me this whole time hit me. I guess telling them might help me feel relief, that's what they've done for me before, why not once more?

"I lost something in me that day…I was never the same. I thought I was going to cry over him…I thought I was…but I never did, nothing since that day has ever made me cry during all my years in war. Until death, and now you lot of ponies. Chris was such an idiot…but a hero…and I wish he had had a different ending than being fed to animals like waste." I shared and they all looked at each other. Tearful yes, but compassionate was what they were most. Especially a group embrace was always going to lift my heart and spirits. I'm glad these ponies are always around, if they weren't I'm sure I wouldn't go a day without feeling depressed.

"Ben…how did you ever get over that? How have you been so happy and joyful when you got that stuck in your memory!?" Luna asked. Bless her kind soul that she's so pure hearted, it's exactly what I needed. I closed my eyes and sighed, feeling troubled but willing to answer with the honest answer.

"Because…I was an optimist…"

Twilight squeaked a bit at the shocker. "H-how!?"

"A year after those events…Will, Jesus, and Roger did their best to help me, but I was soulless by then. So, when we were sent to a new location, I looked at Roger, Will, And Jesus and thought of what Chris would've wanted. That thought held me like a baby as I traveled though it all. All until I made a fatal mistake that costed us all our lives…and I already explained the hellbent monster I became, killing everyone in my path." I explained probably getting puffy-eyed from how hot my face was getting. I took one more small breath of air before smiling.

"But…at least he died doing what he said he would."

"Ben, you also did something your friend wanted." Celestia suddenly bamboozled me. I lost my smile and gave her my immediate attention.

"What's that?" I asked. She smiled as she used her magic to indicate the dairy, and highlighted Chris's words with her magic. Specifically, the words, " _You're alive to tell my story._ "

"To tell his story, he was truly a brave soul who gave it all up in the end for the sake of others, no mater how he died, his legacy lives with you believe it or not. I'm sure Chris would be most proud and grateful." Celestia ended a smile of so proud of herself that it was an immediate smile out of me. I took pride in those words and for that I had sit straight and give her by best level of gratitude.

"Thank you, you always know how to listen," I thanked before looking at the book and sighing. "All of you, I can't explain how grateful I am to have such friends who listen so compassionately."

They all replied with a "you're welcome" and I accepted it as I gave one last glance at the book before laughing. I laughed at the thought I actually have at least one good preserved memory of past friends. I slouched a bit as I looked at the cigarette once more before a cup came up to my face. I looked at Rarity using her magic before getting a whiff and my hand was all over it.

"Thanks, gotta calm down." I said grabbing the cup and setting lips on it. It was smoothly warm as expected from Flutter's tea. We all took a pause to get a taste of the tea and settle down. I closed the dairy up for now, as much as I wanted to keep reading, I really wanted to be alone when I read. I don't plan and being a prick and hogging the information for myself when my friends offer so much support, but I would like to express myself by myself.

"I'm gonna keep reading on my lonesome, I need to get some thoughts sorted out." I said and they all understood, thankfully. I sighed taking some more of the tea before closing my eyes and resting a bit, last night was good one, always is when you're having to put up with two ponies. Still, that was the best part of it all, but now I got this race I need to I'm excited to participate in.

Luna cleared her throat from a few seats away and I smirked as I turned to see her.

"Shh…" I motioned with my hand and she rolled her eyes as my playfulness. Her ability to be reading my head at all times was getting a bit out of hand. But why always read my mind when she could just ask? I'd like to think she just likes how I think, but then again, maybe there's some miscommunication between us.

" _It's not that, I just…like you, that's all. And I'm curious about what you think about, I can't help it._ "

I looked over to her again, a blush and reason enough for me to deduce she was giving the telepathy talk. To not appear too complicated, I simply smiled and gave her a small statement. "It's alright." As a verbal response. She smiled and sipped her tea, looking around to make sure no one had seen that exchange.

I sipped as well and slouched a bit.

"Ben, have you even practiced for this race!? News Flash, Dash is a maniac in the skies!" Pinkie asked and I smirked as I nodded.

"If you call it practice, I went to study the grounds of the race and I also took my time to perfect this flying ability of mine. Flying to me is still an abnormal thing, it shouldn't be possible but it is, so as a newbie, I have to put myself in the position to even stand a chance."

"I told you I'd embarrass you, I'm not going on my word." Dash reminded me and I shrugged it off with another sip of my tea.

"I want you too, because I got a few things I'd like to test out today, during this race."

"You're not going to cheat, right?" Rarity asked and I lowered the tea from my face, not appreciating her misjudgment of character.

"Rarity! You've read the cover of my book so many times and this is how you judge me!?" I questioned her and she leaned away with a laugh.

"Well…fine, I'm sorry, but please do feel free to beat Dash, she'll never become better with competition." Rarity lectured and recovered from her earlier judgement. Dash turned to me smiled, finding Rarity's words childish. I grinned and assured Rarity I would, keeping sight on Dash.

"Will do! A challenge is a challenge, and I'll always be up for it!"

It's still a few hours before the race, and I'm once again studying this race track. I was levitating around getting closer with this track. This was a lengthy race track, stretching about twenty miles, so it's basically a test of stamina and pure speed. From what I was able to do those few times I was perfecting my flying technique, there's more to me than there seems. I'm not able to really do quick and sharp turns without slowing down a bit, then there's the wind in my eyes which blinds me a bit. I need some goggles.

"Hey! It's you! Are you lost?"

"No, I'm not lost. I'm just seeing how this race is going to go." I explained in deep thought before realizing I was ignoring this pegasi and quickly turning to make up for my rude act. "Oh sorry, I'm Ben, but you seem to know that already."

She laughed.

"It's fine! I'm Windy Whistles! And yes! I do know you! You've been all over the paper with my Dashie!"

The smile I had from her cheerfulness dulled a bit as I thought about what she said. _My Dashie?_ Suddenly, I flashed a look at her and quickly turned away to think on her appearance. _I was on the paper with her Dashie?_ Dash told me she had a proud mother and this totally sounds like the description, she was also blue and was a pegasi. I quickly turned back and with small but growing spark of excitement.

"Your Dashie!?" I repeated before smiling. "By that you mean you're her…"

She giggled a bit and zealously nodded. "Yup, proud mom!"

I reached my hand out in an instant and she, unlike others, was quick to realize I was properly greeting her and she quickly shook my hand. I continued smiling as I asked on how she's been and how's it like with Dash. The usual stuff a newcomer being introduced to the family of someone else would do. She explained she's been fine and that it's great to actually see her daughter in a concert again. I shared equal light on that subject and she fully embraced the conversation. She told me to take a seat on a cloud that was around and I was quick to laugh, making her uncomfortable.

"You're serious?" I asked and she nodded. I looked at the cloud and reached a foot to it and applied pressure. My foot sank in but almost as if I was stepping on a cushion. I blinked a few times before doing as she told me and to my surprise, I was actually able to sit on the cloud. I looked around myself to see if was actually sitting on something solid, but no, this cloud was the real deal.

"Wow…how unique." I chuckled as she sat down on the same cloud. To make room, I crossed my legs and sat down like they made me do in Elementary.

"Now that I've met you, what are you to my Dashie?"

I lifted my head a bit and gave her an odd glare before looking off to the distance.

"A friend." I simply responded and she giggled.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that."

What kind of sick mind game is this!? I knew from the beginning I wasn't going to keep a straight face looking at Dash's mother. Moms just have that thing where they know how to make you spill the truth from just looking at your eyes. I wasn't ready for this one and I wasn't ready to embarrass myself trying to out do her in a staring contest.

"Why do you always have us look you in the eyes when you don't believe us?" I asked rhetorically before turning to her, but not looking at her but at the cloud we were on.

"Because I'm her mom. That's why."

"That's what they all say!" I chuckled.

"And it's true."

She knew how to argue well. Damn it.

"So, will you just tell me, or do I have to get it out of you?" She asked with a sly smile and I groaned as I turned to look at her.

"You're not going to let me go until I tell you, are you?"

She shook her head and I sighed.

"Why don't you ask Dash? I'm sure you'll get something better out of her than me?"

"I might, but you're here now, just tell me!"

Persistent mothers, who can stop them? I knew I wasn't getting off this cloud anytime soon with Dash's mom next to me, and I sure as hell knew she wasn't going to stop trying to get me to answer her question.

"Do you like her?"

I looked at her and did what I knew best: stall.

"What?" I asked and her smile lengthened.

"Do you like her?"

"She's my friend, I'm hoping that answers your question." I answered still trying to avoid answering her, but no mother is oblivious to the fact her daughter is messing some dude. Especially when the dude refuses to answer her straight.

"You're stubborn on not answering me, but that's enough for me to know something is going on. Why don't you just tell me?"

I looked her in the eye for this one.

"Then if you know, then why are you asking?"

She made an effort to scoot closer to me and I did my best to not react negatively. "I could be your _Mother In-law_!" She said proudly.

"Mother in-law?" I asked before building a mental family tree in my head and making the connections. In order for her to be my mother in-law, I'd would have to marry…

"Woah…now hold on a minute! What!?" I asked at the sudden randomness. She looked at me with a smile before laughing and assuring me that she was only joking. I didn't even think for a moment she was joking, but then again, that's how convincing mothers are. But still, she's also right about being my mother in-law, if I were to marry Dash, that would make her my mother in-law as strange as it would seem to me and maybe Dash.

I hadn't realized when I had become star-struck and a small tickle under my chin got me awake again. Windy retracted her wing with a giggle which she used to get me under the chin. I rubbed away the tingling she caused with her feathers.

"But, it could happen, right?" She asked and I became somewhat nervous by the thought.

"It could…maybe."

She laughed before patting my back with her wing. "You're taking it all too seriously! I'm just glad my Dashie has a new friend! Especially one that's…well you know…a guy."

"A guy, huh?" I asked with a smirk which made her smirk as well.

"You get what I'm trying to say, right?" She asked with a smug attitude. I nodded with my own slyness and chuckled.

"I do."

She laughed some more and sighed in her relieving joy.

"I'm glad, she's grown up so fast, it's kind of sad, don't you think?"

"How so?"

"I don't know. She's been making her own decision, when I use to do them. She's taking care of herself, when I did that for her. She used to always be around, now she visits…"

"So, you feel irrelevant now?"

I could see how she was easily got emotional and I did what came best. I slouched and chuckled.

"Shouldn't you be proud of her? She's grown to be a strong mare."

She sighed and nodded weakly.

"That's my Dashie, strong and full of pride."

She didn't seem too happy anymore. She was slightly depressed and almost hurt by how this all changed direction. I un-slouched myself and sat up straight.

"You do know I'm not from this world, right?" I asked her and she nodded.

"Yes, it said in the paper."

"Well, I just arrived about a week and half ago." I explained and she looked curious as to where I was taking this conversation.

"I woke in some forest and I was confused out of my human mind. I was attacked by these creatures called Timber wolves, and that's when I met my first pony."

"Who?"

I turned to her and smiled.

"Dash."

"My Dashie!?" She asked, pumped a great deal by that. I nodded positively.

"Yup! She came in for my rescue, and she did get hurt a bit, but I'm glad she found me in the forest. Who knows where I'd be if I had not been found."

"My Dashie is a hero too, I couldn't be any prouder." She expressed and I agreed.

"You're proud and I'm thankful. Dash is a special mare, like the one who raised her."

"She is." She proudly expressed with a blush. "And thank you, you're really kind, I like that."

"I do try to be." I chuckled and she smiled.

"I'm sure finding a mate isn't hard for you with that way you have of making a grown, married mare blush." She complimented and I took that in with some humor. Just how many mates do I currently have? I thanked her for her compliment and she let me have the "you're welcome" before she stood and looked at the race track.

"So…why were you looking out at the race track?"

I quickly stood and turned.

"Oh right! I actually challenged Dash to a race!"

She paused and turned to me. She had a look that questioned my sincerity. I quickly grinned as I winked.

"Don't worry, she won't embarrass me that badly." I laughed it up and she quickly smiled as she out of no where whipped out a set of goggles and tossed them my way. I wobbled a bit as I lost some balanced on the cloud trying to catch them but I had them in the end. I looked at them and back at her curiously, wondering where in the hell she just pulled them out of.

"You'll need goggles to protect your eyes! They should fit."

I tried them on and sure as she assured, they did fit. They were clean without a single spec on them. I took them off and laughed as I became impressed by such generosity.

"Wow, thanks! These will come in handy! Thanks again!" I thanked as I held the goggles close to me. She blushed some more and nodded.

"You deserve them for being a kind…" She paused for a moment. "Do you go by colt, stallion, or…?"

"Sure, if it's easier for you to say." I accepted.

"For being a kind gentlecolt, you seem young so that's what I'll call you."

"Thanks, and you're a great mother," I said smoothly before pausing and chuckling nervously. "To Dash I mean."

She giggled.

"Thank you."

I bowed my head. "You're welcome."

She dismissed herself after that and left me to think about what had just happened. I met Dash's mother, and I did pretty well for a starter! I was proud of myself actually and now I finally met someone's mother other than Celestia and Luna's. Windy Whistles, she was a good parent, perfect as a matter of fact. I looked down at he goggles and smiled at their sight. As a gift, this was great, they seem to be high quality too, they also show I did well with Dash's mom.

I looked ahead at the race course, and it was amazingly simple, yet difficult to maneuver. I stared it down a bit before smirking at the idea of the race being a few hours away. "Almost showtime."

"You know Twilight, I'm confused."

Twilight choked as she quickly directed her cup of tea away from her.

"W-what!?" She asked coughing some more before Luna began slowly patting her back with her magic.

"I truly am." Celestia assured if Twilight didn't believe it. Twilight coughed some more before finding her lungs clear of disturbances.

"About what Celestia!?"

Celestia looked down and sighed as she took her own cup of tea and held it near her, but never taking a drink.

"About Ben, Nightmare Moon, and the arsenal of things." Celestia said and Twilight was kicked back a bit by the response.

"Well…I guess I'm confused too, but specifically about what?" Twilight asked and Celestia sipped from her tea silently.

"Even though friendship has solved almost every problem we've faced…Ben doesn't really go by that…does he?" She asked back and Twilight and Luna both gave their confusion.

Luna quickly stood straight. "No…but would friendship have actually helped against Yuson?" She asked making Celestia think deeper as she stared at her cup of tea. "There was no way we could've assembled in time, and Yuson had already abducted half of ponyville too. He was so sudden…so dangerous…so merciless." Luna explained before Twilight also got up in agreement.

"And that's exactly what Ben is…sudden, dangerous, and merciless. It's almost like Ben was created for these sorts of fights." Twilight offered her input which got a few nods out of Celestia before she smiled.

"You're right, Ben is not the type of character to use friendship to solve his problems, and that's alright given his background and the fact that we ourselves also have to resort to other means like spells and incantations…what if Ben could harness at least some power of friendship?"

"Celestia, that would be possible if not for the fact that Ben doesn't have magic like ours."

"Excuse me?" Celestia asked turning to Twilight. Twilight explained it to her, the research and presence of magic she felt from Ben before. She explained Ben's power up to now has only been that of destructive magic and the ability to multiply his power significantly, and that it's going to stay like that. Celestia listened closely and she accepted her words curiously, so did Luna.

"So, Ben can't really use any magic other than destructive magic, unfortunately." Twilight said and Luna sighed. "Well, he'll at least have friendship, he just won't be able to use its magical power.

Celestia sipped some more tea before nodding subconsciously in thought. "That is intriguing, destructive magic is but a fifth of alicorn magic. And Ben is an entire vessel of destructive magic…"

"I guess that explains why he's pretty much a force to be reckoned with." Luna chuckled from her half and Celestia smiled in agreement.

"Who's to deny?"

"I deny."

"Twilight?" Luna asked and Twilight grew curious as she explained herself.

"What if we were to shrink Ben to a small size? Would that make him weaker?"

"You'd kill him! There's no way a small body would support such destructive magic, Twilight!" Luna warned her and Twilight nodded along before she sipped from her tea.

"Just goes to show that Ben can still be exposed to the elements…"

Celestia and Luna shared a glance at each other before almost frowning for a second before losing it for a sigh. Twilight had known the answer to her own question, she was just testing both of them, and she was right. Ben is easily killed if the right spell works against him.

"Ben can also be easily disintegrated with spells and he can also be put into a permanent sleep, etc." Twilight continued to degrade Ben but at a factual level to her understandings. Celestia and Luna both thought deeply before actually frowning now at how Twilight was able to think of the worst cases for someone like Ben. Celestia and Luna both quickly got a question for Twilight but before they could speak they noticed how K was staring at Twilight from behind, disappointment in his eyes.

"I don't know if you've noticed Twilight, but Ben can withstand magic that is placed upon him…"

Twilight stiffened as she turned and noticed K, leaning against a wall.

"What?" She asked and K repelled from the wall and found a seat to get comfortable.

"Ben has the ability to override magic. You can hit Ben with a coma inducing spell and he will fight it off. You can hit him with a morphing type of magic and he'll fight it off. The only way you'll be able to actually get him to fall into the spell, is if he lets you induce the spell or you put all your effort and beat it into him. Otherwise, his body will, by instinct, hold it back until Ben notices."

"I agree with K on that statement. Back here on the first day, he did beat our magic we used to sustain him." Luna brought back some history from a their first encounter with Ben. K nodded.

"Exactly…but I by no means am saying he's immune to spells, but you'll have a hard time trying to place them upon him."

Twilight looked curiously at the floor before nodding. "Huh…I never thought he'd have such an ability."

K smirked as he quickly remembered he needed to check on something. "Now, I'll be heading out, I gotta check on a certain few…see ya." He abruptly left.

Twilight, Luna, and Celestia both stared at the space before smiling. "Well, there he goes." Luna said which was followed up by Ben's laughter.

"And just when I got here too." I said pushing the door to walk into the small group, finding a seat. They all greeted me and offered me some more tea, which I gladly took in warmly. "Thanks."

Luna explained how they were just talking about me and how my magic was purely destructive. I agreed with most of it, seeing as Twilight had explained it before. But then she came with something about a spell resistance, which I didn't really understand too well but I got the point briefly.

"Ben, mind if I get back to your friends for a moment?" Twilight asked and I saw no harm in it. She cleared her throat.

"I know this a bad thing to ask, and please don't get offended when I ask you this," She began worrying me with this apology before the mistake. I couldn't think of anything that could be this bad unless she was going to insult my friends harshly, which I knew she wouldn't. She gulped a bit before directly facing me.

"Is it possible that you're still capable of repeating that same level of mercilessness and horrid killing? To be enraged and murder without a regret?"

Celestia and Luna both quickly got on Twilight for having asked such a thing and I let them argue with her as I took a moment to myself. I was going to quickly answer no, but I was stopped by a sudden lump in my throat. Something didn't want to me answer so quickly and I don't know what.

"I…don't know…" I revealed using about as much honesty as I could. Celestia and Luna both choked up as they turned to me. I grabbed my tea and drank instead of sipping. Twilight seemed to also clog on that answer before I sighed and shook my head at having answered so ominously.

"S-sorry, I didn't know how to answer that correctly." I said making up for my earlier response. I looked at Twilight in the eye and shook my head.

"I haven't thought about that at all Twilight, but I feel positive that it would take the ends of the world to get to that level of evil out of me again."

"That's a relief, don't scare us like that!" Twilight said, a bit pale but still lively. I giggled to myself as I raised my tea to take a sip.

"My bad, tea kinda gets me thinking a bit."

They all smiled and relaxed. I as well took some time to take slow whiffs at the tea.

"But yeah, I do wonder to this day how I lost my mind…could it really have been K letting go of my emotions, or could it have been the fact I was weak emotionally? Anyhow, I wouldn't go back and change anything, things happen for a reason."

"So cliché but too true, the mistakes of the past can only be fixed by the choices of the future." Celestia said and I smiled as I leaned back on my seat, calm after hearing those words from her. The amazing level of wisdom in those words spoke wonders.

"Wow, now that's a great philosophy to have." I complimented. "Did you come up with that one?"

She shrugged. "I might have, but I can't say if anypony else has spoken it as well."

That was quite humble of her to say.

"Very humble, Celestia."

"That's how she normally is." Twilight giggled and Luna smiled at hearing that.

"Well, humble when it's necessary."

"Luna, you shouldn't be speaking when you're all but humble." Celestia shot right back at her.

"I'm humble! Really!" Luna asserted getting up and Celestia laughed cutely before sitting Luna down with her magic.

"Sit down and remain humble then!"

"Well now, I got the strange feeling I'm in for an afternoon of excitement today, what about you all?" I asked to start some interesting gossip or something. Celestia and Luna both parted looks and smiled.

"Apart from the race…we're expecting to speak to you about something interesting too." Celestia said making Luna lose the smile. It seems Luna and Celestia weren't thinking alike as of now. Luna turned over quickly and hopped a seat over to hers via teleportation and sneaked a whisper over, which I couldn't hear what's so ever.

Celestia lifted an eyebrow, finding Luna's whisper unattractive and turned to me, growing back the warm smile with a blush following now. I had suspicions but none of them had a clear picture of what was happening. Luna finished her message but she was repelled at how Celestia shrugged her off with that smile of hers.

Twilight looked at me and lifted an eyebrow in equal confusion before she teleported herself over to my seat. I was stunned for a moment before letting an arm go behind her and hook onto her shoulder, taking her presence kindly. She blushed with a smile before turning ahead at the princesses who seemed to be in a bit of miscommunication.

"What do you think they're arguing about?" I asked Twilight and she giggled as she shrugged. "I didn't hear a thing."

"Me neither." I smiled as I waited to hear what they had to say, and they should say it soon as it seemed Luna was losing the steam in her words and Celestia had remained strong with the smile.

"Do you really want to ask him!?" Luna finally asked something in a loud enough whisper for me to hear. Both our eyebrows shot up in confusion as both of us got a question to ask back.

"Ask me what?" I asked in unison with Twilight's, "Ask him what?"

Luna turned to me, a nervous smile glowing but a blush growing deeper with every single second.

"Should I ask him? Or should you?" Celestia asked Luna. Luna couldn't answer with nothing but a nervous giggle as she handed Celestia the right to ask me what ever they had in mind. Celestia smiled and bowed before turning to me. I reached for my tea and took a quick sip before setting it down.

"Ben…am I to know you have no legal parents?" Celestia asked and my face took a freeze frame before I cleared my throat at the random question. She knew I had no parents, unless anyone cared to count Flutters who's housing me and feeding me as a guardian. I sipped some more of my tea.

"No, I don't, why the self-explanatory question?" I asked back and Luna giggled a bit now, not nervous but anxiously awaiting something. I had speculation about what was going on and damn well I knew Celestia was behind it with that smile. I was as well becoming excited by the smile and good vibes that were being thrown around and so was Twilight as she smiled.

"What's going on Celestia? I haven't seen you this happy in a while." Twilight asked and she was right about Celestia. She was all smiles and not a hint of any negativity in her, which was a bit off. Something was afoot and I knew from the beginning.

Celestia sighed as she raised her head up and gave me the most relaxed and welcoming glare, her peaceful eyes made me want to shy away and shrink by how much attention they demanded from me.

"C-Celestia?" I asked to see if she was actually acting normally: she was completely normal.

"Ben, I would like to know if you'd like to be adopted?"


	62. Chapter 62 - War Never Ends

**SERIOUS TALK NOW! NOT REALLY!**

 **I started the name of this Fic as a 'self-explanitory' gag which has stayed with the story. I need an opinion and if you can, give me the opinion on if I should change the name. Other than that, please give me some clue on if the story is drab! There's nothing I hate more than putting something out that won't entertain people. Makes me pissed at myself, ya know? Anyways, please do give me some advice. I started this Fic two and half years ago, when in comparision to the story, its only been two weeks...Christ...just food for thought. Please enjoy, and if you can't, then tell me why!**

#62

"ADOPTED!?" The horde of ponies yelled out all coming out of some of the most obscure places: Dash from the window, Flutters from the bathroom, Pinkie from a trashcan, Rarity from the kitchen, AJ from behind the couch I was on, K from absolutely nowhere, and Derpy just walked in from the door with a bag of presumably muffins. Twilight was stunned for a moment before a smile arose and she quickly embraced me in a hug, rocking me side to side in absolute joy.

"That's right! You can be adopted! How did I never think about that!?" She asked herself with a great spirit. But that was her, the main part of all this was me, how did I feel about this? I couldn't get the idea to go through my head, something was stopping it from doing so, maybe the fact that I needed had my actual parents stuck in my head. I soon felt Twilight slow down the rocking of my body and slowly detached as she figured I was still trying to get it through my head.

"Is it too much?" Twilight asked, losing that excitement, giving me a reason to respond. I let my hand slight rise up in order to get some time to think. I thought for about a few more seconds as ponies had began gathering and filling the room up again. I raised my head up having processed it briefly. Being adopted was a concept to me that I never had any issues with till now. I knew it was a responsibility issue, and I know so since I myself got someone I have to responsible over, and thankfully, I can keep her with me at all times. But who'd be responsible for me? A grown, _matured_ -sorta, young man.

Exactly, who would be responsible for me? That's my first question.

"No…it makes sense Twilight," I answered for her last comment before turning to Celestia and Luna, who'd become somewhat static. "But who Celestia? Luna? Who would be the one to take me into their family?" I asked them and they both looked at each other before coming back with an answer.

"Ben, we were thinking on letting you decide, we didn't think we'd be deciding." Celestia said throwing back my own question at me. _Who do I want as a family member_? Again, if I were to choose, who'd want me then?

"Then…I guess my new question is, who? Who are my options?" I asked and the room went silent as Celestia and Luna themselves seemed to look away to think. Although, they also exhibited some disappointment at the same time. Celestia and Luna had something planned but it seems I'm not really living up to those plans.

"Well…Rainbow Dash could use a brother, no?" Twilight suddenly dropped an option and that was an option I was slightly fond of, but then I was skeptic about. I had met Dash's mother, and I did like her, she was kind and all, and Dash as a sister was a crazy idea considering we'd be closer than we've ever been. Then again, being related that way would give an anxiety considering I've…well, slept with her.

"W-wait! He hasn't even met my mom yet!" Dash suddenly yelled out nervously, laughing unwillingly a bit in all the awkwardness Twilight had created for her. I'm surprised she didn't even oppose or try to distract the offer from herself, but nonetheless, she was wrong about her mother.

"I have met her, Windy Whistles, we met just a while ago before I came here." I contradicted Dash and her mouth fell agape as she turned to me. "Y-you did!?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit. I assured her of that and she stared aimlessly at me before moving up closer.

"S-she's nice…right?" She asked and I smirked before smiling for the first time after hearing the offer for adoption, which was still picking at me. "She was, and as a matter of fact-

I reached for my side and whipped out the goggles and let them hang off my hand as I demonstrated them to her. "She gave me these! For the race later on today!" I said with glee and Dash stared at the goggles before smiling a bit.

"W-wow! I…guess you do know her then! So, there is a chance!" She said, excited in a turn of attitude which was a good thing really. With Dash so content about it all, I guess here's option number one. "So, you'd like that?" I asked her and she gave me the usual confident smile with a side of a blush.

"Of course!"

I lifted an eyebrow to her excitement and chuckled. "You wouldn't mind me as brother?" I asked her and she blushed some more before laughing.

"It's weird maybe, but I'd like it, I've never had a brother."

I smirked at our equal thoughts. "And I've never had a sister. I've also never had a pony as family member either."

She smiled a bit more and I did too. I was surprised but glad to see her happy and cheerful. Still, I don't really know how her mom would react to me asking over such a thing, so there's still some more options to explore.

"Wow, look at me creating families!" Twilight giggled with a blush making only a few smile, Pinkie, Rarity and K…and that's about it. Speaking about K, he's been quiet for a while now, you'd think he'd be the first to throw a fit or give an insightful comment. I turned to him and he was smiling like he had nothing to care any less about, _odd_. He noticed me give him some attention and he let his rabid teeth show with his smile before he came up.

"Fine, that's Dash, speak now or forever hold your peace." K demanded from the room and the one to speak after him was AJ.

"I know it's up to him…but an extra relative is always welcome, especially one I like." AJ offered and now I gotta say that was so simple yet welcoming. She was also there to offer me a family, never did I expect to get two ponies offering me legal adoption options and in a week's time too. It's not every day someone is looking to add a separate bloodline to their family. I liked that option from AJ, yet I don't know who her parents are, so that's gotta be first thing I do if I want that to work. K nodded to that.

"Alright, Applejack and Dash, any other-

"Uh, excuse me…but wouldn't it be strange…you know…if brother and sister…were in love…you know…like…sexually…?" Flutters asked her voice starting in a normal whisper and lowering and lowering to a mere whisper of incomprehensible words. K slowly turned to her before placing a hand over his chin and considering it. Flutters had asked something I was well aware of. That was true, step-brother and step-sister intercourse is still incest to my knowledge. Dash and AJ both dropped their ears and blushed as they thought about it and so did Celestia and Luna to my surprise…I turned to look at them all before realizing there was more to this than I thought.

"Not really, Fluttershy." Twilight suddenly answered to many of our surprises. We all stared at her as she gave Fluttershy the upmost attention. "I mean, sometimes family have to show each other love, don't they? Think about it, if your brother is the closest you've ever been to somepony and he gives you enough love and affection, why is it bad to love him beyond the line of sibling love? And since you know each other so well, then there's no problem when it comes to relationship issues, because you'll still be brother and sister, and it happens. In the end, we're just ponies with the title Brother and Sister, who share a bloodline." Twilight said in a confident counter to Flutters, making me, Dash, AJ, the two princesses, and everyone all raise our heads in attention. Twilight looked around at our confused stares and they cornered her as she shrunk a bit in her seat and chuckled awkwardly.

"Um…or is it just me?"

"No…it makes sense actually…" K said taking a seat with a hand still on his chin and thinking on it. Of course, K will never not consider an idea that's taboo. He thought on it, for a few seconds before lowering his hand and turning to Twilight with a serious question in mind judging by his look. "But Twilight, how do you know this? If none of us have any idea on this idea of yours, how come you know?"

Twilight quickly shook her head and tried to distract K with her hoof. "N-no, it's just some ideas-

"Well, actually now, Twilight is the only one to have a brother who's very attractive…no offense Applejack." Rarity spoke her mind making AJ pout. "None taken,"

I let my head connect the details and I knew everyone connected the clues just as fast as I did. We all turned to Twilight who had shrunk so low she had pulled out a seat cushion and began shielding herself with it. "Y-you're all taking it way too seriously…" She said, not really proving herself innocent of whatever our heads just got an image of. K laughed it up out of the silence and grinned devilishly at Twilight.

"Hey, it's like you said, sometimes family have to show each other love, don't they?" K exposed her with his so tempting grin, it paralyzed Twilight.

"Oh my…I'm sorry, Twilight…" Flutters apologized shrinking down as well in embarrassment of having brought up such a conversation. Twilight didn't and wasn't going to be speaking for quite a while now that for sure. I guess I'll have to ignore her for now, I still have to think of an adoption option. Yet, now I have a hell of good topic to speak with Shining about next time I see him, maybe even a good blackmail if it's necessary: _I gotta get some benefits as well, ya know?_ And also, I would be a fool to not even consider Twilight's words. What she said had a point, and a good one to be fair, or maybe I'm just thinking about that because I want an excuse to keep up with relationships. Damn it, I this is no time to be thinking like this!

"Well, that's that I guess, if it makes you feel better, you're not the only to have done it, there's plenty of ponies in this world that no one will ever be the first to something. Now has anyone else got an inquiry?" K asked, and Twilight sunk even lower in embarrassment.

"Um…Twilight? Is that true?" Celestia asked, a small smile over her disbelief and humor. Twilight had to say something, there was no way she could stay quiet.

"I-I don't want to answer!" She said abruptly making Celestia giggle before laughing.

"Oh, my Twilight, I won't chastise you, but that's hilarious by your part!"

"Don't tell Cadence!"

I had lost myself in my own fantasy realm just letting the conversation create the images in my head. As of now, I had a yelling Cadence yelling my head at Twilight.

"She wouldn't mind! She's the Princess of Love, she'll understand!" Luna laughed back.

Now I had a Cadence petting and congratulating Twilight in my head.

There was a sudden rumble in the building which stopped as soon as it started. It was only for a second but it was enough to knock down a vase which Celestia quickly caught with her magic and replaced it. Everyone turned to K as he was the only one standing and he quickly cleared his throat.

"Uh-huh…sounds like it wasn't any of us, an earthquake?" K asked and I stood up from my seat and looked around, surveying around making sure it was nothing around. There was nothing abnormal that could've caused it in the room.

"I'm not sure…" I said sitting back down and clearing my throat. "Strange…" I whispered before taking my cup of tea and sipping out once more.

K nodded suspiciously before turning to Celestia and Luna. "Now that's over, you two seemed to like humorizing Twilight over her…you know. But why did you two dip when Flutters brought that up about sibling sexual relationships, what did you have in mind?" K asked turning back to the point of discussion and I was quickly back into it as well. Luna and Celestia did react to that earlier as K said and I noticed it as well.

Celestia and Luna both blushed as they tried to stand firm to their ground on the sofa.

"We do believe-

"I believe my daughters are in need of a husband, and one who's related to a family at least."

We all shared a blink equally at the voice. That voice haunted me, not driving fear from me, just anxiety. That voice was too similar to hers, so dominate and free to say whatever it wants.

I quickly got off my seat and had to stare as suddenly she just walked in. The one I owe my life to, the one who saved me, the one who I had met not a few days ago, the one who's now in this room. She just walked in…like nothing. I cloaked myself in my nervousness, caused by her presence. Nothing could have prepared me for this, and neither could anyone else have been in the room. She was really there, just smiling, glazing a look over us all, surveying her subjects.

"M-Mother…" Celestia whispered to herself before Luna quickly got up to give the expected greetings from someone who hasn't seen their mother in the longest of times.

"Y-you're back! Finally back, w-welcome!" Luna exclaimed, teary eyed all the way as she fully embraced her mother, using her wings and all. Unprofessionally, but who would care when they finally get to meet their mother after a hiatus of god knows how long. The Queen, as I'll address her, giggled before giving Luna a kiss on her forehead, just pushing out more of Luna's emotional tears.

"I was bound to, wasn't I?" She asked back and Luna nodded childishly before smiling and giving one more embrace for ole time's sake.

"M-MOTHER!?" Everyone around the room asked and Twilight instantly stood in attention and directed her aim towards the presence full of warmth in the room. She _was_ warm, she practically radiated warmth and comfort, almost like Celestia when Celestia was in a good mood. I looked over to Celestia to notice how she stared for a moment before getting down her seat and moving over, ever so steadily, almost as if afraid if she approached too quickly she'll disappear.

"Celestia…" Their mother greeted with a smile and Celestia was not moved whatsoever by her smile. Something was hurting Celestia, it was on her face, it was on her body movements, it was in her eyes. Celestia wasn't ready to meet her mother just yet.

"Mother…" Celestia called, her voice was dim and demanding of answers, which put her mother in a small state of confusion. "…you're not fooling us again, and running off once more…are you?"

The way her mother's confusion melted away to the fear of knowing she had hurt Celestia, was heartbreaking to see. I blinked away the shock of seeing the Queen so stunned and began asking myself how bad the relationship between these two was. That was deep from Celestia, but she was serious about the question. She looked up at her mother and her mother looked back at her, a small standoff with stares which made me want to intervene but I held back from this royal family business, knowing I'd probably end up getting shunned or yelled at. I knew Celestia was powerful, but something told me this was way more defining of her power. Mothers can't be stared into their eyes the way Celestia was doing and I was growing terrified of how long this was going lasting.

"Sis…just let it go, she's with us now." Luna said, her tears now dried but growing weary, trying to influence her sister to back off but Celestia herself was by now a matured mare who knew how to handle herself, hence her denial to Luna's request. It was always a shocker by Celestia to be so highly agitated, but that's just what she did.

"And how do I know that she is!? How do I know she won't scurry away for another millennia or so!? We may be long lasting, but our feelings and emotions aren't! I won't suffer for another millennia confused as to where my mother has been for the time in between, it's degrading!" Celestia cried and for the first time in a while, I have finally felt how bad it was to have no parent to watch over me. It hurts, and it really does when you think about how much you don't have. I could relate well. Luna felt likewise as she as well downed her head in respect to Celestia's cry, so did everyone in the room who fell silent. The Queen looked about as hurt as Celestia, but she didn't shed a single tear.

"What were you doing in…" Celestia began but a whimper got the better of her only making her mother squint a bit at the pain she was seeing before her.

"…In all that time!?" She asked demandingly.

I stood up slowly, seeing as I needed to stand my ground and not fall into the emotional moment which was all this. I moved up but kept a relatively good distance to not provoke a war that wasn't of my concern. The Queen had no choice in this one, she either responded or showed she didn't care at all, and I knew she would choose right. How did I know? Because she's her mother, it's what they do.

"Celestia, forgive me for making you miserable with my absence, but I knew about you every night and day, during every unfortunate event, I was always there…but I concealed myself from sight." She said, taking a step closer to Celestia, who was now looking like child in her mother's presence, not that it's a bad thing by any means.

"Concealed!? W-why?" Celestia asked, desperate for the answers she's longed for. I had the same question, why would she conceal herself from sight of her two daughters by choice? My mother would have always have been with me unless something intervened, in her case, war and her death stopped her form seeing me ever again.

She, The Queen, sighed before taking her pride and shoving it a side. Moving completely up to Celestia and using her magic to clean those tears from her innocent face.

"Because I would've brought about problems of which the likes of you or anypony should never have to face."

Truth be told, I had a suspicion as to what these problems could be, but that didn't take away from the shocker it gave me and everyone here. Luna turned to her mother in an instant with the question that Celestia quickly got to.

"Problems? I don't understand!" Celestia asked in all her confusion which was a might to hold back feeling worried about. Her wide eyes were killing me. Her mother closed her eyes and nodded before using her wing to show the couch that was perfectly made for holding two alicorn sized ponies, Luna and Celestia. "Have a seat, please…"

Celestia and Luna did as told, and I did too, sitting back on the recliner which only held me. K had kept quiet this whole time, just staring at the Queen's presence like everyone else did in the room. He chose to sit on the floor and cross his legs with Derpy next to him, too shocked to eat anything. The Queen didn't sit down, she stood on the floor with our attention hooked on her. She surveyed around before turning to Celestia and Luna.

"Listen my Daughters, and all if you may, I'm a very old alicorn, and with that I've lived through difficult times, and one of them was a period in which these two types ponies were around who set off a great war. They were The Fighter and The Demon as we all decided to name them. These two ponies had great power, enough to best the strongest like myself, and with that, came fear."

"Fear?" Celestia asked, slightly more curious than pained hearing her mother explain. She nodded.

"Yes, fear." She confirmed. "Fear that we, the higher class of alicorn, would lose power. And so, we made a deal with gods, and all damnation was released upon Equestria. Gods and demigods eliminated the Fighters and Demons, and the Fighters and Demons did the same to many gods and alicorns. The lives of innocents who had no right to have lost their lives, suffered as well. We soon realized that the price was too grand, and when we ordered the end to war, hearts were set on fire and the passion for bloodshed was too great. It went on to become a terrible century for Equestria."

"What happened then?" Luna asked next, intrigued like all of us. The Queen seemed to struggle a bit as she tried to understand what she was about to say.

"I joined in battle, as I had to, but the war was now between gods and the two types of pony, I was the one in the middle who was trying to stop the two from attacking each other. That meant having to hurt some from either side. That…" She said before stopping to think of her words. "…those very actions have placed a heavy price on my head, and a price that even to this day, gods won't hesitate on having a chance at my life…"

"Oh Mother…" Luna expressed followed by Celestia who choked on words.

"So…you're afraid?" Celestia asked and her mother bowed her head, honestly.

"Yes, I fear most the endangerment of Equestria once more, I don't want war ever again, and that's precisely why I've kept hidden. Ponies…they weren't created to fight gods."

"Then why would you come out now? What the reason!?" Celestia asked further, trying to make sure she wasn't being told a lie. If it was a lie, I couldn't tell. I also couldn't tell the reason for her turning to me, the Queen that is.

"Why, your friend here, goes by the name of Ben." She said turning to me and smiling. "It's an honor to finally meet you, physically." The Queen spoke addressing me. I held my head up and stared silently as I refused to get involved just yet into this conversation.

Celestia, Luna, and everyone turned to me and I rose to the attention. "Ben!? What's he got to do with anything!?" Celestia asked while Luna kept quiet, just staring at me.

I didn't like the way Celestia responded to my name being thrown out there. The Queen, like me, didn't appreciate the response either and turned to her. No one could connect the dots between me and the Queen, neither could I with all the suspicions I had. Why was I the reason for her coming out? I kept my sight solely on the Queen, despite all the looks that exchanged between me and her.

"Ben, the one who I must give the greatest of gratitude, he defeated the one god who was sent here to Equestria on a mission to uncover me. His plot was to cause despair until I appeared, to presumably stop it and then he'd attack. But by those means, he needed some special being to do the work for him so he wouldn't be figured out. You Ben," She said finally turning to me fully, she moved over to me and stopped where I was. Just a foot away from my seat. I gulped as I looked straight at her, trying not to breath too heavily, shiver, or show any discomfort in her presence.

"M-me?" I asked, hoping she'd jump to the answers because I was already stuttering. She smiled for a change as she used her magic to press against my chest, like someone placing a finger over it and pressing it deep.

"Yuson expected you to cause the despair, and in any case, I would've killed you when I figured out you had finally arrived in this world." She brutally revealed making me glare at her, eyes shaking and everything.

"So…I was in danger by default the moment I spawned in this new world!?" I asked her and she held her smile.

"But you resisted the incantation Yuson had placed over your head. Such happens when one is strong willed and possesses great strength to overpower such spells. But I'll admit, the moment you butchered those Timber Wolves, I was going to strike you down where you stood then, but I quickly retracted the disintegration spell the moment somepony decided to let out a squeal." She said before looking around the room and finding Dash. "The way you treated her…you were being civil and trying to communicate with her. Not at all like the evil being I expected. And as it seems, you two are very intimate now, aren't you?" She asked and Dash blinked just like I did. "Yeah…we are…" Dash admitted making everyone in the room glance at her for a moment before I cleared my throat. She saved me…from being a pile of ashes…

"I can't believe it…" I said with almost no breath at all. "I owe Dash my life!"

"Your hero, indeed." The Queen said before turning to Dash who was processing it all. "I owe you too, Rainbow Dash."

"Huh?" She asked before quickly realizing how rudely she said that and corrected it in a split second. "I mean-how, your highness?"

"If you had not convinced me to spare Ben with your simple being there…I wouldn't be here with my daughters and you all to be telling this good news. Oh, and I hope that clarifies any confusion with Yuson, and as to why he's brought you here and his motives." The Queen explained turning to me to finish it all off. _Clarifies!?_ EVERYTHING IS CLEAR AS RAIN NOW!

"It does, everything is clear!" I said, actually having a blast of knowledge circulate through my head. Everything made perfect sense now, nothing was missing, every little detail was now fully connected like a solved puzzle. Yuson, that bastard had me by the strings like a puppet, and lucky I was able to break free. I noticed the Queen hooves nearly touch my feet and my sight quickly rushed up to her.

"You killed Yuson by your will, an achievement that no Fighter, nor Demon has ever done in the past." She explained the history I've already lived in. She looked down at me and un-pressed that magic on my chest and stood me up there after with her magic. I remained standing as she gave me a look of respect and spawned something in my hands. I looked down at the long three-foot blade which I closed my grip on the moment it touched my palm: it was instinct. It was my own. I stared at it for a moment before looking at her.

"You fought for not me, but those you care for, and you did much more than what any pony could do for me, my daughters, and Equestria. I honor that. How you gained that determination and power, I do not know, but nonetheless, my respect goes out to you. I'll have something somewhat of a gift soon enough for you, just give me time to prepare it." She explained before raising my blade up to my face with her magic and forcing me to stare at it. Slowly, I noticed how the sword glowed a mystical blue before disappearing. "Thank you, I bless your weapon of choice with a holy power you'll come to understand in time." She said with a smile that only mimicked Celestia's casual smile. I felt so much pressure as I nodded quickly and accepted all her kind words. The nervousness got the better of me. "Y-yes! Thank you, and you're welcome."

"Why so nervous?" She asked and I shivered as I tried to smile but it looked like I was trying to hold back from crying.

"I-I…uh…this is just so unexpected, one second we're talking about adoption and the next we're talking history again." I explained to her and she laughed before bowing her head. "Yes, I understand. And now, I have something special for you."

"Special?" I asked and she smiled as she nodded. "Call those who hold their place in your soul, out."

" _Us?_ " I heard Strike ask in my head before the little one snuck into communication. " _Do we have too_?"

I cleared my throat as I nodded to the Queen that I would get them out.

" _Yes, come on out, the both of you_."

Like that they spawned on either side of me, Strike to my left and the kid to my right.

"Hi, Daddy!"

"Hey." I smiled back.

"What are we doing?" Strike asked looking up at the Queen curiously. She reorganized us and put my filly first, then Strike. The Queen smiled as she hushed her before turning to K, who lifted his head in immediate attention.

"K, next to Strike, if you please." The Queen commanded and K did obediently.

"Alright, as you say." He said standing next to Strike and the curiosity grew, going along with whatever was happening. I filled in the place after K and stared as the Queen approved of our lineup. She looked at each of us, in a perfect side-to-side line before clearing her throat.

"Now, bow down!" She ordered forcefully and we all didn't even think about it, our bodies did as asked and we bowed. Her voice was powerful that for sure. Both of us, K and I, had a way of bowing, we kneeled down and let our position stay like that as the Queen surveyed over us all.

"Mother, what are you doing?" Celestia asked, but I couldn't look at her in this position, the four of our heads were all staring directly at the ground, the fear of doing against the Queen's wishes was great. The Queen ignored her daughter as she spawned a broad sword out of thin air and we all gulped, the sharp weapon was about five long.

"Starting with you, young filly." The Queen said before raising the sword high. I could see how nervous she was as she closed her eyes in fear.

"As a mere filly, your magical abilities are extraordinary. Born from the magic of a god, you're blessed with true holy light in your magic, and you'll grow to become an Alicorn of the most powerful in all of Equestria. I have no doubts. Do you accept becoming a citizen of Equestria?"

We're being sworn in…

"Y-yes." My little filly responded and my eyes widened at the thought she's be an alicorn. An alicorn…and the Queen confirms it. I had no doubt she was special but that was something I could take pride in. The Queen lowered the sword on either side of her head and over her shoulders.

"Welcome to Equestria."

She's a citizen now.

"T-thank you."

Strike was next and she was nervous as well to have a great sword raised above her head.

"You're a special unicorn as well, you don't have the capabilities of becoming an alicorn, but you have the same holy light in your magic as the one before you. You protect Ben and care for him, it's something you've sworn to yourself to do, and you've chosen to become his personal bodyguard by your own will. And honorary task. Now, my faith in you is at its peak, do you accept becoming a citizen of Equestria?"

"Yes…" Strike said before the sword did its job and like that she was sworn in.

"Welcome to Equestria, Rapid Strike."

"Thank you, your highness."

That was right, now that we're getting sworn in, we can address her as Queen now. This was a privilege by all means.

Next was K, and he was serious as he stood on his knee like I did.

"Now, you demon…" The Queen began and I could feel her smile radiating upon K. "My history with Demons…it wasn't best, but I knew they made great allies and there was no friend more trustworthy than a demon if you had one. And you demon, K…you live up that expectation. As a rogue demon, you fight alongside who you belong to, you protect others unlike the usual demon, you love and remain faithful, yet you keep the honor of being a demon. So, I ask, with all respect, do you accept becoming a citizen of Equestria?"

K took all that in before bowing his head lower. "Yes."

"Welcome to Equestria, K, Kusanagi."

K remained silent for a moment, hearing his real name being used, and I as well was surprised hearing that name again. It reminded me of when I first met him a changing period of my life. K sighed and smiled. "Thank you, your highness."

The respect one can get from K, Kusanagi.

I felt the hooves appear before my sight and I blinked a few times as I saw the gauntlets of her hooves. I would be officially sworn in…

"To the one who I owe the most of my thanks, it is you." She began and I could feel the pressure start to build up. "Where do I begin honestly? Ben, I recognize you as an unfathomable member of this world, words can't summarize, but I shall try. You who has freed me of the fear of starting a war with gods by ending Yuson, you who have protected your dreams and honor, you who wields a blade to use against those who bring harm to your loved ones, you who has undoubtedly found his way into the deepest places of a mare's heart, you who will forever be known as a human, a one-of-a-kind, and the only Ben to ever exist. I ask, with all the respect in my heart, do you accept becoming a citizen of Equestria?"

I had to take it in before bowing lower. "Yes."

I felt the blade she had do its honors and once it was raised off of me, I heard the words.

"Welcome to Equestria, Benjamin Flores, Ben."

I liked hearing my name in such a high-class manner, it reminded me of how I was addressed back in training. I took a deep breath before smiling.

"Thank you, your highness."

We remained in our position until she finally gave the word we could stand and when we did, seeing everyone again in the room felt so much more different. It was almost as if, I was just a bit closer now.

"It's an honor to have you all here in Equestria, ah! But my work isn't done, yet, there is still one who I have missed!" The Queen said looking over to K and K lifted an eyebrow.

"That Changeling, goes by the name of Chrysalis, former Queen of the Changelings. Despite her conflicts, she's come a long way."

K brightly returned the response. "Oh yeah! I can get her!" K immediately claimed before the Queen shook her head and lowered his hand with her magic from his forehead.

"No, I'll handle that, you'll be there I promise you, but I need to prepare something for it." She assured K and he nodded accepting the assurance. "Alright."

A breath of fresh air was what I was given finally being able to claim myself officially a member of the Equestrian regime.

"Daddy!"

I let out the breath of air and chuckled as I got clung onto. "Hey!" I said back with a smile being shared between us. Seeing her innocent smile, it gave me a small heartfelt moment. She will be an alicorn one day, I don't know when, but why did I feel so proud? I knew why I was proud, but I don't know how to express such a feeling, I simply smiled along for now until I knew how to.

"Did you hear? I'm going to be an alicorn!"

I laughed at her excitement and fiddled with her hair a bit. "I know, I heard!" I said joining in with her joy which was mine as well, and it seemed the whole rooms' as well.

"I always had the suspicion she would be able to become one, she has a high concentration of magic and she's kindhearted. I guess now I don't need to think much of it." Twilight said moving up to the little pony and smiling.

"But you still need a name!" She reminded us all.

"Be patient Twilight, her name isn't one that is simply given to her, being made by a god means she has a name, her name will come when the time is right." The Queen asserted and my that made naming my pony easier. Of course, coming up with a name of my own is an option, but I would like to know her real name before taking such a decision. "So, I need to be patient?" I asked and the Queen smiled.

"Exactly."

"Huh." I smirked before turning to Strike who had sat next to the little filly with a smile.

"So…we're citizens of Equestria, who would've thought it?" Strike asked rhetorically and her message applied to us all, me, K, her, and the little pony, and soon to be Chrysalis. Luna and Celestia smiled as they assured her they were citizens before turning to their mother.

"And now, Mother, you mean with Yuson gone…you can finally stay?" Celestia asked before Luna did the same remembering the opportunity they had to ask and how they only needed a simple yes or no for their mother to stay with them. "Yes! Yuson is no more! Will you stay!?" Luna asked while encouraging her mother to spill the good news.

The Queen looked at them both seriously before smiling warmly.

"Of course!"

Twilight quickly instructed Flutters to make more tea and so she did in a flash as well all settled to think and talk about this occurrence. Damn, these days just never go normally do they? I grabbed my refilled cup of tea and sipped, and as expected, it was better than usual considering Flutters was trying to outdo herself for the sake of the visit. Celestia and Luna caught up on something with their mother and the rest of us spoke about it. After much talking, Twilight went on to explain something about the Elements of Harmony. I listened in every so closely, I learned so much about the talk.

Apparently, what stood out to me the most, was when Twilight, with her friends, could create a deadly beam of sorts, and it was actually used to stop Nightmare Moon earlier. A beam of friendship as she called it. When the elements of harmony are rounded up: Kindness, Loyalty, Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, and Magic, they can create this beam. Still, the main thing was labeling her friends and herself under these categories and they were labeled correctly. Every one of them fit the description of their title. I was fascinated by it.

Now, I can ask Moon how it felt to be shot with a deadly beam, although it shouldn't be that bad if Moon still lives.

"And Twilight, I've kept a close eye on you, and alas I must say, it's a pleasure to meet the Princess of Friendship. Congratulations on becoming an alicorn, even if it was a while ago." Was her last remark to Twilight making her blush in embarrassment and thank her for the kind words. Twilight had probably never felt that much pressure on her, she was all over the place with embarrassment and dying of nervousness. "Thank you, you're too kind."

She smiled before turning to me, catching me will in the middle of taking another sip. "And Ben,"

I hicced as I picked my head up and lowered the cup. _Why did she need me again?_

"Yes?" I asked, calm and collected on the outside.

She carried this pleasing smile which was reflected on everyone, the moment was good and peaceful.

"You obviously being from another world, what have your say in friendship?" She asked me and I lifted an eyebrow and coughed a bit at the question. I've always had a straightforward answer for this question. "Well, friendship is a part of me, I fight for my friends and care for them, I don't really know what else there is to it." I said, being honest. Luna nodded before turning to her mother.

"Mother, Ben can't harness friendship as a power, he's solely destruction magic." Luna clarified getting Celestia's agreeing input. Twilight as well gave her input, all three of them being well informed on the subject of my magic. The Queen looked at all of us before shaking her head.

"Tis a lie." She spoke. I took a great freeze like everyone. Luna and Celestia looked at each other, confused by the news and Twilight coughed a bit.

"Err…excuse me?" All three of them asked and the Queen once again spoke.

"Tis a lie." The Queen claimed before stopping them from asking to clarify. "He has destruction magic as obviously seen, but he has learned to harness alternation magic believe it or not. It's been hidden right under your hooves!" She explained. I lifted an eyebrow as I tried to figure out the definition of "Alternation Magic." I ran my hand up to my chin and thought before Celestia spoke up for me. K as well dodged an eyebrow as he as well began thinking with his hand on his chin, but it seemed as if K was actually figuring out answers unlike me.

"Explain Mother, please." Celestia asked.

The Queen gave them all a confused look as she found it wrong for them to not see what she was seeing, which I as well failed to see: and I'm the center of attention right now.

"I will. Alternation magic is the magic of altering your physical state. And as of now he's mastered three subjects under it: Flight, teleportation, and multiplying his power significantly." She explained and suddenly, the term alternation magic made so much more sense and she was right to say it was in plain sight. Everyone in the room looked at each other with looks of realization, some even laughing at how they never noticed it like Twilight.

"Oh my! That is true!" Luna agreed before I myself realized it. It has been under my hooves...well, nose. Alternation magic, if I can do that, then what am I capable of now that I know this!? It was beyond exciting.

"What does that mean? What am I capable of if I can use that type of magic?" I asked and Twilight got ahead of our visitor to answer that. Despite Twilight cutting into the Queen's answer which she had ready for me, she smiled at Twilight expressing her knowledge well.

"It means you can learn magic like: making magical barriers and increasing of your stamina and other things like that!" She explained making me rise to the occasion with intense excitement. The possibilities if I'm able to master that would be amazing.

"Wait a minute! That's unfair! That gives him an advantage!" Dash suddenly came up with an argument and she was right if what Twilight says is true but there was one problem with it.

"Ben doesn't know how to do those things Dashie, you can rest assured as of now." Twilight assured Dash. Dash blinked curiously, before chuckling nervously and smiling with a blush, seeing how her outburst was pointless.

"Oh, my bad."

The Queen even laughed but not for Dash, she quickly became game-eyed, ready to stunned once more, because she was holding back something else.

"But I can't believe any of you still haven't realize how much more powerful he is, and what other forms of magic you let go unnoticed." The Queen once again dropped a shocker. I closed my hands into fists as I had thought that was the end of it. Celestia and Luna both quickly turned. "More!?" They asked and their mother nodded.

"Yes, I'm sure you've bared witness to his ability to absorb magic and convert it to his own: That's a hybrid between Restoration magic and Alternation Magic." She revealed and that was also right under my nose. Everyone who's Twilight, Luna, and Celestia just exchanged a look before almost wanting to groan in the disappointment of not having figured it out. "Oh my, how have we just glazed that over?" Celestia asked before her mother chuckled.

"And I'm sure you've noticed that there's a point in which his magic suddenly turns into that of a pure-white aura, have you not?"

"Mother! That's your magic!" Luna exclaimed and her mother smiled.

"Indeed, it is, and it is also unknown how Ben has attained such magic. That magic, Pure-White magic, is a magic that occurs in stages. The first stage is being able to use it and summon the aura with some assistance from either turmoiled emotions or pain. You'd simply gain a small percent of its true power. The second stage is summoning the aura and being able to control it for your own uses, at this point the aura is half way to its full potential. And third…" She said before growing an ominous voice. "No pony has ever gone that far…not even I. The fear that it would be too much to handle grounds us."

"What stage is Ben at?" Applejack asked, of all ponies to be concerned with magic. The Queen thought before turning to her.

"From what I have seen, Ben is different from Alicorns. Pure-White magic in Alicorns gives us the power to strengthen our magic drastically, and that's it. But for Ben…it seems his physical strength, his reactions, his perception, his movements, and his magic all increase drastically…even his physical appearance changes. Ben made a remarkable leap forward and skipped stage one and went into stage two during his battle with Yuson, which I've never before seen. But sadly, that has its downfalls."

"How so?" I asked becoming interested.

"You've stunned your body into thinking that stage two is stage one, so when you do try to access that power, you'll more than likely fail." She answered, simple and forward. I really didn't understand it, but who better to trust than someone who's mastered the magic.

"Alright, so now what?" I asked further and she smiled, glad to have received my compliance.

"Simple: start over and begin teaching your body that stage one is first and not stage two."

I hated to be asking so many questions, but she was giving some over-simplified question. And then the Queen isn't stupid neither, she's probably giving me simple questions to get at something. "But how?" I played along. She smirked as I expected giving me enough proof that she was baiting me into something.

"Training, lots upon lots of training." She said and I slowly nodded before smiling at the idea of training to attain a new-found power. "Great, training sounds like it's going to be rigorous, so I guess I'll get fit for it." I said with a grin, ready for such a task. "This race should help with that too."

"Well, it doesn't have to be rigorous," She said before lighting up in an idea. "How about this, I, myself, am a great sparring partner, how about a training session against me?"

 _Was she serious?_ I made sure I heard that right by looking around the room at all the faces, all shocked expressions just pointed to the fact that she did just offer me that option. I looked at her and gulped as I spoke with an open mind. "W-what!? Are you serious!?" I asked and she glared down on me.

"Did I stutter?" She asked me frowning for a change. I backed off instantly and shook my head. "No ma'am!"

She smiled in a sudden change. "That's what I thought."

"Mother, are you sure? Ben is…" Celestia began but she was quickly cut off her safety speech.

"He quiet nearly killed you in the simulation, but there's no need to fear him, for losing control of his power is part of learning how to control it." Her mother explained making me slightly intrigued by her wisdom. So, she wasn't being foolish in offering me such an offer, and now that I think about it, maybe this was what she was trying to get at with her simple answers earlier. She turned to me, blazing confidence in her eyes and posture.

"So, dearest Ben, how shall it be? Do you accept my _Challenge_? I know you love them." She taunted and everyone's attention turned to me. She knew what she was doing labeling this as _challenge_ , and she knew I wasn't lying when I mentioned that a challenge is irresistible to me. Everyone in the room also knew how I reacted to challenges thrown at me, so when those words left her mouth, the atmosphere for a war was created.

"Challenge eh…?" I asked, seemingly mimicking her confidence.

"Ben, choose wisely." Luna warned me. I smirked and stared my challenger down before chuckling, my fate already decided. I raised my hand and closed it onto a fist for her to see this is in my hand.

"A peculiar Queen you are, but I won't question things that I like. You have the wisdom of Celestia and the brave soul of Luna, I can see exactly where they got their attributes from. But as to my decision: I foolishly accept your challenge!" I declared making a few hic and others gasp.

Celestia stared at me for a while, seeing how I was confident. She sighed before giggling. "Well, it was written in the books that Ben would never refuse a challenge."

"Without a doubt." Luna sighed next, giggling equally.

"I'm glad, I haven't had a chance to exercise my combat, so this'll be exciting!" The Queen happily expressed before thanking me once more for the opportunity, which I quickly accepted.

"Wow, Ben is always fighting, isn't he?" I heard Flutters quietly ask which forced a smile from me as Dash and the rest smiled. "That's the Ben we know!"

"Ah, and how can I forget about K, and Fluttershy?" The Queen suddenly turned giving them attention which was respected fully by the two of them. Both K and Fluttershy picked their head up in perfect alike timing.

"Me?" Both asked before looking at each other. The Queen smiled and nodded.

"Yes, you two, K, Ben's demon, and Fluttershy, a hybrid between demon and pony. You helped Ben in that battle, I have to thank you for that." She gladly announced making K quickly dash his sight over to Fluttershy, who blinked ominously at the Queen before clearing her throat.

"Um…excuse me…but I'm just a normal pony, right K?" Flutters asked turning to K who couldn't look away now that Flutters was staring at him with hope. K smiled nervously and chuckled, a bead of sweat making its way down his face.

"Um…no." K put it simple and Flutters went pale.

"What?" She asked immediately and emotionless. K gulped before tugging at the neck collar of his shirt and chuckling some more.

"Um…no…?" K repeated, not really wanting to explain or break it to her. Flutters shivered as she shook her head.

"K, I'm a normal pony!"

K shook his head back quickly. "No, you're not!" He stated, refusing to tell her what she really was. Flutters hopped down from her seat and moved over to K and in reaction K quickly rolled over onto his feet and backed away.

"H-hey! Calm down!"

"What have you done to me!?" She asked him and K opened and closed his fists continuously searching a way to phrase it. "I uh…" He began before finally getting a grip on his fists and stomped a foot heavily onto the ground to gain his ground.

"I turned you from a pony to a half-demon, half-pony hybrid!"

Flutter's eyes shuddered as they became heavy and her eyes lost their soul.

Thud*

K blinked ominously before Twilight and all her friends pointed out the obvious.

"She fainted…" Pinkie pointed out before Applejack took her hat off to wipe away the sweat created by the moment. "Alright…Fluttershy should wake up sooner or later…"

"I think it's for the better." K said biting his lower lip in the nervousness he was still experiencing. Twilight quickly forced K over to her with her magic, and K was almost dragged as it caught him by surprise.

"I really have to ask you, why did you do that to her!?" Twilight asked him and K shook his head in his defense.

"It was an accident! I was just hoping to create a bridge between our bodies and souls, that being Me, Ben, and her…but I underestimated the soul of a demon, and it kinda corrupted part of her soul…making her into what she became…"

"Twilight, release K from your magic this instance!" The Queen's voice rumbled the building causing most of our heads to vibrate with her loud voice. Twilight was not going to argue and K quickly fell to the ground before standing, he was dizzy from the voice bouncing in his head. Her voice shook the insides of my body drastically, my goodness.

"I-I'm sorry!" Twilight quickly apologized before the Queen sat K down on a seat properly and made his sit straight.

"If K had not done what he did to Fluttershy, she wouldn't have been able to have recused your friend Rarity. She would've died and you'd be asking yourself who could've saved her?" The Queen painfully revealed. I found that hurting me as well as it did Twilight. I knew the Queen was serious about justice, but she was also brutal in her honesty, and brutal is what these ponies aren't.

"If you please, don't be so deep when speaking about her friends, no one would like to imagine what would have happened if their friend had died before them with no hope of bringing them back…it's true, but don't make them feel guilty over something that didn't happen. This is not an appropriate time." I said, trying to be as professional as the word 'professional' meant to me. I gained quite the lot of attention as I held my will together. She turned to me and frowned, testing me.

"You'd be the first to ever defy me and not have a change of heart at the last minute, what have you say for yourself?" She asked me and I felt tensions rise but I wasn't going to be moved right now.

"I guess I defied the Queen of Equestria, that's all I can say." I returned to her and she stared at me, carving a way to me but my steel-like stare was only dented. She soon realized I wasn't going to be moved and she looked away before smiling.

"A small test of wit is always required, you are strong-willed."

I nodded. "Thanks. But do consider what I said." I said to her, making sure she heard me well.

She bowed respectively and turned to Twilight.

"Yes, I do apologize if that hurt you Twilight, but what K has done is a blessing in disguise, trust me. My daughters have as well to embrace such blessings."

"Us?" Celestia asked, before looking to Luna. Luna looked up at her mother before looking away, not wanting to defy her mother's judgement of _Blessing in disguise_.

"Yes, the both of you, it seems you've not grown fond of your demons."

"B-but Mother, Nightmare Moon is a…a…spawn of the fiery pits of Tartarus!" Luna countered her mother but before her mother could turn to address it. Celestia cut in, confused to the point she was blinking continuously, trying to wrap her head around whatever was puzzling her.

"W-wait Luna, before that; what do you mean the " _both_ " of us have to embrace such blessings?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Their mother questioned back making Celestia jerk back a bit before gulping and thinking.

"No, it isn't!" She said back, irate at her mother asking such a question back at her. Their mother smiled before giggling tauntingly.

"You're in denial, my dearest Celestia…"

Celestia looked down and shook her head. "N-no! I'm not!"

K looked curiously at Celestia before standing up and turning to me, a wide smile plastered over his face. I looked up at him, since I was as well getting the vibes he was getting from this, I wouldn't believe it until I see it! But I knew why he was smiling, I do recall he once told me that Celestia has something similar to Luna's, Nightmare Moon, and I guess this is where he might just be proven right.

"Hmm…it appears you're still as stubborn as you were when I first tried to feed you vegetables. K come here." She ordered and K jerked in attention before moving up, I stood up as well, no point in missing what was about to go down.

"M-Mother…w-what are you doing!?" Celestia asked insecurely looking up at K.

Her mother turned to K, and K turned to her, his true demon grin showing. She smiled at him before turning over to her terrified daughter and showed that look, the look they make when they know they're about to put some sense into an arrogant child.

"If you don't believe with words, then maybe seeing would help."

K's hand lit up in an array of deep blue and he looked at Celestia menacingly. Celestia's mouth opened to object but nothing came out as she turned to Luna. Luna stared at her deeply, wondering if what she was thinking was true, and Celestia never saw when K's hand gently landed on her chest.

"WAIT!" Celestia demanded, rocking the whole building with her screech. I covered my ears accordingly and watched. K paused his magic, only covering half her body before retracting his magic. "Yes?" He asked, as if everything was calm. Celestia's chest pumping out and in was clear enough for her mother to lift an eyebrow and ask.

"What is it?"

Celestia gulped as she had a hard time finding her breath. "Y-you're serious!?" She questioned and both K and the Queen nodded.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Her mother questioned back making Celestia soften and turn to Luna. Luna stared at her through the whole ordeal and finally she slowly began smiling at the realization she has one more common thing to her sister.

"S-Sister…you-you're like me!" Luna exclaimed with joy, a joy Celestia has trouble finding. Slowly, Luna also began realizing Celestia's silence, and it began dawning on her. "S-Sister?" Luna asked and Celestia gulped.

"I carry a demon…within me as well!?" She asked and K smirked.

"Why do you ask like it's a bad thing?" He asked and Celestia look in a noticeable deep breath of air.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to disrespect you or Luna, but…" Celestia began explaining but she suffocated with her words. Celestia recovered, but not without a puzzling everyone with her crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to figure this out! This is so sudden!"

"Maybe because you don't believe…let K prove it." Luna asked of Celestia and Celestia turned to see her motivator. Luna held this faithful smile which prompted Celestia to make her choice in the form of a sigh.

"F-fine, if I need to believe by seeing, then so be it." Celestia agreed finally making Luna rise excitedly. "But!" Celestia added, garnering attention.

"Will this demon be…friendly?" She asked and K turned to the Queen for this one. The Queen remained silent for a minute before sighing.

"She has a deadly definition of justice, and justice means being brutal by any means. She's overly protective of you, Celestia. If any being has tried to hurt you, she's seen it and she knows her targets." The Queen stated making Celestia ponder it before K quickly cut in with an offer at hand.

"But I can just call on the vessel of this demon, so Celestia will remain in full control her body! I'll basically transform Celestia into her alter form, but she'll still be her same self." K influenced and the spirits and hopes of Celestia lifted. Now this being a danger-free matter, Celestia would of course be intrigued.

"On that condition, I'd fully participate in this!" Celestia said, changing upon hearing such a good condition. "At least, now I don't have to worry about any danger."

"On the same condition, do me as well!" Luna also added with a bright smile, wanting to participate alongside her sister's revelation. "This will be most enjoyable, I can feel it!"

Celestia smiled at her sister being by her side on this one.

"How refreshing! K, do what have to." The Queen asked of him and K his hand obediently lit up, now a deep blue hue.

"Let's see how this goes!" K sighed as he placed his hand on Luna first to leave Celestia as a surprise. Within seconds the light from K's hands enveloped Luna and before our eyes Luna began changing from top to bottom. K stood back and watched how Moon manifested before him and smiled as soon as she was fully in his presence.

"Alright, that's Luna, are you there?" K asked and she smiled, the hazardous teeth blaring. "I'm here!"

Celestia, like everyone else, looked astounded by what she was seeing before smiling. I stared at Luna for a while, seeing as how this was Moon's body she was taking up now, it was interesting. K did this to me, in which he took my body over and altered my appearance. But look at him now: he's free to roam about and he was able to before I even gave him permission. With that knowledge at hand, why can't Nightmare Moon do the same? Why can't she manifest herself outside of Luna? Is it her choice to not come out, or is something stopping her?

"Oh my…it's about time I see Nightmare Moon in a good light. Should I call you Moon then?" Celestia expressed with amazement shown all over her. Luna turned and smiled.

"Sure!"

K turned to Celestia and his hand once more lit up, and Celestia turned to him. "Alright, my turn." She said, accepting K's magic. K smiled as he stepped up and his hand fell upon her chest and like that the magic slowly began enveloping her, it did so until she was fully covered in an aura of K's magic. K's magic had finally made enveloped her completely. He retracted his hand and waited for the best.

"Oh, Celestia, please get off the seat." The Queen asked of her and she was confused but she did it anyway.

"Alright, but why?" she asked before a light began lighting from her chest. Her mother smiled as she giggled.

"We wouldn't want you to set the furniture on fire."

A light enveloped Celestia and K backed away with _mission accomplished_ playing in his head. I gulped as everyone crowded around and I teleported off to the arm rest of the seat and waited for whatever to appear. It took a moment but soon enough, the light that enveloped Celestia crystalized and all went silent before a cracking was heard. I quickly stepped back seeing the danger and the whole crystal shattered into pieces and evaporated, making us all feel a tremendous wave of heat before it dulled.

"Oh my gosh! Hot! HOT!" Pinkie yelled as her hair frizzled like everyone else's, well all except the alicorns in the room.

"Oh dear…my hair…" Rarity expressed disappointingly, and Applejack's hat flew off.

"What in the-!?" Applejack questioned before Dash smiled. "This heat feels awesome!"

"Mmmmuhh…" Flutters groaned she her eyes slowly twitched and threatened to open.

Dash was right, this heat did feel awesome! I even felt like I was powerful enough to take on anything, no matter how strong. I squeezed my fists to hold the feeling of confidence before looking up at the big reveal. And sure enough, the sight matched the feeling I was gripping onto.

"By the gods…" The Queen expressed with a smile so proud it was obviously the proudest she's been in a while. Everyone in the room all gasped, K, Luna, even I had to let one out at the beauty that no mere soul should see without permission. This was…beautiful, devilish, terrifying, action-packed, and a national treasure, all in one. Her eyes were closed but the sight wasn't affected by it, she radiated attention. She wasn't the motherly, kind-spirited Alicorn that I knew, she was ready for a war!

Her eyes opened and like that everyone backed a step except Luna, Me, and her mother. Her eyes were deep black with a fiery hell for irises with the gravity of a blackhole. She was dangerously beautiful, no exaggeration whatsoever.

"I don't remember you looking like this as a filly…you're beautiful!" The Queen proudly expressed with an over the top smile. Celestia didn't speak, but it seemed she wasn't stunned into silence, she just refused to speak. The anticipation she would speak dawned on me, and so I wanted to ask her…or it, what was it?

"Who are you?" I asked, clearly knowing this was Celestia, but I was too dazzled to even ask correctly. She turned to me and her eyes were enough to make me feel like I was in danger, but the sense of danger got my adrenaline running and my legs twitching in excitement. Just the stare and I was already on my toes, she was incredible.

"Day Breaker, Ben, this is Day Breaker." The Queen said from my side and I turned to her before looking back at her: Day Breaker. Her eyes were on me, and I was stuck, pulled in by her stare like the blackholes her eyes were.

"What a name! And you're so…dangerously beautiful! My goodness…" I expressed with a shortness of breath and she stared some more before finally blinking, which made me mentally sigh in relief. She looked at herself, her body and studied every aspect of herself.

"This is…me?" Celestia asked a surprised voice which was deeper and malevolent in a way, she was shocked to the core. She was still finding it hard to believe, and I won't blame her. We all knew that Celestia was going to look different, but no one could have anticipated this deadly surprise, even the Queen was fascinated. I smiled and gave her the answer I had in mind.

"Yes! You look amazing!" I complimented, giving my own opinion which, I needed to have her hear. She looked at me and smiled, nervous but glad to hear the compliment.

"R-really?" She asked and I couldn't be happier when I nodded. She was really something else and I had no clue how to express it to her. Luna hopped off her seat and moved up to her sister, a great look on her face.

"Yes, you do! My goodness! You look extraordinary Sister!" Luna complimented with a toothy smile that just had to extract the smile from Celestia. Celestia smiled, and her teeth had also become razor like. Celestia with razor teeth was an odd but daring sight, I'd enjoy a spar if I could. Seeing her smile in this new form, I had to wonder what this new form was capable of: Was she stronger? Did she have quicker reflexes? Does she have a special magic like Luna's in which she could move into dreams and likewise?

I wouldn't ask as of now, it was too early, and plus best to just introduce her to this form then get to the details.

"Wow! Celestia! So, this is your demon-like appearance…I don't know what to say!? Congratulations!" Twilight said with amazement as she stepped up to get a closer look and I quickly got distracted by the flames that made up her mane and tail. I wanted to take the opportunity to find out and reached for the mane and the heat was real and so were the flames. I retracted my heated hand and blinked. "Your mane and tail are actually fire!" I exclaimed making Celestia look behind herself and widen her eyes at the sight.

"Is it? It doesn't at all burn or scorch me." She asked and her mother giggled as she moved up to her.

"It is, it doesn't burn because it's part of your body." Her mother explained before smiling at Celestia giving a small twirl to see how agile she was. "Now you see why I didn't want to be on the seat?" Her mother giggled and Celestia stopped.

"So, this is the body of my demon, I look menacing." Celestia commented and gave her own opinion which was true to the dead-center. Her body did look menacing, and if this is the body of the demon, I'd be intrigued to see how this demon would act. I moved up to her and gave her a small look to observe before smiling at how incredible this actually was.

"So, two sisters with demons each, now I've seen it all." I remarked and everyone in the room smiled or laughed. I looked at both Luna and Celestia who as well smiled and chuckled at their looks.

"Well you and K have a similar story, so I don't see why we shouldn't laugh at you too." Luna returned to me and I had a rapid-fire response to give back. "Well me and K-" I had to pause on what I was about to say, because it would basically expose the problem between Luna and Moon. I gave it a few more seconds before I lowered my excited comeback to a simple mentioning.

"Well…me and K…get along, ya know?" I explained, trying not to offend too heavily and Luna realized what I meant on the spot.

"Oh…good point…" She said, a bit quiet to the fact. K scoffed from behind me and landed his hand on my shoulder and gave me a tight squeeze, almost as if he was punishing me for saying what I said.

"Oh, come on Ben! The full story was that I was originally a demon at heart, I was like Moon believe it or not. I liked the suffering of others and blah blah blah. But that all changed when I realized, just like you did, that life had so much more to do with other things besides suffering. You inspired me in a way, remember that." K repeated the same story I had heard from him earlier. He stuck true with that explanation and it was a good one. K was easy to talk to since we understood each other, and that came from the fact he's basically been a part of me since the beginning, now the question was if Luna and Moon understood each other just as well? I smirked and agreed with K before turning to Luna.

"Alright, I guess maybe Luna and Celestia are still getting there then." I said and K shook me a bit with his hand still on my shoulder.

"Not Luna, she's already there."

"Huh? How so?" I asked with Luna asking the same. K smiled as he finally let my shoulder rest and I began flexing my shoulder and rubbing it with my hand. He had a good grip with his hands.

"Moon…she may be keeping up this evil act, but she knows she's slowly growing fond of the world around her and of Luna-" K began talking only to stopped by Luna's rapid question.

"You mean it!?" Luna asked him and he nodded as he gave her the fullest of his attention.

"Just put up with her antics, when she's fully embraced you as her master…she'll be able to leave your body and move around with a body of her own-"

"Wait! A body of her own!?" Luna once more cut in and K nodded again to confirm it before aiming a finger my way.

"Yeah, how do think I was able to leave Ben's body? I had already come to sense with the fact that I belong to Ben, and that gave me the permission to leave his body." K explained making sense and Luna had to think about it before asking K again.

"If that's true…couldn't she cause harm outside of my body?"

K shook his head immediately. "No, that's the point of her growing fond of you, your body will know when she can be released into the world, don't worry about it. But if one day she randomly appears next to you, physically, you don't need to worry about her thinking some evil plan up." K explained and Luna began looking anxious as she gave a perplexed look.

"Goodness me…that's a hard idea to swallow. And you say she's becoming fonder of me?"

K picked his head up. "Yeah, but don't worry, Celestia will go through the same thing."

Celestia stepped up, her head high and firm. "I figured," She said, accepting of the information but soon after, she gained a puzzled look. "…but even so…I haven't had not one connection with my demon." She added turning to K for the answer and it seems nothing is unknown to K in this subject.

"That's because nothing has made her come out. Luna had some severe jealousy, Ben had tragedy, but you've never had any of that. It takes something to weaken your body emotionally to the point she can take over. The closest you've ever to that, was back in that simulation, but I think because you knew it was a simulation, you were calm…unlike Ben."

He had to put me in there, didn't he? Celestia nodded before turning to Luna.

"I don't like the idea of letting a demon control my body, the first time it happened to Luna…well…I don't need to explain that part of history." Celestia gave her input and Luna nodded understandingly and surprisingly Twilight came up to K's side.

"Yes, it could prove troublesome, but it's a step forward towards getting to know her. And since she fights for justice, maybe she'll prove useful when in battle!" She supported and Celestia took that into deep consideration.

"You have a point, but I'll leave well enough along as of now." Celestia informed us all and with that being said, that discussion came to an end with the Queen letting Celestia off with that one.

"Follow your path Celestia, it's fine."

"Thanks, Mother."

The Queen took a moment to study her daughter before smiling and instructing K to return them and then he asked for a moment to study them as well. He was well intrigued by them and was curious equally. I was as well, but K knew way more about Demons than I did, so he might have different motives for looking at them longer. The best I could get out of my motives was the willingness to see how much more powerful they were under such conditions and maybe what personalities I'd be dealing with if I come face to face with one.

Soon Celestia and Luna did what came naturally and offered the Queen to make an official statement that she had returned. She turned down the offer, explaining that she didn't want her name being thrown around town for safety reasons and it was understandable. We all came to an agreement, which Twilight had to repeat twice to Pinkie to stop her party planning, and the Queen suggested she could begin by being shown Canterlot and then maybe she'll begin arranging an official statement. Celestia and Luna both agreed and were quick to dismiss themselves, but the Queen slowed them down.

"Aren't any of you going to thank Ben? It's thanks to him I'm here."

Luna and Celestia both blushed awkwardly and agreed with her as they turned to me with smiles.

"Sorry Ben, you do deserve our thanks. Thank you, and to thank you even further, I'll craft something for you to possess, just give me some time to create it." Celestia said before Luna smiled and nodded.

"Yes! Thank you! It's the greatest gift ever to have our mother back! I'll also offer you something special, but I request some time to find it." Luna thanked as well and as much as I would've been humble and said that I didn't need a gift in return, I was in the mood for free things, and smiled.

"Don't mention it, just enjoy it." I returned and they smiled fairly. Their mother came up and smiled at the ordeal before turning to me with one more thing to say before she left.

"I said earlier my daughters needed a husband who at least has a family, so see to it that you find a family that is willing to take you in!"

What a change of direction.

"M-MOTHER!" Both of the two obvious alicorns yelled back and her mother hushed them as my eyes began staring aimlessly ahead of me. She was really dedicated to getting me in a permanent relationship with her daughters. First, she offers me the blessing to sleep with them, now she basically is declaring that I'm to marry them. I would say I've never met a mother who's been this careless, but then there was Dash's mother who was also giving me the idea of marrying Dash. Huh? Mothers now and days.

"WHAT!?" Everyone in the room asked irate with hearing such a thing, the loudest of them all being Flutters who had woken up, and I would've guess that they would have reacted that way, it was a strange thing to say. But now, that did open controversy, what if I were to settle down? Would others be hurt if it wasn't them? Would that hurt their relationship with their friends? Am I being a narcissist for thinking like this? I let my hand gently land on the side of my face as I tried to ignore those thoughts, it was too soon to be thinking about this. K and Derpy both shared a chuckle together as they shared a muffin for the heck of it, not like this would affect them.

"Shh…Ben is thinking." Their mother quieted everyone down before I finally had a clear thought to return back to her. It seemed everyone was well fixed on me as I finally blinked and turned to the Queen. I stalled for now, putting off the idea of marriage for the future and focusing solely on finding a family first. That was a sigh of relief for many but the Queen was curious of my behavior.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Positive." I assured her, not wanting to create an uncomfortable environment in the room.

"Hmm…that's the first I'll ever hear anypony or being put off the chance of marrying a princess…you're an odd one apart from special, I guess." The Queen gave her opinion on the matter and I had something waiting for that response from her.

"Maybe it would be best if your daughters decide for themselves, they are grown mares after all. And also, you can't just walk into the kitchen and expect food to be waiting for you, it takes time to make even if it's you or whoever makes it. Just like relationships. Some weaken, some strengthen, time takes its toll on things. In this case, I'd wait to see what time has in store for us all." I explained and she stared at me suspiciously. It seemed that got on Celestia and Luna's bright side, they smiled comfortably before turning to their mother. The ones around me as well were put in a good mood, thanks to my safe answer.

That was probably the best way I could put it for her and it seemed it worked since she looked down to the flooring, nodding slightly as she thought. Once her thoughts settled, she turned back up and smiled.

"Point taken. It's strange to find young ones so wise like yourself, it's something I admire about you." She said and I had to be a modest one when it came to her reacting like she did. It's like with most mothers, you want to show you're not stupid in their presence, but then you also don't want so much appreciation, it's kind of embarrassing.

"Maybe so, but I'm only wise when it makes sense to be, someone can still tell me that a room is full of dangers and I'd still walk, whatever the reason." I said, degrading myself a bit. The Queen lifted an eyebrow before nodding as if repelled by my strange words.

"Hmm…wise and foolish then." She changed her answer and I recognized a taunt when I heard it.

"That's what I called myself for the longest, but maybe daring over foolish would be a better way of putting it." I said, not giving in and she smiled playfully.

"Wise and stupid." She changed it and I gave her my serious glare.

"Daring." I repeated and she giggled, amused. I guess I deserved it for being too modest. I never mentioned it, but her giggle was the same as Celestia's, just like her voice which only had a slightly deeper more commanding tone. I smiled back, no need to be upset after all this positivity. She began backing with her daughters, ready to depart.

"I'll see you all soon, just keep me a secret until then." She said as she got behind her daughters and Celestia and Luna turned to Twilight.

"Twilight, if Ben makes his choice, take him to get the paperwork for adoption." Celestia said before smiling and vanishing, leaving behind a farewell and a final "Thank you" for if she wasn't clear enough the first time.

"Now that was interesting, nothing less." Twilight said before turning to me. "Have you made your choice?" She asked, as if I could make my choice after all that.

"Give me time." I asked and she smiled.

"Take your time."

I thanked her and like that I closed my eyes and sighed while there was no noise pollution. It was peaceful, nothing less. Some ponies began talking over something which all I heard was "Alicorn" and "Wow!"

I felt a smooth 'something' getting placed in my hand and opened my eyes curiously.

"What's this?" I asked as I looked down at my hand, but as soon as I got my eyes on the object I quickly recognized the color and shape. I didn't panic, but I did get curious as to how this thing ended up here, I thought I left it in my room.

"I found it in the dresser…I thought it might be yours." Flutters said and I turned to her expecting an answer for my questions. I was going to respond with something cheeky like "Good morning" after what happened between her and K, but she didn't seem to remember it, so it was best to not cause drama.

"Did it hurt you? Or light up?" I asked, calm in my way of asking as to not arise suspicion towards the object. She shook her head, puzzled.

"No, but it very pretty." She said and my eyes went back to the relic that Jade and Sting had given me. This thing hurt me last time it was with me, but it didn't hurt Flutters…what gives!? I felt Flutters tap my leg and I gave her the attention.

"Um…was it suppose to hurt?" She asked and I shrugged. I wasn't sure anymore about the object, it shocks me but not Flutters, and now it seems to be calm. If there was a purpose for this relic, I couldn't figure it out. I explained what happened to me last time I held the relic, being honest but demeaning the shock the thing gave me to a small static shock as to not frighten Flutters. She became curious and requested me to ask Twilight about it but quickly someone else jumped in.

"I think I might know." Strike hopped in, ready to explain and she sounded sure of herself. I let her have a shot at trying to solve the mystery and she trotted up to me and took the relic with her magic and began explaining. She explained that Yuson carried a similar, if not identical, stone and that got me quickly thinking. I questioned her on her sincerity and she assured me she was truthful. I became silent as Flutters encouraged me to listen on. She proceeded to explain that Yuson used his to detect danger, and that when ever it flashed it meant that I was wound.

"Me?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yes, but that's not the point. The point was that you were Yuson's danger, and that this stone warns the individual who possess the stone when a danger to him or her is present and close." She clarified and it made sense, but then that would mean something I don't want to think about. K, off the corner of my, twitched a bit as he turned, and now things were getting interesting if not a bit stressful. I crossed my arms and questioned it.

"Are you sure?" I asked her and she became serious, almost offended by my distrust in her.

"Yuson had one…and it's not uncommon for mortal ponies to go and steal from gods, it's happened very often." She explained and now she had me thinking really hard into the subject.

"So, Jade and Sting are thieves who stole from Yuson?" I asked and she didn't answer until she had a sure response to give me.

"They fought Yuson once, remember? Maybe they snatched it off or it fell off of Yuson. But believe me! I know this relic is the same Yuson had!"

She wasn't far off a good conclusion to be honest. And there being no better thing to believe, I went with it. She had enough proof to prove she was right and she was credible being one of Yuson's creations. "Fine." I sighed before reaching my hand out for the relic and asking back for it, but Flutters quickly cut in, an alarming tone reflected all over her.

"W-wait! Ben said it was lighting up and it shocked him! What does that mean!?" Flutters asked, weary and now that I heard that from her, I as well became worried about it. Strike quickly blinked a few times before looking at the stone and clearing her throat.

"Umm…well…it only began lighting up when Ben was like a kilometer or two away. So, I'm guessing if it had to shock so powerfully…it must have been a fatal danger and you were really close to being touched by it." She explained, giving a bit into the realization of danger. I became a bit worried but glad I wasn't in danger anymore, like I supposedly was last night. Still, she explained it like she was worried about me and now I had my own worries.

"Then why didn't I get attacked?" I asked and Strike quickly answered with a sensible explanation.

"If you fail to see the danger, the relic acts out of protecting you and will shock you to warn you and to scare away the danger, and to induce anger in you."

"All three of those?" I asked and she nodded. And again, she was right, I was all those last night after getting stunned by the relic, but now came the burning question, what was the danger?

"Damn it! So, there was danger last night?"

"You felt it too?" K asked joining our small circle of secrets, well all turned to him and quickly asked what he meant. He explained how last night he felt something strange, it mystified him as he walked to Flutter's home with Derpy. He said it was a breeze but he was sure there was something up with it, that made him feel insecure.

I looked down and thought before asking for the stone back from Strike and she handed it over and I checked to see if it would light, a minute passed and nothing. "Seems like there's no danger nearby, so that's good." I said, now fully convinced that this relic was the real deal, and maybe now I should thank Jade and Sting for this. I'll keep it with me at all times now, and maybe figure out what's going on.

"Ben, is…is there really more serious danger? I don't want you hurt again!" Flutters asked, worried again about me and I could understand her. She was sweet and friendly and I got this damn trouble I seem to be dragging around.

"I won't get hurt again Flutters, I'll try and keep my word on that." I said, and that was probably the best I could say without lying to her again, at least I hope. K nodded with a smile to lighten Flutter's spirits.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll take good care of him!" K said leaning against me, and I guess his word meant a lot to Flutters who smiled a bit.

"And he's got me too, I won't let what happened with Sting happen again." Strike also supported coming around my other side and Flutters fully embraced the support and smiled, gratefully.

"But don't get hurt, any of you, okay?" She said and we all nodded to that. "Okay!"

Strike floated over a cup of tea to Flutters and with a thank you, Strike smiled as she waved goodbye and disappeared back into me. K smiled as he patted me before heading over to what had every other pony so intrigued they completely ignored the conversation we all just had. It seemed that my little, soon-to-be, alicorn, had garnered attention and she was a real talk among us. Good, it's better than thinking on what this danger could be.

I asked Flutters to keep on the low about the subject we discussed and she tried to object, telling me that maybe her friends could help. I kindly refused and told her to wait till the situation was too great to be ignored, not that it has to reach that point. Worried, but accepting, she kept quiet and I thanked her.

"Ben!"

"Huh?" I turned to Dash who quickly began tugging on my and forcing me to skip a few steps.

"Woah! Hey! What's the hurry!?" I asked shrugging her off and readjusting my shirt. She quickly put her hooves on my shoulders as she remained hovering in the air before me.

"TIME TO WARM UP!" She exclaimed loud and clear. Warm up? I had to give that a few seconds to process due to having the thought of danger still running through my head but as soon at it did register. I quickly smiled. Seeing her to excited got me up for it as well as got rid of any negative thoughts. I grabbed my goggles and shoved them into my pocket, half dangling out. I smashed my hand into my palm and gave the grin of grins.

"I got everything I need! LET'S GO!"

…

Off in an unseen part of this world.

"He's only mortal, he can be killed!" She argued with him and he's been gritting his teeth ever since she began.

"We're just after the Queen! Forget about him! You had your chance last night! He hasn't done anything wrong, he's was just acting out of self-defense against Yuson! You have no right to take the life of a mortal who hasn't picked a fight against us!" He argued, finally expressing how he actually felt after having heard enough of her plans.

"If the death of innocents is necessary, then so it will be!"

"That's exactly what this mortal hates! The death of innocents! Have you learned nothing!?"

She turned to him, her displeasure with his way of speaking to her.

"This mortal is first, then the Queen! He started his own war by killing Yuson! And now he shall suffer!"

"HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF, BUT WITH AN INNOCENT BEING WHO HASN'T DONE NOTHING TO US BUT DEFEND HIMSELF!"

Despite his outburst, she continued planning arrogantly.

"First his friends and those he cares about, then once he's weak, we kill him!"

He froze and shivered at what he was hearing and swiftly swiped his hand ahead of himself aggressively.

"YOU'RE TARGETING MORE INNOCENTS TO GET TO YOUR ENEMY!?"

She groaned at his outbursts and stomped a foot to make sure she had the attention she demanded "You should take pride in his death! It regains our status as gods who can't be defeated!"

"I'D RATHER BE ABLE TO BE DEFEATED THAN SEE INNOCENT BLOOD SPILLED!"

"A weak and pathetic minded god shouldn't exist, I'll speak about your treason to the gods, to the Main ones."

"I'm not weak or pathetic, I'm reasonable and believe that mortals should depend on our help when they need it."

"And you saw how that went! That's why we want the Queen's head!"

"The Queen made a big mistake! But she's the only one to have blemished the name of gods! Before her and Demons and Fighters, and after them, no mortal has ever wronged us!" He argued and she shrugged him off, wafting her hand in his face.

"Until now! This mortal must die, his friends must die, his dreams and honor have met their end, and his end is seeing me behead him."

"War…that's what you're starting…" He said alas and losing faith in trying to convince her.

"Against this mortal." She said and he shook his head in disappointment.

"And his friends…damn you. I hope you realize…and that you realize soon…ponies have lived peacefully and have developed over the years, they're not what they were before. The beauty of creation…is to see the creation prosper and live up to its potential. This mortal isn't even a creation from this world so he's a rare being in this world…the only one of his kind-

"Consider him on the verge of extinction, and a few hours, pronounce him extinct."

He stared at her deeply before sighing and turning away from her and walking off.

"Do what you want, but do know, I wish for your failure. You're just like Yuson, stubborn and corrupted. I hope you suffer the same fate as he did."

"It would take an exponential amount of Yuson's power to reach my level. And don't say silly things about this mortal, he's but dirt, and I'm a flawless diamond."

He stopped his walk and turned to face her, a confident grin on her face making him frown.

"In dirt…life prospers. In a diamond, one losses herself in her own reflection."

A conversation among gods indeed, and a conversation of fate, but who's the victim now?

Will it be K? Will it be Ben? Will it be Dash? Twilight? Applejack? Fluttershy? Rarity? Pinkie? Lyra? Bon Bon? Vinyl? Celestia? Luna? Sweetie Belle? Apple Bloom? Scootaloo? Who…

War never ends. And with that, what war is about to commence?


	63. Chapter 63 - A Declaration of War

#63

My life has been being laid back most of the time, and most of those times, it's literal. Again, on my back. Everything was black, black as in the black I imagine blind people seeing. At least there was something soft on my back to comfort me, or else this would really terrify me, because I could swear my eyes were open and slowly studying this darkness. Darkness…again…why? This wasn't the first time we've met.

I tried moving the rest of my body, but everything felt too heavy and weak to move. My arms felt like weights and my legs felt like sacks of cement. I was weak mentally as well so I showed little to no effort in moving, despite feeling like I was trying my hardest.

"Someone…help me…" I groaned out through my numb voice.

Something soft landed on my chest gently and pushed me down softly against the soft ground I was on.

"You need to rest if you want to get better."

"Better?" I asked, finally hearing a voice which got me moving a bit more mentally. I heard the voice answer back with, "Yes" before pushing me back down to the cushioned surface. I began awakening more from my slumber and realized slowly there was a hoof on my chest and that I was shirtless, there was 'chilly' feeling in the air. Slowly, the more I began realizing these details, the quicker my brain began waking up to the realization. The hoof on me pressed a bit deeper as who ever it was began realizing I was awakening as well.

"Shh…you're safe with me, I remember you, you brought Rainbow Dash when she opened her head." She said and that got me a bit confused, more than I already was. I do remember, I brought Dash to the clinic when her head opened…

"I'm in the clinic…?" I asked with a gulp. The hoof on my chest lifted.

"Yes, you…you don't remember what happened?" She asked, clicking a pen. I blinked a bit before noticing how I was still blind. I blinked a few more times, asking myself if my eyes were actually blinking or if I was really blind.

"Ma'am…I'm not blind…am I?" I asked and I heard her giggle before she stopped half way and seemed to mutter something sternly to herself. I looked in the direction of the voice.

"No, you're not blind. Here, let me take these off." She said before I felt a warm presence near my face and something clink onto something on my face. I didn't move while she did what she was doing, and soon enough I saw the light bleed in before fully blinding me with the light works. I rushed my left arm over my eyes and gritted my teeth as I squinted. I groaned a bit but was rather thankful she got rid of whatever was holding me back from seeing.

"Thanks, I was feeling uneasy not being able to see," I said with my arm slowly lowering, getting my eyes adjusted to the brightness. After a few seconds, I managed to lower my arm fully and the first thing I see is a ceiling, completely white. I blinked once before looking to the right of the bed I was on and saw the pony who I did recognize. She was the one who took Dash when she had opened her head. She was pure-white with a small nurses' sign on her tiny hat, how could I not remember? She had the contraption in her mouth, the one I was blinded by, some goggles which seemed completely covered in soot, as if they were recovered from a burned site.

She stared at me, mesmerized before blinking away and putting the goggles in a bag titled "Ben's belongings."

I stared at the bag for few seconds before studying myself. As I figured sooner, I was shirtless but still with my pants thankfully, but then there also something wrong in that department. They looked like someone had given them to wild cats who did a number on the poor fabric. It dawned on me that something wasn't right and I began rising slowly before I found my right arm in a cast which angled it over my chest. No more proof was needed to prove something was wrong and with that I quickly raised off the bed and sat up.

"What happened to me!?" I asked and the nurse quickly came over and told me to lay down. I denied her calmly, trying to be nice, since she was treating me with care. Again, I asked, but calmly, "What happened to me?"

She backed up before clicking a pen and with the pen in her mouth, she checked off a box on a sheet of paper on a clipboard. "Amnesia," She said to herself as a self-note through the pen in her mouth. I lifted an eyebrow.

"Amnesia?" I asked.

"Yes, you don't remember the race?" She asked me reading off the questions on the clipboard she had written for me. I knew she wrote down the questions since she seemed to have the questions in the same ink color and same style of writing. The race. I hadn't even thought of it since waking up, I wasn't even sure if I even raced, it all felt like a plain white space. I do remember saying I was ready to race and warming up with some stretches, and then it all just begins going to static before eventually becoming blank.

"The race…yes, I was going to race in it. I went to do some warm ups and stretches…I heard a whistle…and…" I said before realizing I had nothing else to say. I looked up at her and shook my head. "I don't know after that."

She looked at me, observing my behavior before sighing and nodding. "Yes, amnesia without a doubt." She said writing her observations on the clipboard. I took some breaths to calm down, and not panic over the unknown taking over. She was deep in her notes, writing down something when I decided to stand up off the bed.

"Huh? Hey! What are you doing!?" She asked and I turned to her before looking out a window in the room. The streets were empty, nothing seemed to be happening in this usually active town.

"I'm…just confused…" I said before turning to her and sitting down on the edge of the bed and looking to the cast.

"Why is this on me?" I asked before looking at the pants.

"Why are pants so abused?"

I looked at her and her eyes slightly widened as I stared into the eyes of my caretaker.

"And why am I here?"

She stared at me a good second before lifting the clipboard high enough to cover her face as she wrote down notes. I watched her jot down notes, covering her face to my confusion.

"I hate to keep asking questions if your stressed, but I think I at least deserve to know what happened, maybe I might remember." I said and she kept the clipboard up as she began talking.

"Y-yes! I'm Nurse Redheart! And I'm suppose to take care of you!" She revealed, rushed greatly in her introduction. I lifted an eyebrow as I sighed at her self-explanatory name, kinda like most ponies.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ms. Redheart…but lower the clipboard, or are you hiding something?" I asked her with a smirk developing about my good intentioned face. I wasn't going to worry too much I guess. If I did race then judging by what is going on, in theory, I must have lost control and crashed and probably hurt myself. That would explain my abused pants and dislocated or broken shoulder. Now, my main point of attention, Ms. Redheart. I knew she was hiding behind that thin piece of wood she called a clipboard, and how could I not assume she was? With the pace in her words and the clipboard shoved in her face, anyone could tell she's got a blush going on, but what about? It's best to make the most of it, can't miss these chances. She growled a bit and I knew she had a feisty attitude, I won't deny so, just like the casual nurse should be since she's dealing with many patients.

"S-shut up!" She said in an effort to make me stop with my smugness.

"Now that's not very nice Nurse," I smirked back, not taking that seriously, and she seemed to almost want to laugh before lowering her clipboard. I was right, her blush was lovely over that smile that only said "Oh, you're going to regret making me smile." _Oh my, she was a feisty one for sure._

Was I going to regret it?

"You look a little red…do I need to take your temperature?" I asked and she liked being taunted. _Oh, she's one of those who like it rough_ , _I can tell_. She laughed a bit at that.

"I might, but I'm the nurse here, so you listen to me!" She demanded.

I closed my eyes and chuckled. "Hey, I'm a good doctor too!"

"Oh really?" She asked back slyly.

"Of course! I can always put a smile on someone's face!" I responded with the most innocent smile I could put up to fit with my claim. I didn't know how she reacted until she blushed a bit more and had to cover the smile I placed upon her face with the clipboard.

"You see?" I said and she laughed.

"Fine! But this is serious!" She said letting me see that blush as she calmed down. I held my smile before sighing and nodding. "Right, I'm still confused, will you tell me what I need to know now?"

She took a deep breath to get rid of the smiles and became serious which demanded I as well to do the same.

"Princess Celestia and Luna have asked me to not tell you…but I think you deserve to know," She said but she quickly turned and stopped me before I could ask. "But before you ask, they told me it was for your safety. Of what? I don't know, but maybe this summary I have here will explain."

I closed my mouth and adjusted myself on the bed to listen.

"Alright, tell me." I said, acknowledging that Luna and Celestia had warned the nurse, but they've been wrong before, so I'll be the judge of danger. And now that I heard "danger," the first thing to come up in my head was what was being discussed earlier about that stone Sting and Jade gave me. I had no doubt in my mind, that that thing had at the littlest, something to do with this.

"Alright, but one more thing,"

"What is it?" I asked looking up from my thoughts.

"I'm going to hold back on telling you _this_ until the end, because if I tell you, you might not even pay attention to what I'm about to read." She read overviewing her clipboard and flipping through the five or six pages she had. I was confused by it, but she was taking a risk in even telling me this, so I'll follow with her lead.

"Alright, so tell me, what happened?" I asked and she widened her eyes a bit before wiping some sweat from her forehead as she looked through the pages once more.

"Alright, stay with me on this." She began which already put me uneasy.

"It says here, that you _were_ involved in the race. There were ten racers. You all took your starting positions and a whistle set you all off and so the race commenced. The race was a great sight for many and the tenacity showed. Says here you were a surprise to many, nobody expected you to use a special technique in the race, that forced Rainbow Dash to push herself." She said before flipping to another page. "Pretty casual…" She said.

"I did the Kaio-Ken?" I asked and she shrugged. I now had some suspicions. There was no other technique that I could think of besides that one, and that technique was able to hurt me if I overuse it.

"This Kaio-Ken does hurt my body if I over-use it-

"No, then it wasn't that what hurt you." She suddenly cut in, leaving me again with no clue as to what happened.

"Then what-

"I'll get there." She assured me before flipping a page.

"Well now, it says here that you forced yourself along with Rainbow Dash to the most you two could and that ended up hurting the both of yourselves. Now, the confusing bit is this one." She prepared me before clearing her throat. "None of you crossed the finish line because something struck Rainbow Dash out of the sky, and then struck you as you got quickly distracted by whatever struck Rainbow."

My head rose and the surge of questions began flooding the inside my head, but the nurse wasn't done.

"Once you two were grounded to the ground, it says here an "invisible being" tried to take Rainbow Dash, but a friend known as K intervened as a certain Strike and a filly tried to get you and Rainbow Dash out of the area to safety. The being disappeared into thin air, but you and Rainbow Dash were immediately healed by Princess Celestia, Luna and Twilight of the bloody mess you two were. The two of you were brought here, to heal your dislocated shoulder, and Rainbow Dash, a broken wing which is broken at six different sectors. The rest is minor strains."

"Broken wing!?" I asked before she told me to calm down. I knew she was trying, but I just couldn't lay here and hear that, I had to get up and go do what I could: Whatever that was I could do.

"I must see Dash! Where is she!?" I demanded and she quickly rose and stopped me before I could even get off the bed.

"Listen! This is why the princesses told me to not tell you! But I'll tell you where she is if you quiet down!" She said speaking in a demanding whisper, once again giving me what I want which made me feel a bit abusive. I know I was worried, but I had to give her respect for what she was doing.

"Sorry…but Dash, where I she?" I asked again, calmer but still anxious. She closed her eyes before moving up to my side and looking at something behind me. She sighed with some determination which she had to conjure up before anything.

"If you look behind you, Rainbow Dash's bed is the next to yours." She revealed making me almost snap my neck as I turned before my body followed and I stood up.

"Dash…" I whispered before making my way over in a slow walk. I moved up to her bed side and looked down at her with the nurse following right after. She stood next to me as I watched the sight, which I never wanted to see again. The sight of another hurt friend; her wings were bandaged up, just like her head and a hoof. It wasn't as bad I imagined after hearing "bloody mess" from the nurse but it seemed we were cleaned up. Still, I hated the sight of Dash hurt again.

"She's fine, a broken wing can heal, but first I have to check on her health. I need to see if she's mentally alright and once she's up, I can check on her physical movements. So far, her body and breathing seem alright for a pony who was struck out of the sky." She said before thinking deeper herself into it.

"You know…the princesses have healed broken bones before…but they didn't heal yours or Dash's?" She asked me and I came a bit stuck on that idea. They know how to heal broken bones…then why didn't they heal me or Dash at least? They healed my broken bones against Sting, and I remember, so they have the power to do so. I'm sure they should've at least have tried, at least on Dash, but no.

Suddenly, the idea hits that probably this was out of the princesses' power. And it was a good theory. Last time I ever remember the princesses not being able to heal someone was when Derpy had gotten hurt…by Yuson. Same problem, except Derpy's was a broken wing which was grounded by Yuson. I wanted to believe I was thinking too hard, but then that leaves me with no other explanation as to who was trying to kidnap Dash as well.

"So, she's fine…" I asked, pushing my theory to the side for now and worrying about what's in front of me.

"So far, yes. But I know exactly who's not." She said to me and I turned, curious.

"Who?" I asked and she used her hoof to rubbed her head, stressed out about it.

"Her parents. I actually considered barricading the door to this room before princess Celestia and Luna helped assure them that her daughter would be fine."

I picked my head up and sighed.

"Damn. I should've known."

"Yes, but on the other hoof, if it makes you feel better, Dash should awaken soon, and then I'll take some tests. And maybe you'll be helpful." She encouraged and my attention went to her again.

"How so?" I asked, confused as to what I could do for Dash in this state and she smiled.

"Maybe you can put a smile on her face if she wakes up. Doctor." She said and I had to give it her. She put a smile on my drab face. The smile was short lived though as I turned to Dash and wondered how I was going to put a smile on her. There wasn't much I could do apart from ignore the fact she's probably going to freak out when the news she's broken her wing comes in. I know Dash might have broken her wing before considering she's reckless, but this was not accidental from what I hear. I sighed and nodded.

"I'll try."

"But by the looks of it, you seem like you can go out to the waiting room and let everypony know you're fine, but don't tell anypony that I told you anything, alright?" She said and I smiled and nodded, hoping to lighten my mood.

"I'll keep my mouth shut on it, just take care of Dash." I asked of her before she reacted and tapped my leg with her hoof.

"Oh, and thanks for reminding me, could you break it to her parents about Rainbow Dash's broken wing, I don't want to deal with them."

I almost felt like laughing a bit, how the hell am I going to break that news to the proud parents of an injured lass?

"I'll try that too." I assured her before adjusting my casted arm and heading out. Before stepping out, I made sure to glance one more look at Dash, I still wanted answers and answers I was going get, no matter how hard I have to search. I've disobeyed before, here I go again.

I opened the door and the first thing in my sight was the two the nurse had warned me about, they quickly stared at me curiously and I at them equally. The nurse wasn't kidding. I shut the door behind me and cleared my throat nervously.

"Hey, um…sorry about what happened." I apologized to the one I recognized, Dash's mother, and the one next to her was undoubtedly, Dad, there wasn't much need for evidence when he was basically where the "Rainbow" comes in Rainbow Dash.

"Is she okay!?" They both asked in a unison which got me really thinking. I mentally struggled a bit, thinking on if I should stall for their sake or tell them for their sake. They looked overly stressed and probably insane if I was someone else standing here. I gulped and looked Mrs. Windy in the eyes, since I had no clue of what reaction I would get from the other.

"She's fine," I said making them sigh in relief which forced the second bit out of me. "Just has a broken wing in six different areas…" I revealed and I guess I figured how one would react. The husband fainted to my surprise and was caught by Mrs. Windy, who assured him it would be alright as it were a dying child in the deathbed: at least I hope that wasn't it. To me, the news was just a broken wing that meant it could've been worse, but to them it was the end of the world.

"Calm down, she'll be fine with the proper medical attention. I know you're worried but she'll be fine, a few days in recovery and she'll be back to normal." I tried to calm them down and it did, momentarily. The mother tried to pull off a smile which ended up in her crying to no end. And now I didn't know what to say, I felt like I said what I could and that just ended up making her drown herself in tears.

"Do you need a moment?" I asked and they both nodded, even the husband, _so much for being passed out_. I nodded and moved beyond them, hoping they'd get over it soon and realize Dash is fine. I wasn't as stressful about it as Dash's parents, but I expressed equal feelings of rage towards whatever or whoever did this. K had answers since he went toe to toe, and there is no way he'd conceal anything from me. It was just a matter of finding him.

"You're alright! Almost thought it was a bit more serious." The being landed a foot in front of me. I looked up to the familiar face. He found me instead and reached out a hand to shake my hand but awkwardly enough, the arm I needed to shake with was in a cast. I used the other shook his hand inversely. He chuckled and gave me light punch on my good shoulder.

"Sorry." He apologized and I let him have the punch back with my left fist, which felt odd since I'm not use to using my left arm for much.

"Apology taken." I chuckled.

"You look better than expected, thank goodness!" Twilight came up before the tail followed of a HOLY SHIT NUMBER OF PONIES. Or maybe it was me who saw a lot when it was actually most of those who I knew and few unknowns looking into the gossip. Well, the two Princesses and their mother also seemed to be absent so that's a plus; means I'll be able to figure out what's going on. It seemed Twilight's relief spoke for all. I turned to her and smiled at the madness of what's going on.

"Yeah, but I can't say the same for my memory, I can't remember anything, and that nurse was no help in that subject." I explained, playing it out like I didn't just her the explanation from the nurse, testing to see if anyone would speak up. No one did for a moment before some did like Pinkie and Rarity before involving more, the only one who didn't speak up was Applejack who took shame in speaking lies like her friends were doing to me. It seemed they tried to get to believe something that wasn't true and I realized this was going to be harder than expected. Twilight soon began trying to come up with something but it was too bluntly obvious it was misleading.

"So, am I to take your tall tales as factual?" I asked. They all paused and Twilight quickly tried with the bogus answer of "It happened too fast" but I wasn't going to be fooled by it knowing there's more than that to it. I cleared my throat and shook my head. Something wasn't right if they weren't being honest.

"Listen, Twilight and all of you, I'm sure you have your reasons for lying, but I do need answers." I said, exposing the lot of them. They gulped as if I'd figured their lying scam and I did. I sighed and shook my head at their silence. "Dash is in the room where I was with a severely broken wing." I said to them and they look down in shame.

"A broken wing which apparently the Princesses couldn't heal, have any clue where else I saw that?" I said, bringing back my theory from earlier and the more I let it rush through my head- the theory -the more I believed it. I like being right, but there are sometimes when I would appreciate my wisdom didn't involve me being so accepting of horrible ideas.

"Ben, this isn't like that." Fluttershy tried to convince me and I shook my head. I now knew that with my theory being proven right by their denial, that I was going to have to begin moving again, dislocated arm or not. I would be called to action soon, and I could feel it inside of my entire body.

"Flutters, I know you, me, and Strike spoke to K yesterday of a danger that was mere centimeters from touching me, and I have no doubt that it that same danger that actually managed to blindside me in this race." I said to them, and they all grew terrified as they should. I looked at my shoulder and showed it off.

"Seeing my dislocated shoulder and the fact I can't remember nothing, I'd say something is up again, I know it is, but…I don't know what exactly. A dislocated shoulder or not, I hate being confused, it lets my enemies hit me with the element of surprise, and I won't let that happen." I said to them and also giving them the clear reason why I hate being confused. Being confused exposes the weaknesses of mine, and one of them was the unknown. I should've known better than to think that that danger from yesterday wouldn't try again and that was my weakness.

"Hey Ben, we don't know what it is neither." K said coming up, speaking in the ponies' defense. I paused and turned to him in a quick swerve.

"You don't?" I asked, confused as to how he didn't know when it was told to me that he fought it.

"No, I tried to do something because I saw Dash getting carried away by something. But when I tried to take Dash, what it was felt way-way-way-way too powerful." He explained and my head wandered a bit as I tried to picture it. Something way-way-way-way too powerful was unimaginable to me, I needed a comparison.

"How powerful exactly?" I asked further and he rubbed his head with his hand as he tried to get the answers.

"I can't do the math, but it hurt to just be near whatever it was, but I got Dash in the end, I guess that's what matters, no?" He said and I still had an unattended curiosity growing. Now that I thought of it, why was it- the powerful being -only after Dash? If it tried to attack me yesterday, then why was Dash the first to get struck and first to get carried away? I had my ideas, but either way, I'm grateful it didn't wander off with her, I can't imagine a way-way-way-way too powerful being too kind.

"Yeah, thanks for getting Dash. And you telling me that at least explained something…" I said as I paced a bit but K quickly grabbed me before I paced too far. I looked at his hand on my shoulder and noticed something odd with it. It was charred, burnt if I'm not mistaken. This must be what he meant that it hurt to be near it, if he reached out for Dash, then his hand must have suffered. Or he could be lying to me and actually fought with it and got his hand hurt. I stared at it as he spoke.

"Listen, there's no way I'm going to let you fight whatever that was, not in this state or in your fit state." He warned me ahead of time. That was new from him, I can't recall him ever stopping me from fighting, apart from Sting, apart from that, he embraced a fight. Though, he was correct about Sting doing me great harm, so he was a great gut feeling. I turned to face him and his hand dropped.

"Is that so?" I asked him, not too serious about it and he nodded before squinting his eyes towards me, easily seeing how I wasn't taking him seriously.

"If it stops you, I have a bad feeling we have another Yuson problem." He clarified and as much as I prepared myself with my theories and my adapting of them, I was shocked, frozen, stabbed, shot, and almost killed emotionally as I heard it.

"What did you say?" I asked him wanting to hear it again while equally wanting to ram my fist under his jaw for even assuming that. I was hypocrite since I assumed the same thing, but a hypocrite is only created when something is turned to reality, and this was me now.

"Think about it." K demanded. "What did Yuson do to trigger us? He hurt Derpy and abducted half of the town. Same scenario here. Yuson was overly powerful as well, and he was also impossible to see because he hid in the darkness. Same thing here. I'm may sound crazy but it's my suspicion, and if I'm not wrong, I'm sure you have also thought about it, I know you well." He clarified and he did know me well. I felt enraged on the spot. It's like building a tower that required the most of your rigorous work only to be knocked down easily by a dumbass, although this was elevated by the millions. All the hard work I put into killing Yuson, and now it's back to haunt me? Was it Yuson again? I didn't want to say a thing, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep on my bed and wake up with a different situation. I did my best to contain myself but all I managed to nearly choke myself holding in the yells frustration. In the end, I covered my face with my good hand before covering my eyes and closing them.

"Fuck me…" I whispered past my aggression before coughing out the strained throat I gave myself holding in my words. Everyone respected my moment as I tried to reestablish myself and it payed off. I sat down on a seat and blinked aimlessly as I imagined the pain of handling another Yuson. It hurt, so, so, so badly. Scootaloo, who's here too, was the first thing to pop into head as I blinked in silence. How do I deal with that again, how do I prevent it this time?

"Hey don't think too much, we're safe for now." Twilight tried to assure me and I lost the blinking process.

"Twilight, I know you mean well but I won't ignore my paranoia. No…we're not safe. And I hate the fact you have to tell yourself that, this should never be the case." I said straight up. And I had my reasons to say that. Twilight backed a step away as I leaned my torso forward and sighed.

"Last night, that was the first time this danger had appeared, and now it hurt Dash in this race, as well as hurt me too. I'm not going to make this any sweeter than it should: I'm being watched." I said and that was a revelation to all except K who looked away for a moment to think.

"No, that can't be." AJ tried to be the opposing factor, but nothing could change my mind. I gladly appreciated her opposing since it gave me the hope that I was wrong, but like I said, I was cemented on the idea. I can only pray AJ was right, no matter how delusional it was.

"I hope your right AJ, but like K said, it was the same thing with Yuson. Whatever this danger is, it knows where I am. It knew where I was last night, it was so close but it got scared off. Now, it knew I was with Dash and it struck. It's watching me, and if I'm not mistaken, it's right in plain sight. Last night I had no clue because I couldn't see it, but it was so close. And K couldn't see it neither apparently today, so how do I know it's not here right now? Just waiting me to let my guard down?" I said being calm but overly dramatic about it. Being dramatic of a situation like this was the best I could do. I was in danger and so were my friends again. What do I do then?

"You're paranoid! Calm down. Yuson was one-time thing!" Twilight told me and I had to hold back from yelling again. I planted my hand over my mouth and held it there to avoid a violent outburst of words. Twilight had a point, I was paranoid, but where do I begin explaining how I managed to become so paranoid?

"Yes, darling, please calm down, this is not you." Rarity began and I lowered my hand with a breath of air.

"But this is me, Rarity. I know how to be paranoid and I know how to put it to good use. I've done it so much it's natural." I said and she back down from saying anything and I closed my eyes. I held in my thoughts for a moment as I heard concerned names calling my name out before I finally opened my eyes again. I smiled. There was nothing else I could do but smile since I couldn't be the negative one, this wasn't me. I may be paranoid, but I should also remember I'm always up for a challenge, no matter how hard.

"Listen, all of you and K especially." I called and they all listened.

"I'm not going to live in fear, and neither will my friends. You say I won't fight K, but it was you who first encouraged me to fight to learn that I had a power of my own. I won't forget it." I said and sighed as I turned to him, K.

"I hope it didn't soften you up the fact that I died for a while, and if it did, then get use to me getting hurt a lot. I fight for my reasons, and one of those is keeping others alive. Some take the honor of sacrificing themselves for others to live peacefully. I won't ever be misdirected from it."

"You're living amongst that code?" He asked with a smirk and I smirked back.

"I am. But even if do follow that code, like I said before, I'm not going to die so easily." I assured him and despite everyone being so shocked by the words coming from my mouth one of the lot managed to smile and moved a step closer.

"You're still the same." Twilight complimented with a smile and I had to give it her: I'll never change. I'll always be optimistic; never again will I be fooled into not being so.

"Yeah, but I'll fear just a bit, it's necessary." I said to her before K suddenly shoved his hand in his pocket getting all of our attention, especially since he actually did it so quick it startled us all. "What are you-

"You don't need to fear, for this luckily fell in my hands!" K said patting my back to get my attention and I looked down. In the hand he brought to my face her showed off his lucky find. My eyes lit up as I quickly snatched the damn thing from his hands. If I had anything else to be thankful for, it was K and his ability to always make something better just like now. I stared at the dim stone in my hand and gripped it tightly. I've mentioned it so much, but I never even thought of its absence till now.

"K, you demon!" I exclaimed as held the stone close to me and felt like never parting from it.

"What's that Ben?" Twilight asked and I took a sigh of relief as I showed it to her. Flutters quickly recognized it as she should and lit up with the answer.

"That's the jewel that tells whether danger is nearby!" Flutters said, before pointing out that it wasn't at all lighting up. "When the stone isn't lighting up in light, that means we're safe!"

Twilight's eyes widened as she turned to the stone and Rarity was quick on the bounce.

"That's remarkable! How did Ben get it!?" Rarity asked gawking at it's beauty. I sighed as I took a moment to get comfortable with it, great relief.

"Sting and Jade, they gave it to me." I said before looking around the room but they were nowhere in sight.

"Speaking of Sting and Jade, where are they?" I asked and K gestured with his head they were far off.

"Investigating the scene of the crime with Strike and the kid." He said and I lifted an eyebrow and sighed.

"Well, they need to start moving around physically and get use to the world they're in, all four of them." I said with a chuckle, finally feeling safe with this stone is confirming that there is no danger present.

"Well now, now that there isn't anything else to talk about, did you not bother putting on a shirt?" Rarity asked me and had completely forgot about it until now. I looked down at myself and smiled with a shrug.

"I figured, who needs a shirt anyway?" I joked and she pouted as she magically whipped one out and before my eyes and reaction, she magically fazed it onto me. I had to blink only once to figure out something happened and another to figure I was now in a shirt. I opened my mouth to ask how but I ended up shaking my head.

"You know, I won't even ask." I said before chuckling. "Thanks Rarity."

"You look good bare, but some fabric is always appreciated." She said and I guess I could agree. I laughed later on a bit more before thinking again on something that had not left my mind since waking up and figuring out about Dash.

"Say…how bad is a broken wing in six different sections?" I asked to see if anyone had the answer. Twilight and Flutters both came up and shook their heads, the look of disappointment dawned over their faces.

"Not good." Flutters said before Twilight filled in the rest. "It usually leaves a pegasi out for months."

"Ouch…Dash won't like to hear that…" I said before shaking my head. "Dang…"

"No, she wouldn't, it would crush her emotionally." Rarity said before Applejack nodded weary about it.

"I know Rainbow takes her pride to another level, but it's gonna be a sob show out of her if hears that." AJ said and I couldn't bare witness to that. Or, I could, but that'll be a bit painful to watch.

"Oh dear, and with Nurse Redheart…maybe one of us should head back in there and tell the nurse to not be so…brutal in her honesty when Dashie wakes up." Rarity advised and Fluttershy nodded, weary about it.

"Rarity's right, Nurse Redheart has the tendency to be quite straightforward." She said and I stood up.

"I guess I can go back in, she still wants to run one more medical before I can leave." I offered before Twilight tugged on my new shirt with her magic.

"It's a good idea, but I have a feeling some of your friends have been hungry to see you again."

I gulped and thought who'd be hungry to see me again? Probably some, but who specifically? "Really?" I asked letting my body loosen and sit back down to the seat. K came up to me and leaned down next to my ear.

"She means the DJ and the other one with the bow around her neck." K whispered to my ear and my head twitched as I hear those words. Vinyl Scratch, it's about time I see her again. Last time I had a conversation or even made eye contact with her was… _I can't even remember_. The one who said my name in her dreams, and the one I first ever kissed by my own permission. In conclusion, I need to be a better friend. Then Octavia…she was also an interesting pony, but I scarcely got to know her, but I know I hit it off well with her from that night at the concert.

"Vinyl and Octavia…" I said under my breath making K react and he quickly started giving a speech about offering to pay for food and shakes and he cleared out the room for me. The ones who were confused as to what he was doing, like Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight etc. he forced out his own way, and he had his ways that's for sure. I found it quite excessive on his behalf but I'll take it. Left behind was only Vinyl and Octavia who K specifically let stay. With everyone gone, I was left to stare at the two of them as they did the same to me.

K really cleared the room for me, there was no one else here besides Dash's parents on the other side of the room and Vinyl and Octavia over by the entrance of the clinic. I raised my good hand and waved awkwardly before just fully giving into greeting them to not look stupid.

"Hey!" I greeted, gaining a smile from absolutely nothing. They quickly smiled, surprised at the great joy I showed and moved up. "Hey! It's been a while." They both gladly greeted back as they sat down on seats on either side of me. I nodded before Vinyl immediately got distracted by my casted arm.

"Does it hurt?" She asked and I shook my head. "No."

She sighed and nodded. "Good, still confused as to what happened though."

I agreed with her, I was confused as to what was going on as well. But at the moment it was beyond my worry since I knew we were safe.

"As long as you're fine, I wouldn't worry about confusion. I don't understand where all this violence has been coming from lately." Octavia said with a deep breath to settle down. I leaned back a bit and thought silently. This violence, all of it only appeared since I had come here, meaning either I was attracting it, or someone was still out to get me. I don't know who; Yuson's dead, at least to my knowledge. And then there was K explaining that there might me another Yuson like situation.

"Yeah, this violence is getting a bit annoying, isn't it?" I asked, agreeing with Octavia. Octavia agreed but not the same could have been said about Vinyl who raised an eyebrow. "I thought you liked fighting?" She asked and I laughed a bit before nodding, she knew me well on that aspect but not on the other.

"I do, but when I'm fighting something that wants to hurt others instead of me…then I can easily say that we have a problem."

"You don't have to protect us always Ben," Octavia came at me but it was weak.

I thought about that, and not just for a second. I became starstruck by what she said, it made me sad on many levels and one level was about how horrible it felt to just leave them in the face of danger and not do a thing. Damn that. I couldn't bare that thought, it was messed up and full of guilt.

"You make it hard Octavia." I said shaking my head. She looked over to me and landed her hoof comfortingly on my arm, the good one obviously.

"What?" She asked.

I gulped and disagreed. "Listen, I know I don't have to protect you, but I do it because I can't stand around and see you all get hurt when I'm there and could stop it. I know you are capable ponies, but I'm able to fight some fights that you might not be able to, and if I didn't…when what's the purpose I have?"

Octavia smiled warmly, grateful at hearing that. "That's sweet Ben, but don't tense up, we don't plan on getting ourselves hurt." She comforted me and I sighed in agreement.

"Yeah, I know, I just don't like how things have recently been. Others have hurt me, others have hurt ponies, and gods trying to make me kill ponies-

"What!?" They both asked and I quickly made a fist with my hand.

"Listen, he tried to do that, and I, well, put an end to him. Like I said, I'm not going to let anyone touch the ones I care for." I explained and they both wanted to take it positively, I could see it in their faces, but I guess the level of intensity was too much.

"We know…but that hurts Ben." Octavia said and I comforted her with a smile.

"Good, at least I know you don't see me as a murderer." I thanked her before looking at my casted arm, it was slowly becoming curious the more I realized it was there.

"Of course, we'll never see you as that, since when has anypony with a beautiful voice ever been a…you know?" Vinyl kept the compliments coming and they were doing a good one on me as my smile was beginning to become permanent.

"Thanks, but that's what I mean, so many crazy things have been happening. Some of them I love, but then others are just terrible, like what just happened to Dash. We were having a race, and suddenly she's struck out of the sky by something and then someone tries to kidnap her…I mean…it's a whole lot to make sense of, and I can't even remember a single thing." I said and both of either side of me nodded before Vinyl excitedly jumped a bit.

"Well, if talking about bad things makes you feel bad." She said adjusting herself in the chair to face me. "Let's talk about the good things!"

"Oh yeah, it'll get your mind off the bad things." Octavia agreed and I picked my head up curiously and eyebrow raised above the other.

"Alright…how does this work?" I asked, feeling as if there was catch involved. They both shrugged before Octavia rose with an answer.

"Just say something positive!" She said to get me started and I thought on it.

 _Positive?_

"Well," I said looking to my left at Vinyl and Octavia to my right. "I got two lovely mares to either side of me trying to help me, do any of you want something to drink?" I offered with a smile and a playful cheer about my voice making Vinyl giggle unlike my other side.

"W-we said something positive! Not flattering!" Octavia reminded me. _Oh?_ I lifted an eyebrow before glaring my grin towards her.

"It was positive!" I argued and she doubled down and looked down at her hooves.

"Oh…well…thanks anyway…" She thanked with a struggle and I chuckled as I reached over and touched one of her dropped ears with a finger making them react immediately and stand stiff. She turned to me and looked at me as I fiddled a bit with her ear before retracting my playful finger. She looked at me as if I was offending her with my childish act on her ears.

"You're not that used to being given compliments, are you?" I asked and she shook her head objecting to my question.

"I am!" She assured me and I smugly glanced at her and she looked away to compose herself. "Just not…like that,"

"Tavi is cute when embarrassed, I really wonder how anypony hasn't told her, she's so cute!" Vinyl complimented and that got me smiling. I knew I was right on my assumption. Octavia blushed and remained looking the other way, gathering steam from all this.

"Stop it Vinyl," She silently but demandingly ushered back a response.

"Come on Tavi, this is the first time any pony or Ben has ever called you beautiful, and you're going to shy away and look the other way!?" Vinyl asked, making it sound as if it's easier than it should be, when it's the complete opposite for this musician.

"He's called me beautiful before…sort of." Octavia argued and I knew exactly from when this was. That time in the musical store, she had complimented slyly with "if I knew how to play as beautify as I looked" and I returned it back. But I don't know who was sincerer then, me or her, it was just a memory now, one that I remembered well.

"No one has ever told you that before me?" I asked and she remained looking away, responseless before I decided to take the hint and smile. Her ears had dropped again and I reached my hand and reached just around her neck and tickled the fur under her chin making her react and stiffen her whole body and turning directly to me.

"Well, I'm glad to be the first to tell you that. And now, I've never seen you smile out of sheer joy, or have I not made you happy enough? Must I try harder?" I asked as I gave her a considerable amount of fame with my attention and she looked away again but instead of staying looking away now, she turned back to me. She turned to me confused and I smiled at it.

"Are you too embarrassed to smile from joy, or are you not happy enough? I might just begin asking myself this constantly." I tempted her and she took a deep breath to stabilize herself.

"I'm fine," She said and I persisted.

"That doesn't answer my question. What if I play you a song? Would that make you smile?" I offered and she was blushing more than before I knew it despite her trying to hide it.

"Stop it…" She said clearly not wanting to show her smile that she held back.

"I know you like classical music, I'll sing you some Sinatra. You'll love it! It's musical classics from where I'm from! Or how about Bobby Vinton?" I asked naming classics off the top of my head making the edges of her mouth curl a bit but not enough to be considered a smile, just twitches. I leaned away for a bit before snapping my fingers and smiling unlike I have in a while as the memory of this one simple move hit me.

"Hmm…you know? I got it!" I assured her and she turned to me, wondering curiously what I could have created in my head.

"W-what…?" She asked and I snapped a finger with all the pride and I asked her.

"How about one date?"

She quickly looked away and I held my smile as I recalled the last pony I ever did the same question to. Octavia, she was cute and perfect in every way, and I knew so because before she could fully turn away, I saw a smile appear over her. Vinyl reacted a bit to that, I couldn't tell how but I heard her gasp a bit as the words rolled off my mouth and she remained silent now.

I focused on Octavia as she had her ears dropped all the way and her body shivering. Her ears dropping was either sadness or embarrassment, for the sake of the moment, I'm hoping it's the latter.

"If you want, it can be however you want it to be." I said next, trying to at least be nice about bit and she slowly began turning to me.

"I'm so embarrassed…" She said under her breath and I smiled as I realized how much that smile was probably hurting her, it was just that great.

"It's just you, me and Vinyl here, and she's your best friend," I said ignoring Dash's parents who were still heavily focused on the door to Dash's operating room. Octavia nodded and I was becoming a bit worried if I'd have to find some tissues, her face had all the signs she would cry soon.

"But still…I've never been asked that!" She exclaimed her smile everlasting. I nodded and held a smile strong. I reminded her the offer was serious and she quickly asked "Y-you are?" under her breath making me assure her with "Of course!"

She looked away for a moment before turning back, curiously. "…Anyway…I want?" She asked and simply responded with the answer.

"Anyway you want."

She thought about it before blushing and gulping.

"…I…don't want to go in public…"

She stumped me honestly with that one, but I couldn't contradict myself with all I've said up to now. I bowed my head obediently and nodded.

"Anyway you want it, I'll even sing the song again if I have to," I assured her with the positivity in my soul. "And a date is supposed to be a way to get to know each other and spend some time together, anything goes."

She lifted her head and smiled warmly, comfortable after hearing that.

"I guess…I guess we can do it!" She said with a blush, smile, and the radiating positivity coming off her body. I smiled and nodded. "Perfect, you can pick a day when you're not busy, now one question remains." I said and she lifted an eyebrow.

"What is it?" She asked with her smile strong and I smiled back as I lifted a finger.

"What drink do you like?" I asked her and she looked like I had tossed her a bone and asked her to fetch it, utterly confused. She was confused at the question before re-smiling again, understanding me.

"Well, I like iced tea, smoothies, and soda!" She said. _So much for understanding_. This time I lost the smile as I blinked blankly.

"Uh…no," I said before using my hands as demonstrations. "I mean strong drinks."

"Oh! Pink lemonade! That's always very sour and sweet!"

I blinked again before shaking my head, she was missing me off by miles.

"No, no, I mean stiff drinks!"

She turned to me again and lifted an eyebrow, clearly missing the references completely.

"He means drinks with alcohol." Vinyl said from my other side with a frown which I couldn't explain. Upon hearing that Octavia turned me and stared at me as if I'd told her something offensive and I bit down on my tongue as I shrugged. "No?" I asked and she shook her head.

"I don't drink alcohol! Why would you ask that!?" She asked me and, in my defense, I didn't know! As much as I felt shocked by her rebuttal, I could do nothing but smile at how surprisingly hilarious she reacted and chuckled in the end.

"Don't get mad, I just thought you'd be fun with some alcohol in you." I said and I quickly realized how horrible that sounded by my part making my smile wider, but Octavia realized it quicker, already lunging words at me.

"What does that mean!?" She asked seriously and my smile wouldn't leave as much as I tried to kill it.

"You mean like Luna that night Ben?" Vinyl asked from my opposite side and I lifted my head, reminding myself about what happened then. My smile left and I was now tempted a bit more into convincing Octavia into some alcohol but that was just my perverted mind making me think things again.

"Luna? That night? What night?" Octavia asked and I quickly shook my head, getting rid of any sexual temptations and other ideas, there was no need for that.

"No, not like that!" I yelled a bit before retracting and apologizing for the outburst, I had to remind myself that Octavia had no clue as to what happened with Luna that night in Canterlot. I felt a hoof tap behind me and giggle.

"Ben, don't lie, you know you would love Octavia like Luna." Vinyl's voiced whispered into my ear.

My eye twitched a bit as I pouted and took a deep breath.

"I would love that, but come on Vinyl, I'm not that helpless."

"A little wobbly Octavia, doing things like Luna…come on!"

"Get out of my ear and sit down!" I demanded trying to hide the smug smile that wanted to make its way over to me. She giggled as she sat down and winked at me. I frowned a bit to not taken over by the smile and turned to Octavia and shook my head.

"You know what? forget the-

"I'LL BUY THE DRINKS!" Vinyl yelled from my other side before I could even dismiss the offer.

I quickly turned around to her and stared with all the staring power I had as she smugly smirked towards me. She was messing with me, and she wasn't afraid of showing it. "Uh…Vinyl?" Octavia asked and Vinyl winked towards me before hopping down her seat and moving in front of us both on the floor.

"But I want to tag along in return!" She demanded and I didn't say anything as I was wondering how despicable she had to be to be doing this. This is, as far as I can remember, the first time she's ever played with me like this. I felt a hoof land upon my arm, dragging my eyes towards my arm to look at the gray-furred hoof.

"Uh, Ben, can she come along?" Octavia asked making my eyes narrow a bit. Usually dates with a third wheel that act's like Vinyl don't end up so "successful" but I was bound to say only one thing due to Octavia's smile telling me she wanted Vinyl to tag along. I shrugged in the shock of Vinyl actually doing this and let her decide.

"You decide…" I said and with a cheerful smile Octavia turned to Vinyl and nodded.

"Sure!"

Vinyl lit up and gleamed as she quickly suggested her first inquiry. Nothing is normal when it comes to ponies.

"I'll bring the special Canterlot stuff," She claimed, looking at me devilishly. She licked her lips menacingly making me eye her moves carefully. "Isn't that "stuff" alcoholic?" I asked her, despite knowing, and she winked and hushed me playfully, making sure Octavia saw it as well to create an insecure atmosphere around Octavia purposefully.

"Vinyl…you know I've never had anything alcoholic…" Octavia said, sounding as if she's had her trust betrayed by her friend. Vinyl smiled and nodded, accepting of her argument.

"I know, but there's a first time for everything Tavi!"

That saying was so cliché but so fitting. Vinyl knew how to make the saying sound over-convincing, I'll give her that, and Octavia bought into it easily.

"Well, I guess, is it good?" She asked and I quickly let my mind speak for my mouth.

"Octavia, you don't have to drink if you don't want to," I assured her and she smiled and nodded, but her smile and nod were both carrying a deeper message besides agreement. I didn't mean to be the killer of a good time, and I knew I would love to see Octavia have some of this "Canterlot stuff" but I had a small struggle when dealing with someone who doesn't know what they're getting into.

"Thanks…but I'll give it a try! Well see how it goes!" She enthusiastically came back and I lifted my head a bit cautiously.

"Yeah! Canterlot stuff will be fresh and the best quality! I promise!" Vinyl assured us all and I couldn't help but feel scummy about this whole ordeal. The feeling was that like: seeing someone put a laxative in a friend's drink and not telling them, and that example comes from personal experience. I groaned a bit mentally before giving it one more shot.

"This Canterlot stuff wouldn't be what Luna was on, could it?" I asked and Vinyl giggled. _Obviously, it would have to be that stuff, how could I have thought otherwise?_

"Oh, we're going to have another night like that one, guaranteed Ben!" Vinyl assure me even further and now I was sold on feeling like scum.

"Oh? Luna has had some of this stuff?" Octavia asked with an unleveled eyebrow. "How was she?"

"Let's just put it like this, she was a very, very, very lovable person that night." Vinyl giggled making it way too easy for Octavia to figure out what happened that night. I placed my good hand over my mouth and watched this all move forward.

"Were you two together that night? It sounds like you were both with Luna." Octavia asked, her eyebrow still questioning us both. I felt like just telling her what happened so she knew what she was going to be walking into, but something inside me, something deep in my head told me to keep quiet and I did, letting Vinyl jump ahead and answer.

"Oh yeah, and with Rainbow Dash too!"

"Vinyl, you're talking a bit too much, we shouldn't be talking like this about Luna." I said past my hand, finding a way to cover up my words. Vinyl quickly recognized I wasn't really being honest making this about Luna, she knew I didn't want her to expose us all.

"Don't be negative Ben," She told me and that put me on a mental pause. Was I being negative? I wouldn't hope so because I always considered myself the opposite. She finally shut me up good. "So, listen Tavi, this Canterlot stuff had Luna crossing her hooves as she walked around and _shoving her business in everyponies face, particularly Ben's_."

My eyes widened a bit and rushed up to the gossiper. "Vinyl…" I called her cautiously and she smiled widely.

"But Luna likes to have one too many of these drinks, so she did that to herself, you Tavi can control your thirst unlike someponies." Vinyl said, finally saying something positive and with no intent of foul play there. I settled a bit after hearing that since Vinyl seemed to also have the intent to keep this _Luna talk_ a secret.

"Alright, I guess…can I ask you something?" Octavia asked and Vinyl tilted her head to one side curiously.

"What's got you confused?" She asked and Octavia looked over to me before returning to Vinyl.

"Why do you and Ben sound so suspicious? Why was Rainbow Dash with you that night, why was Luna with you? And why does it sound like you did something…criminal?" She asked and it seems she wasn't as naïve as she originally went for. It seemed she kept tags on the words coming out of Vinyl's mouth. Despite the suspicion, Vinyl comfortingly smiled and shook her head.

"Oh Tavi, the things we can't tell you. Don't worry, the moment you have one or two drinks in you, you'll find out. Right now, if I told you, you'd probably start yelling and stop speaking to me until next year arrives." Vinyl said raising the curiosity of Octavia's and mine as well. Now that I knew that, _that Octavia would react negatively_ , Octavia doesn't sound like the right pony to be discussing sexual relations with at the moment.

"You're hiding secrets again!" Octavia exposed Vinyl and Vinyl pouted in reaction.

"See! You're already yelling!"

Octavia lowered the accusing hoof she was aiming at Vinyl and apologized immediately. "Sorry…but if I promise to not do those things, will you tell me?"

As much as I thought Vinyl was a weak tease, it seems she's dedicated to holding her ground.

"Nope, you need at least two drinks in you first." Vinyl said, sticking to the script and Octavia gulped as she thought on further.

"Can I at least have a hint?" She asked next. Vinyl's ear twitched quickly revealing that she was intrigued. "Well…" Vinyl teased before nodding. "Sure!" She agreed to the terms with a smile. Octavia smiled as she waited for her clue, just as I did but without a smile.

"When we were nerdy fillies…we read a book together that we took from the Library." Vinyl said making me worry a bit and Octavia lose the smile she had. "You always said you loved it, and I kinda was grossed out by what the story made the characters do. I don't feel the same way now and I finally understand why the book made them do that. The same thing that happened in that book happened between me, Ben, Luna, and Rainbow Dash. Figure it out."

I never figured out at what point in that hint, my hand slapped my face but bloody hell _if that isn't the most obvious hint!_

"You know I used to read a lot of books! I'll never remember!" Octavia whined.

 _Bloody hell! She doesn't remember!_

Vinyl laughed a bit and shook her head. "Oh, you'll remember, I can bet you'll remember when nearly falling asleep. The answer will be so obvious you'll be shocked."

"Dang it Vinyl!" Octavia complained and Vinyl blew her a kiss before turning her tail towards us and trotting away. I turned quickly as she began moving away and wondering of she was really leaving us in this state.

"Sorry baby, that's it for now! I need to go put in an order for Canterlot stuff! And that stuff takes time to make! Bye Ben! Tavi! I promise you'll me again soon!"

"Wait! You're leaving!?" Octavia asked and Vinyl turned with a smile before confirming it.

"Yeah, but you'll see me really soon, once I get that order done. I promise. And Tavi, isn't this usually the time you recite some of your music pieces?" Vinyl asked giving her head a jerk which lowered her shades over her eyes. Octavia looked down at her hooves disappointed to hear that.

"It is…but Ben…"

I looked over and smiled after all that as I reached over and stroked her back a gently. She turned to me with the disappointment but smiled upon seeing my own smile. "You can go, I need to check on the nurse anyways, she has to test me a bit before I could get out." I let her know and with that I stood up. Octavia agreed as she hopped down her seat.

"Alright, but you'll be fine alone?" She asked and I smiled, flattered by her care. "I'll be fine, you take care as well." I said as I began moving away and over to the room where Dash should still be.

"Be safe Ben, and thanks for everything." She said I quickly turned to her as she left and I blinked aimlessly for a bit. If I do recall well, it was me who should be thankful for their time…

"You're…welcome." I whispered as I thought about it, it was curious how simply she said thank you, it was troubling me, almost as if I should've said something before she left out the door.

…

"Vinyl!"

Vinyl paused and quickly took her headphones off and turned curiously before finding her friend rushing up behind her.

"Huh? Oh Tavi!" She exclaimed before lifting an eyebrow at how she was panting as she finally caught up. "Uh…you alright? This isn't about the secret is it?" Vinyl asked and Octavia shook her head.

"No, I thought you might know something for me." She said making Vinyl fully turn to listen.

"I'm listening."

"Did you see Ben's pocket glowing a bit?" She asked and Vinyl paused for a moment before thinking back to the clinic. Now that she thought back, she did stare at Ben's pocket a bit because it was blinking a faint light through the fabric like her friend described.

"Oh yeah, it was glowing somewhat brightly, it's probably something Twilight gave him. Twilight always has fancy magic and stuff, you know?" Vinyl said toning the mood down making Octavia look up at her curiously.

"I think I heard them say it was important if it glowed…Fluttershy said it and so did that other…Ben…"

"You mean K? Yeah, he's Ben's demon or something like that, but he'll know along with Fluttershy in that case." Vinyl smiled before shrugging. "Other than that, I don't know about it, maybe it's important, but don't worry about it, we gotta focus on what were going to do for now. Like me, I need to get ordering this stuff." Vinyl calmed her and Octavia looked at her curiously, before accepting this was Vinyl lackluster response to everything she didn't find too interesting.

"I guess…I think I'll go find Fluttershy or K, whichever I find first."

…

I managed to get by Dash's parents without letting them in the room before I moved a dresser over the door to keep them out. I wiped a sweat before moving over to Dash who was now awake but she wasn't behaving normally. She was staring at the ceiling, without notice either me or the nurse around her. I moved up to her bedside and looked at Dash in her state.

"W-what's wrong with her?" I asked and the nurse opened her mouth to say something before closing it and shaking her head.

"I…don't know." She said and I turned to her, confused as I have the right to be.

"What do you mean? She's staring aimlessly at the ceiling!" I said and she stressed a bit as she struggled to find an answer. "I…I…" She began before I turned away and shook my head, I couldn't blame her for what was going on.

"Damn it…don't stress about it, what happened?" I asked her and she gulped.

"She woke up, but ever since then, she's not paid any attention to anything but the ceiling."

"Is she traumatized?" I asked waving my hand over Dash's face but she was stuck on staring directly upwards. I snapped my fingers a few times before clapping with force but nothing got her attention. The nurse shook her head after my small attempt at getting her attention before explaining she's tried everything I just did, she even slapped her face with the clipboard but that had no effect neither.

I gulped as I stepped back a bit and landed my hand on Dash's cheek. She was warm, a good thing if it were not for the fact there was something wrong with her. "Why did this happen?" I asked myself before looking away and sitting back down on my bed before kicking my feet up and laying down. At the same time, I accidently ended up bumping my arm on the edge of the bed and this time, it did hurt. "Ow…" I whispered as I adjusted myself and looked at the ceiling as well.

"I'm sorry Ben, I just don't know what's going on." The nurse apologized but she had no reason to do so, this all was unfamiliar to us all.

"No Ms. Redheart, you're just doing your job, don't take any guilt in this." I said to comfort her, since it was easy to tell from her last comment that her voice was losing hope. She looked at me and I turned my head over to look at her. "As much as Dash is lost in a state of…whatever is happening to her, it could be worse considering she could've been kidnapped."

"I guess, but for goodness sake I'm a nurse! It's my purpose to help others!" She argued with me and I closed my eyes before hushing her.

"Shh…it was my purpose to protect others…and I as well failed." I said before sighing. "It happens."

"But we can't just do nothing!" She protested my words, but I was already aware of what she was trying to tell me. I nodded before turning to the ceiling.

"I know Redheart-I mean Ms. Redheart."

"Call me Redheart, I prefer it like that coming from you." She said giving me a special permission. I looked over to her, distracted by her from the ceiling and smiled a bit, glad I could at least appeal to her when there was a bad atmosphere going around. "Alright, but I know we can't just do nothing, it's just a matter of what can we do?" I said and she nodded.

"I've asked myself the same thing over the past two days you've been here."

I slowly turned my head and picked my back off the bed and stared at her.

"Excuse me?" I asked, and she looked at me curiously before widening her eyes and realizing my position.

"Oh, I thought the ponies outside told you…" She said before gulping. "I should've told you, sorry, I haven't slept since you first arrived here, I'm a bit delusional at times."

I looked at her oddly now. I felt many things now. I felt shocked to know I've been out for two days now, I was confused as to how I was out for two days, but I was also afraid of something. If I was out for two days straight…how was I not attacked by this being that is supposedly stalking me. I blinked curiously before looking at the nurse and now that I looked at her better, she was tired, and I guess with all the confusion I've had till now, I never noticed how horrible she looked. It broke me a bit inside, to think that someone would care over someone they never met to the point they get no sleep. Her apology processed through my head and I could only feel sympathy as I closed my eyes and shook my head.

"Redheart, you haven't slept in two days?" I asked her, and she sighed and nodded. I gulped and looked at Dash. "If you want, you can go home and sleep, I'm sure I'll be fine with Dash, doesn't look like we're going to be moving at all for a while anyways." I said to her and she shook her head.

"I can't…I need to check you two until I know-H-HEY!"

I was deaf to her words I grabbed and lifted her off the ground and brought her up to look at her. "Shh…you did good to me, it only right you as well get to feel cared for." I whispered and her eyes grew sob-like and I couldn't help but smile. Her body was loose and feeble, she was easily letting herself be carried but this was probably due to how tired she was. She looked at me, a blush paired with gratitude displayed everywhere on her face. I moved her over and gently laid her on the bed which I had occupied for two days apparently. She didn't protest or argue at all. So as soon as I laid her down on the bed, the comfort immediately settled in and she shivered at how pleasing it was to finally lay down after two days of constant motion.

"You need to rest, Redheart." I whispered to her to sooth her and it worked since soon her eyes began bobbing around to stay open but the battle was a weak one as her eyes slowly began closing. I knew that feeling of being so tired that the moment you get something cushion-like under you, you just pass out and that was happening to Redheart but not without a struggle. She had a desire to keep on moving and continue watching over us, but I knew well she needed the rest. I let my hand fall over her soft body and caress her all the way till she finally gave up and let her head sink into the pillow. I threw the blanket over her covering all the way up till the neck, it was pretty cold in here, but that's what I would expect from clinic, the cold, chilly feeling is meant to calm down patients. I let my hand run up and nicked the hat off her head and undid her hair so she could rest well and placed the items on a small counter table to a side.

I glanced at her before feeling warm on the inside to have done my good deed for the day. "Cute." I whispered to myself before looking up at Dash and losing that smile almost immediately. I moved up to the bedside and she was still stuck on the ceiling. I knelled down to get on par with her head and turned to look at the ceiling, trying to see if I could at all see what she was seeing, but nothing as I expected. Still kneeling, I looked at Dash and wondered some more as to what I was actually seeing. Dash was frozen to the bed with her sight to ceiling and her wing broken badly, but according to Redheart, this isn't trauma, but then that only left the possibility she was brain dead. That was a possibility I never want to ever be proven true.

"Come on Dash, what are you looking at!?" I whispered sternly as I got down again and looked up to see it something was up there, anything at all! But nothing again, once again, as expected. I messed around with Dash for a while, doing things to get her to react, I even pulled off the Sleeping Beauty trick out of desperation but nothing worked. I leaned back and looked upwards. "Fuck the ceiling." I cursed before grabbing a foldable aluminum chair from the corner of the room and unfolding it. I sat down and with a groan as I forced my hand into a fist and used it to give myself a bash to the forehead which was pointless.

I spent nearly three hours now, and all I've done this whole time was stare at Dash, and at times I turned to Redheart just to not lose myself into oblivion. I was hungry, but I felt like anything I eat would just get regurgitated. Something was wrong with Dash, and I haven't stopped thinking about it. Theory upon theory I devised and when it became too much, Redheart was there to be my back-to-reality relic. Until now, I'm finally coming back to my senses and finally realized I was starstruck for the past few hours and stood up. My legs were numb and felt robotic, as expected from such a long sit-down.

"What could've happened!? For fuck's sake!" I agonizingly groaned before I felt a small sting come from my thigh. I looked down in an instant and sure enough, there was a bulge in my pant's pocket, right over where I felt the sting. I reached in and pulled out the stone, the stone that alerted danger. I glared at it, some fear some confusion. It stung me, again, not like the other night in which it fried me.

I had my heart in my neck as my neck began stiffening and an ominous blue light began faintly glowing from the stone. "No…" I whispered to myself before looking out the window and looking around at the world outside, unlike before, there were a few ponies talking and messing about, so all was normal in that aspect. The stone jolted me again, slightly stronger than last time, and this time it got me by surprise which made me drop it. I looked down at it and it was vibrating now.

The steps were in order like that night, it moved like this and I quickly picked it up and thought. The light wasn't bright at all whatsoever, but it was stinging me meaning the danger was near…

I looked once more at the stone before thinking closely and logically. _If the stinging and vibrating mean the danger is near, then the brightness might determine the strength of the creature_. It was theory but it made sense to me, and it put me at ease for the moment. And with that in mind, what was this weak danger that was close?

"Hello?" I asked in a moderate voice as to not wake up Redheart. I got no reaction from anything, so I turned back to the stone and it was still vibrating like before. "Hello, who's there?" I asked again and this time my head kicked up to Dash who shifted. There was so much silence and so much motionlessness in the room it freaked me out to the point I nearly kicked myself off the chair.

"Damn it!" I grunted as I found my balance on the chair and looked up at Dash. She was now staring at me, and not in an assuring light. As a matter of fact, she was completely terrifying me with how deeply she stared at me, it was almost like a bloodshot glare and it felt insecure all the way. I would've felt good that she finally wasn't staring at the ceiling but this was even weirder than before.

"Dash? What's wrong with you?" I asked as I slowly and steadily picked myself off the chair and slowly moved around to the bedside of my bed. Her eyes were tracking me everywhere I moved, but she refused to say anything. At this point I needed to call someone, this wasn't anything I or Redheart could understand, I needed K or the princesses or Twilight, anyone. "Dash…" I whispered her name once more before at full speed a realization hit me.

I quickly unleashed my stone and it was now glowing a bit brighter than before and the vibrations it gave out were quicker than before. I blinked curiously before turning to Dash. Out of everything in the room, everything was normal besides Dash, and that meant either one: there's something around here that wants to hurt me, or two: she's the danger.

"Dash, what's going on!?" I asked her but I should've known this was going to be a lost cause since she was deadlocked on me. I backed up a bit from her before looking at the Redheart and wondering if she was in danger here or was it just me. I slowly let my hand crawl up my head and touch my forehead but as soon as I did a small breeze picked up in the room.

"Don't, I'm here."

My body froze before I found myself across the room with Redheart in my arms, still asleep since I was slick in picking her up and clutching her to me. My instincts had me on edge. I stared with a slightly accelerated breath at the Queen who had a carefree smile aimed to me. I let my body lose the defensive stance and straightened up.

"Oh? You have the instincts of a feline." She giggled, humored by how stunned I was. I felt a small headache start to come up and took a deep breath. "Sorry, it wasn't my intention to scare you, just get your attention." She advised me making me loosen before I remembered I had Redheart in my arm and firmed up. The Queen looked down at my arm and smiled.

"Well, at least I know you're also thinking of others, how's the nurse?" She asked and I sighed as I moved over to the bed she was in previously and put her back in her position cautiously to not awaken her. "She's fine, but hasn't slept in two days, so I let her sleep."

"Poor thing," The Queen pitied before looking over to me. "Now I'm betting Rainbow is the next order of business?" She brought up making me raise my head and grow faithful.

"Yes, she's…not responding to anything." I said and the Queen moved to my side and glared at Dash. She studied her a bit, and as all this was going on, Dash's eyes never broke sight of me, which the Queen fully noted.

"I've got a remedy with me, and I've also got an explanation." She said grabbing my attention.

"What happened?" I asked.

She looked at Dash a bit more before looking off to a side to recollect her thoughts. She shook her head and nodded to some ideas she told herself before finally coming back and nodding.

"Tell me Ben, do you know of Athena?" She asked and I turned to her in deep thought before nodding.

"I know one, the Greek goddess of war?" I asked and she narrowed her eyes a bit before shaking her head.

"No, the Greek gods exist but in an alternate world, our world has its own gods. But in a sense, yes, this Athena is a god but she isn't completely like the Greek one, despite sharing the name." She explained and my eyes went wide as I grabbed my hair with my free hand and pulled slightly.

"Holy shit, the Greek gods were real!?" I asked her and she smiled, probably amused at my reaction.

"Of course, I know they were in your old world, I can feel their presence radiate from you." She said and I lifted an eyebrow at that, it's so damn weird now that I'm finally buying this. I lowered my hand and opened and closed a fist to destress.

"I would say no way…but I've already killed a god, so I guess I could believe it to some extent." I said before the Queen gave a firm and direct assurance. "Good, because the Greek Athena is a goddess of war, wisdom, strategy, crafts, etc., and the one here is near to a perfect copy, but not like you think."

"I'm not getting a good vibe from this." I mentioned and she explained.

"Our Athena is the same in every aspect to the one you know, she's strategical, stealthy, has a huge range of weapons, and slowly works her way up to her prey. But unlike the other, our Athena could care less about honor or dreams, she has a corrupt sense of justice and order."

I remained silent, not feeling like giving any input on that.

"I've had the displeasure of going face to face with such a skilled fighter, she's got a human like figure like you, one of three gods to have a human appearance like you actually."

"Ouch," I said biting the tip of my tongue gently. "What a way to stain my humanity."

"I thought she was easier than other gods, but I couldn't be anymore wrong. She likes to fool you into thinking she's beyond weak, before coming at you at full wrath." She explained before I finally realized that Dash was still stuck and I was just listening to a story.

"What does this have to do with Dash and me? Forgive me if I'm rushing ma'am, I'm just worried." I asked her, trying to be polite. She dropped the story and agreed with sympathy.

"No, you have the right to be," She said before raising her head and turning her whole body and attention to me. "Actually, you should completely be actually."

I closed my eyes and nodded, I had expected such.

"I thought so…"

"You knew?" She asked and I nodded.

"There's too much evidence to prove this was related to some god's doing," I said before opening my eyes and looking at Dash still staring at me. I raised a finger and aimed it at Dash.

"But what did she have to do with anything?" I asked and the Queen looked at Dash before sighing.

"Athena will target those you love most to make you panic and become weak mentally, trying to make you paranoid essentially."

That hurt, and it hurt a lot. One reason was that my friends were getting hurt, and the other was that I was giving into what she wanted me to be: paranoid. This was a lose-lose situation leaving me with no options and that's where this Athena showed how smart she was, she literally left me with my back to a wall. I grunted a bit before shaking my head.

"How do you know this is Athena's doing!?" I asked her now, out of nowhere trying to protest the belief that it was this Athena out to get me. The Queen scowled me before shaking her head.

"You said it yourself, the evidence was there." She explained before turning to Dash. "Dash is under Athena's control at the moment."

"She's what!?" I asked as I quickly turned to Dash.

"Athena's thunder…is a special thunderbolt she uses to possess the mind of those who are strong enough to survive its blast, but feeble minded enough to be possessed. If that had been any other pony who got hit, they would most surely be dead, luckily Dash has a great deal of strength in her body."

"Yeah, but not enough to resist that control…" I said. "What does the control do?" I asked and the Queen sighed as she used her magic to pick Dash up from the bed and sit her up, Dash's eyes never leaving my body out of sight.

"The control essentially forces the victim into a trauma before they'll either kill the first thing they see or they'll take their own life by any means possible." She continued and that got me confused more than any other thing.

"If that's so…then why didn't she hurt Redheart? Or hurt herself in these past hours?" I asked, scratching my head in the thought. The Queen smiled a bit, revealing there was a positive to this after all.

"Because Rainbow Dash is strong willed Ben, she was able to be taken over, but inside of her head she's fighting her own battle with Athena's control, and she'll keep fighting, but don't rest assured…she'll lose eventually." She warned. That got me feeling worry and anxiety more than confusion now. I couldn't imagine Dash ever hurting anyone or even killing for that matter, and the image of Dash killing herself was even more disturbing. I shook those images away and set my mind on the goal that is now priority: Fix Dash before it's too late.

"And how do we get rid of that control!?"

"I know exactly how to get rid of it, and the remedy is with me as I said." She let me now and I quickly jumped up, excited to finally begin fixing what's broken. "Come on! Let's not waste time then!" I encouraged but before I could fully embrace the positivity, the Queen gave off that look that she left out a detail in her explanation. I frowned and stared her down. "What?" I asked.

"Well…she won't listen to me," She revealed making me question the "remedy," before she added the last bit of info. "So, I thought you might be able to convince her…"

"Wait-wait! Her!? Who's her!?" I demanded an answer and she lifted an eyebrow, making me now question myself.

"You should know by now, she likes you oh so very, very, very, very much!" She said making a mental switch tick and the answer come out my mouth before the Queen even finished talking.

"Luna! Where is she!?" I asked quickly demanding that answer as well before I felt some magic slap me across the face. I let my hand slowly rise and land on my cheek which became sensitive after that impact.

"No, you dolt!" The Queen sternly insulted me and I turned in utter shock. "Dolt!? Who the hell are you talking about then!?" I asked and she frowned back as she yelled the answer back at me.

"Nightmare Moon! Have you forgotten she loves you as well!?"

I felt my cheek again to make sure I really did get slapped because what the hell was she thinking if she thought Moon loved me. "She…she strangles me in my sleep! She may like me but not as you say! I'm her punching bag in a sense!" I yelled back and she quickly gave me another one across the face and this time I was really beginning to think if I was in the wrong here.

"In the past two nights, I actually spoke to her, and I can promise you that she's felt heartbroken about what she did the past few times she's tortured you in your sleep." The Queen revealed and like that the sizzling slap's pain diminished and my eyes widened.

"She…really!?" I asked and the Queen smiled and nodded.

"Yes, and she misses messing with you in your dreams too, as you can see, these past two nights she had plans that weren't executed because you were completely knocked out! Oh, and did I mention she actually cried talking for you? She thought something might have happened because your life essence disappeared because of Athena's strike. She dearly misses you." She revealed and now I was having trouble believing her. Like hell Nightmare Moon would cry because she hasn't seen me in two days, I felt my bullshit meter go off on that one.

"Are you just trying to encourage me to get Moon to help Dash because you couldn't, or are you still trying to get me to marry your daughters?" I asked her, wishing I could cross my arms across my chest. The Queen giggled a bit and shook her head calmly dismissing my suspicions.

"No, no, don't be silly. None of those, what I'm saying is true and I can even put my body on the line to prove it!" She assured me and now that I thought about it, who puts their body on the line? _I shouldn't be talking_.

"No, I get the point." I said, refusing to think about making another body commanding bet. The Queen smiled before looking lower of my body, down to my feet actually, something I've never seen from her before.

"But still, I just see you as a strong being who can protect my daughters and I know you love them too…good were the days when a great Stallion in shining armor would always put himself first to save who he loves. Sorry if I get persistent about my daughters, but that's just how I see you, it kind of makes me a bit jealous, I never had that. I was raised to fight my way about, but I always dreamed of being saved by some stallion who loved me…" She said blushing a bit her eyes completely in her fantasy realm. I stared at her completely understanding but astonished by her fantasy world which sounded funny to me. I've always heard women complain about how they don't need a man when they can do it by themselves, but now I was hearing this? This was lovely to hear, and I felt almost like gushing out in my own blush from how powerful the message was. I smiled and chuckled a bit before her pupils became small and she blushed greatly lifting a wing up to her face to cover it.

"Umm…sorry, I have a habit of…fanaticizing." She said, excusing herself but without reason: I was amused.

I smiled and blushed a bit myself. "It's fine, coming from a Queen who's been a virgin all her life and has never really felt partnership love firsthand in all her life, I can imagine you do that a lot."

"It's not like that…" She argued weakly making me strength this smile of mine.

"It's fine, I was like that as well before actually coming here, I'm sure soon you'll understand what it's like really soon." I assured with passivity reigning over me, giving her a thumbs up, but she reacted by lighting up in complete affection and her wings even spread like she was about to take flight.

"YOU MEAN IT!?" She asked and I jumped a bit at her reaction before smiling and nodding.

"Y-yeah, there's plenty of stallions out there, I'm sure you'll find a perfect one." I said with a wide smile, glad to have excited her. She stared at me before her wings slowly began retracting her and her smile lingered a bit before disappearing.

"B-but I thought you…I thought…you…" She muttered. I looked at her before I thought about what she was saying, which made me slowly lean back, lost in thought before I lost my balance and caught my fall with the bedside of Dash's and fixed myself. I shook any mishearings, but in the end, I could swear I heard her mention me and her…in something mutual.

"Ma'am?" I asked as I dusted my shirt off a bit. "Are you serio-

"Actually, I'm fine." She said before I could even finish, and I quickly realized this was one of "those" talks my Dad and Chris both warned me about. They told me if a woman ever cut me off and had the look of disappointment over them, they won't let me sweet talk or try to make up for a mistake I made. I guess my mistake was reacting like I did to her nicely assuming I was offering myself to her.

"But I-

"It's fine, let's focus on your friend."

 _It seems the they were right._ I lowered my joy for the moment and bit my tongue for a moment before accepting it.

"I'm sorry." I apologized, not saying much and she seemed to move a bit, but not as much as to show I was fully forgiven. I looked down before smiling a bit and sighing. "I was a bit shocked, that's all," I said making her look back at me.

"But if you do feel that way about me, I won't forget, I promise." I assured making her look at me a bit shameful before smiling, making me smile and back from Dash's bed a bit. It was harder than I thought actually to get her to smile, but with the right tone of voice and good intentions, anything can be sweet talked.

"But, we'll talk on that later, right now, I need Dash out of this mind control." I said and the Queen delightfully nodded and used her magic to spawn something before me. An orb…like the one's K showed me before when he extracts souls. I stared at it before rubbing both my eyes a bit and lifting an eyebrow.

"Uh…is that, by any chance…a soul you have there?" I asked and she giggled.

"That's precisely what it is, but who's?" She asked me and I quickly knew, even though it was astonishing to believe. I looked closely at the orb and smiled.

"No way! You got Moon in there!?" I asked and the Queen pulled the orb away from me.

"Hold it!" She alerted me and I backed up a bit taking the alert seriously.

"What is it?" I asked and the Queen twirled the orb like a basketball before stopping and levitating it between us two.

"I do have Nightmare Moon in here, but a better way to put it is like this: You'll be corrupted."

"Excuse me? What?" I asked her and she repeated herself before explaining.

"K, your demon, he did the same with Fluttershy. He gave her some of his demonic soul and put it in her, and you know how that resulted, right?" She asked me and I backed up a bit more from the orb floating between us.

"W-what does that mean about me?" I asked and the Queen thought.

"It means your soul with be corrupted by your own, your demon's, and Nightmare Moon's."

"Which means?" I asked further and the Queen thought again.

"Your soul is the biggest compared to K's, Strike's, your filly's and Moon's, but they'll become one with you, which means you'll be letting K, Strike, the filly, and Moon all be able to control your body, or literally change your physical appearance, they might just turn you into a pony if Moon, Strike, or the filly decide to take over."

"That sounds…troubling. I know K once turned me into him, and Strike once took control of my body…even Flutters too now that I think about it. She's also linked with me."

"You're a soul collector." She mocked and I nodded, taking her seriously.

"But if it'll get Dash back to normal…I guess I'll go for it, I'd rather I get corrupted then to see Dash controlled into doing those things."

She neared the soul to me and I looked into it.

"Here, hold onto it and speak with Moon yourself." She said and she let the soul land on my hand and I immediately got the first greetings from the soul.

"We meet again."

I smirked. "You missed me?" I asked and she scoffed.

"I would say no most of the time, but since you're the only one who can hear me, yes." She admitted making me smile. "That's sweet."

"I can easily say no." She threatened and I laughed a bit at her humor. "Oh, I wouldn't want that, now would I?"

"No, you wouldn't." She followed along and I chuckled a bit before nodding.

"Do you have any idea what's gonna happen when I do this?" I asked and her answer was quite simple. "No, I've never actually invaded a soul before." She said and I sighed as I got a firm grip on this orb.

"Ha! Don't make me regret this." I demanded from her with a confident grin to help me deal with the stress of what I was about to do. She chuckled, and not in a nice way, it was her malevolent chuckle and I gulped as I aimed the soul the right way. "You better not make me regret this." I said one last time before gently pressing her soul to my chest. The orb shook a bit as I pressed it further and further in, and at some point, it actually began taking the wind out of me. I quickly finished it off and just drove it all down until my hand was flat with my chest.

I quickly felt something that's for sure. I got lightheaded and my breathing became uneven as I hunched over a bit and clutched my chest with my hand when the pain kicked in. "Ow, that really hurts…" I let out in a breath as closed my eyes and let my body deal with it.

"It'll pass." The Queen assured me making me nod and wait it for a bit. The pain felt like my lungs had become swollen and it hurt to breath, but thankfully, as the Queen said, the pain was disappearing. My breathing adjusted and my lightheadedness faded, and I slowly picked my body up and straightened it.

"Well, that wasn't that bad…" I said before looking at Dash.

" _It appears you want to me do my first good deed for a pony_." Moon in my head spoke and I quickly realized why the Queen couldn't convince her. As her reputation goes, she would never help out ponies after what they did to her, not saying she deserved to be spared for that matter. I thought a bit.

"Just do this for her, and I'll make sure we all keep quiet about this."

" _But the point is that I'll have to meet her in her head and have a conversation with her before getting down to business. And she's part of the reason I was defeated._ "

"Yeah, but the bigger enemy here is not her right now, it's this god Athena. And Dash is under her control at the moment, so if you can, get rid of that control. Last thing I want is Dash killing others or herself." I encouraged her and finally gave in.

" _I'll do it, but you better keep her quiet or I'll do it myself_."

"Just help her, please." I begged and she sighed in my head.

" _Alright, put your hand down on her head._ "

…

Dash woke up soon, and she was normal, crying and stressed, but normal. I felt pain, anger, shame, and suffocated at seeing her like that but it gave me the motivation I needed to know I had to handle a new problem. I hated having to tell her about her wing, but I let her cry it out onto my shoulder. Once she calmed she asked for Moon, urging to see her, and she got the chance to as Moon actually took my body over. They shared a small exchange and Dash thanked her and being inside the same body, I could feel that Moon felt warm inside before she dismissed herself rudely to keep her reputation. Though Moon's attitude managed to hurt Dash's weakened emotions and forced her to keep on crying, Moon could at least accept it was harsh.

I wished I could've said something else before Dash fell asleep after all that crying but maybe it's best that she rests. Redheart let me be dismissed, and thanked me for letting her rest, also expressing that she would love to see me again soon, I wouldn't mind that. But hopefully danger doesn't find me again when I do so.

The moon was shining brightly tonight and it was lovely from this view. I walked after leaving the clinic, I walked and walked aimlessly until I found a tree and in about a few minutes of climbing, I was at the peak: hundreds of feet in the sky. A leg hanging loosely off the thick branch I sat on. My sheathed sword also dangling off my waist. I've been with this tree before.

"The night's beautiful, isn't it?" Luna asked. She was on the opposite side of the tree and also admiring the view. She found me up here and joined, just like K who was standing and leaning his back to the tree on a branch next to mine.

"It is," K agreed before Chrysalis who also joined us up here, giggled and smiled.

"It's so quiet." She mentioned making Luna smile.

"Peaceful bliss, I know you like it." Luna said, making Chrysalis smile. "Whatever you say."

"We'll find peace Ben, once we figure how to stop all this god madness." Celestia assured me also here, but like everyone else: on another branch. I looked at the moon before reaching into my pocket and pulling out the stone Jade and Sting had given me. I looked at it before nodding firmly.

"I'll make sure to find peace, and I'll make sure to secure it Celestia, count on that." I gave my own word on the discussion. I knew everyone here on this tree smiled and agreed with me.

"Don't worry, we'll get through this one, we won't be taken by surprise this time." K assured me and I agreed for the sake of positivity but deep down inside, I had a bad feeling about all this, especially since I had only one arm I could use and that one arm was my weak one. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Yeah…" I said before opening my eyes leaning forward as I realized there was someone who would fit here that wasn't.

"Hey, where's your mother Celestia?" I asked and I waited for an answer from her.

"She's looking around the Ponyville, getting to know the place better." She said and I closed my eyes again, feeling peaceful for now. Soon, all will be in chaos again, but hopefully, with the help who I have available, we'll make it out fine.

"Well! Imma gonna crash!" I said in a yawn, letting my head rest upon the smooth bark of this tree making everyone turn to face in my direction.

"Right here?" They asked and I chuckled and shook my head.

"No, Flutters home, where else?" I asked and they all thought.

"Who knows, have you gotten that used to living with Fluttershy, Ben?" Chrysalis asked me and I chuckled and nodded.

"I guess I have, I remember the first time she actually let me stay. It was the first day here, and Luna had challenged me to a challenge. I needed a home to stay, and even though everypony raised their hooves to take me in to their homes, Dash recommended Fluttershy, and she was nervous, embarrassed and so much more but she let me stay. We slept together the second night, and I guess she felt comfortable with me around and she asked me to stay…"

"I didn't know there was story to why you chose to stay there, that's cute." Luna commented and I laughed, glad they enjoying hearing that.

"How about you K? How did you first meet Chrysalis? How did you become friends?" Celestia asked joining the relationship train. I leaned my head a bit in K's direction to listen. K and Chrysalis both shared a chuckle together which got all of us thinking and listening in.

"Well, get ready to hear the story of the…the past." K laughed and Chrysalis giggled. "Back when it started." Chrysalis corrected joyfully.

"Can you also explain how you got that cutie mark again?" Celestia asked further making K grin and Chrysalis blush a bit.

"Well if you don't mind the story going sexual, then I guess I can explain." K said and we all remained silent before Luna giggled and sighed.

"Well, I guess a story before going home to sleep is alright."

"I'll listen to this story." Celestia giggled.

Lastly, I smiled and closed my eyes. "I've never had a bedtime story before, sure." I chuckled before Chrysalis giggled and sighed.

"Alright K, I enjoyed that night, maybe you can make it remind me what happened specifically."

K laughed. "Specifically? Well…let's see; it all started when I got that stone from a sack I found near Pinkie's place…"

…

"ATHENA!" A stern voice echoed. Athena looked back and lifted her six-foot blade off the grindstone and stood off her stool.

"What do you want!?" She asked tossing the sword into the air making it disappear.

"You absolute idiot! He, that mortal knows it was you! The Queen knows! Her daughters know! Everyone knows it's you!" He- the same one who's been arguing with her -exclaimed making Athena grit her teeth before snapping her neck one way before the other, ignoring his words. "What were you thinking even trying to hurt his friends…he's got even more reason to forge war against you…" He warned her and she stretched a bit.

"I thought I could've tortured the pegasi and returned her to him to hurt his confidence. But after that demon intervened, that pegasi should've killed him for me, I gave her two days! But she failed. And then that demon who managed to hit me…I MUST KILL HIM!"

"OH, SHUT UP! She didn't fail! She fought your damn control, you see! These mortals have their own power as well! Stop hurting them! And this demon had the power to kill you, it's in his blood to kill gods!" He protested, pissed at how she was so arrogant and sick she was acting. Athena sighed and shook her head.

"Hmm…I'll take care of the mortal first then the demon. I'll catch them off guard and take the kills." She said working on her simple plan.

"Athena…" He called her name, disappointed with her choices. "I don't want to see you die!"

"Do you think that low of me!?" She asked him, enraged making an aura spawn which didn't faze him. Only as soon as he understood she was far from understanding him, he tightened his fists as his anger bubbled.

"LOW!? NO! I WORRY FOR YOU!" He shouted making her aura instantly disappear. Her rage diminished and she gained an odd look. He hasn't managed to perplex her in millennia, last time he ever did that was when he brought her flowers which she didn't recognize what they meant until he explained. She lowered her shoulders and lose all will to be defensive.

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked and he shook his head.

"You're my wife…have you forgotten in all these millennia!?" He reminded her making her slim her eyes and gulped as she remembered. "I hate seeing you make irrational decisions! I hate to see you face danger!" He expressed his worry to her.

"I only said yes because…I lost to you…the first time I ever lost." She reminded him of that brawl. He nodded, as if his point had been proven.

"And I fought my heart out for you."

"Thank you, but you lost the thirst to fight later on."

"There is more to being married than just fighting Athena, there love, talking, arguing, protecting each other!"

Athena looked away and shook her head.

"I won't believe it until I see it."

"These mortals do it all the time, which something I'm envious about." He said and Athena sighed and thought about it before shaking her head, ignoring him. He gulped before closing his eyes, realizing her answer before it even left her mouth.

"…We'll speak later about this, I've got a mission to deal with."

He looked at her once more before sighing and walking away, finally admitting it was a lost cause to even change his wife's mind. Athena stared as he moved away before spawning a few knifes and sitting back down on the stool and began sharping once again. Preparing for the big moment about to come, the day she regains the statuses of gods as immortal and superior beings.


	64. Chapter 64 - A New Warrior

#64

 _ **Should I change the title of this story?**_

 _ **Guys and gals,**_ _ **if something in the story wasn't explained at the moment you read it, it'll be explained later on. This is in response to a recent commenter who had an issue with the plot. By all means, do bring to my attention plot holes, I can't become better if I don't acknowledge my mistakes. Thanks, and enjoy.**_

I had a nightmare again. And was it a coincidence? No. No it wasn't. These nightmares have always occurred before tragedy, but I guess I've gotten use to it. Luna says they're visions, which explain why she can't tell when I'm having these night terrors to stop them, and I agreed with that explanation. But this one was different from the others, this one wasn't as obscure as the past visions.

I was in the eyes of someone else and judging by how close I was to the floor I'm guessing it was pony's eyes. As said, I was looking up at myself- me in my human body -and he was just smiling, looking back at me peacefully before everything went white. From the way that sounds, it doesn't sound like a nightmare, but I add the sheer screams of terror I was yelling out at my body and had no control over the sobering mess I was, then it does turn into a nightmare.

Flutters was the one to wake me up claiming I was screaming to no end. She was worried sick and crying with might, claiming it's the first time she's ever heard anyone yell so terrifyingly and with such emotion. I was covered in cold sweat and shivering while she tried to comfort me with embraces from all over. The screaming I gave was the night terror screaming, because as she was holding me, I was confused and wondering what I just dreamed, not at all feeling like emptying my lungs in a frenzy of yells.

That made enough drama to carry onto breakfast, but by then I was smiling and thanking her for the meal which was new. Pancakes, something I've had scarcely but remembered the taste well. She smiled a bit but mostly kept worrying over what the screaming was about. She didn't have the courage to ask me straight up what was wrong with me, so I filled in the questions in her head. Shocked and worried, she told me to tell Luna who might decipher it and interpret it, but I explained to her it was a vision of danger which left her unable to eat her breakfast. I wouldn't worry much about Flutters, I got her eating again after a lot of comforting.

I made a promise to check on Dash in the clinic later on that morning, but it seems that a few had beaten me there. Scoots, her parents, and Pinkie were here. Pinkie, of course a cheerful pal, did her best to lighten the mood with some abstract methods but mainly her simple pastries were what seemed to make Dash lighten up. Flutters tailed me here as well and she was happy to see her friend up and enjoying some food. When I entered the room fully, I was greeted well by Scoots and Pinkie, but the parents seemed a bit isolated which prompted me to greet them myself with an apology.

"Morning, sorry about the calamity." I simply greeted before turning to Dash who finished her sweet before turning to me and smiling a bit. "Hey," She greeted before I did the same. "Hey." I sent back with a smile.

"Feeling better?" I asked. She sighed and nodded, maintaining the smile.

"Yeah, some race huh?" She asked, trying to put a smirk up. I laughed to myself a bit.

"I can't remember much, I guess I hit my head at some point." I chuckled tapping my head with a finger: she held her smile.

"Yeah, well clearly I would've beat you if it wasn't for the _shocking_ turn of events," She said making me laugh a bit at the cheap pun. I smiled in the end and nodded. "Yeah, you might've."

She sighed after that and nodded before lifting an eyebrow turning to me quickly. "Did Nightmare Moon actually-

"Yes, she did." I said quickly, lifting a finger to my mouth to stop her from fully asking her question. She seemed to realize what I was doing but she was a stubborn pony in the end. "She ain't all that bad I guess." She let out, and once again I hushed her down on that.

"I'm just glad you're fine, you had me worried yesterday." I said and she smiled.

"I know, you were there, and the nurse also told me." She explained and I looked down her body to her wing and looked closely before gulping and asking how she felt about her wings. Her ears dropped and she shook her head, just saying it's "bad" and I guess that was as far as she wanted to go into details.

"Sorry about your wing, but at least we didn't lose you, now that's the miracle: you're stronger than most ponies, who would've not survived that bolt that hit you." I said with a positive light and she smiled at that.

"Ben, are you going to get whoever did this!?" Scoots asked, getting on her hind hooves and placing her fore hooves on my leg. She had a small enraged look which only looked cute in all sense. I smiled and got down on a knee, brushing her fur with my hand.

"I'll get em', just let me find whoever did this, I'll make sure they never do it again." I assured her, caressing her small face before standing up and looking back at Dash.

"You're still a hero." Scoots said making me return the sight back down. A hero. To her I was still a hero, I guess I can be appreciative of her compliments, but could I really take her seriously? Scoots was a kid after all.

My silence got to scoots who punched my leg making it twitch a bit.

"Dash is my hero, but you're everyponies' hero! Everypony wants a hero, even when they don't mention it, and a hero can be any size, shape, or type! It just takes others longer to see the hero before their eyes, but you also have to do your part!" Scoots motivated and for once took some motivation from her and smiled.

"Now Scootaloo, let Ben think for himself-

"Cool Scoots, you got the right idea of a hero, and yeah, I'll be a hero, and I'll fix these damn problems." I assured her a with confidence in my voice before turning to Dash's parents who finally spoke.

"I'll get who did this to Dash and make sure they never do it again." I assured them as well. They watched me closely before going silent and looking the other way which started to make me feel guilty, or at least that's how I interpreted it. "Is something wrong?" I asked looking around the room to see if anyone had a clue as to what was happening. No one seemed to have a clue, and I got no answer to that. After some odd silence, I decided to just leave well enough alone and step back.

"Hmm…I guess I'll be seeing you all later, stay safe." I said, dismissing myself and Dash seemed to quickly turn my way before Pinkie picked up and followed behind me. Flutters didn't follow me this time, she stayed behind with Dash which was fine by all means.

"See ya, Ben." I heard Dash say weakly before I closed the door behind myself. I felt horrible in a way but I couldn't just go back in there after dismissing myself, I'll give myself some time before seeing her again and maybe her parents might figure themselves out by then.

"What happened?" Pinkie asked and I looked down before shrugging.

"I don't think Dash's parents weren't in the mood to see me again, I'm guessing they think I had something to do with what happened to Dash, and actually, they might be right," I said as I began moving on out the building. Pinkie thought about what I said before she quickly stepped out the doors before me and hopped in front of me, halting my exiting of the building.

"But you wouldn't hurt Dashie, she's our friend!" Pinkie reminded me and I chuckled, glad she was able to understand that. "I know Pinkie, I like Dash, but I guess it's best I leave her alone for now, maybe her parents are just not in the mood to be cheered up." I said and Pinkie gasped in a shock before quickly nodding in full agreement.

"That would explain a lot!" She exclaimed and I laughed some more.

"What did you do?" I asked with an arrogant smirk.

"I did everything!" She answered with a sense of humor and I liked her answer, gave me faith at least someone was happy today. She stepped back and let me pass on out the clinic and now she tailed me around as I checked on how the day was getting along well but I had all the reasons to worry about catastrophe: I haven't forgotten that the reason for all this occurring involves some enraged god, or at least all evidence leads to that explanation. As for where everyone was who I was last night with: K took Chrysalis to discuss something about using her metamorphic abilities to some advantage but odd thing was, I had no clue where the hell they decided to sleep since they never came to Flutters, so I guess they found someplace else. Luna and Celestia both ended up a bit strange after that story K told. They both were happy but also seemed to deeply think on something, and I wasn't obscure it, I was also thinking equally. Soon enough, Luna and Celestia both dismissed themselves, wishing safety upon me and I did the same for them.

"Oh, what's this?"

"Huh?" I asked shaking my head before realizing I was nearly trampling over a pony. I quickly jumped back letting out an apology but it became apparent to me that this pony was the same who asked "Oh, what's this?" which was an odd question for someone to ask when they're about to get trampled over. "Uh…sorry." I apologized once more stepping back a bit and trying to move around but purposefully, the pony stepped over in front of me stopping me. I planted the foot I was using to step forward behind me and lifted an eyebrow.

"You need something?" I asked looking up. The moment I saw who was in front of me, I recognized the face but I couldn't quite land my finger on who. My eyes widened a bit and I was quick to point out how I remembered her, but I ended up looking like an over excited fanatic more than anything else. She smirked before nodding.

"You should remember, but you don't recognize me out of my armor." She said and I raised my head a bit higher. "Armor?" I asked and she nodded before Pinkie looked from my side and she quickly identified who it was with a gasp.

"You're Luna's guard! Ben nearly…made you disappear…but you're okay! IT'S NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" Pinkie exclaimed and like a jolt of electricity, that answer stunned me as I smiled and quickly snapped into full greeting mode and extended out a hand.

"It's been a while! How's it going!?" I greeted before having my hand zapped. I quickly retracted my hand and shoved the electrocuted finger in my mouth before shaking my hand to rid the numb feeling. _So much for a reunion._

"What was that for!? Come on, that's my only working hand!" I said to her and she laughed a bit.

"That's the point."

"The point?" I looked up and took a step back at the realization. I shook my head, quickly stopping anything else from happening as I turned and signaled Pinkie to just keep moving. "No…we're not doing this again. Not now! Come on Pinkie." I ordered and she followed but quickly, Luna's guard teleported before us.

"No! We are doing this again!" She ordered, more demandingly. I stepped back a bit and shook my head.

"NO!" I demanded back but she quickly got offensive and unleased some magic upon me. I shoved Pinkie away with my leg and quickly jumped back, away from the strike. I looked down at her, which was all I could do: I had no idea what to do any more. She would follow me anywhere I go or do worse if I didn't lose her. I looked at the ground where she struck that magic and it seemed her magic formed a crater, ten feet in diameter on the ground. I gulped before trying to reason again but before that Pinkie got up in arms.

"Hey! Leave Ben alone! This isn't how you're suppose greet others!" Pinkie demanded making her turn to her and as soon I realized her horn glow I let my hand swing and slingshot a ball of desperation her way which as soon as it impacted, it had her feet from where Pinkie was. I quickly drove my fingers to my head and teleported next to Pinkie before commanding she grab hold of me and I was quickly out of there and appeared somewhere at random but far. Pinkie seemed a bit dizzy before shaking her head.

"Woah…I haven't been teleported in a while…" She said not fully there, but safe. I growled a bit at realizing I was somewhere with no sign of Ponyville or anything familiar. I let myself fall to the ground and sit down before thinking on how easily I just threw that ball of energy. As much as she was real fool to test me like that, I couldn't help but wonder if she was alright and damn it, how many actually saw me do that? Maybe I could've, and maybe should've done something better than what I did, like pin her down or even have quickly have gotten Pinkie and teleported out of there. I reacted way too quickly and irrationally.

"Damn it! What have I done!?" I asked myself before Pinkie once again shook her head and came to her old self.

"What's wrong, you look a bit stressed?" She pointed out and I gulped.

"I just swung a ball of magic towards that pony, Dash is hurt in a clinic, I had a nightmare last night, and now I don't even know where we are!" I explained before she told me to calm down before mentioning how irrational I actually was in bipolar turn of emotions. I let my body fall back and stay down. "Geez, that really helps me Pinkie."

"Don't be so sarcastic Ben, she was being mean! And you know what happens to meanies! They get what coming to them!"

"Does that justify what I did?" I asked.

"She was going to hurt me, wasn't she?" She asked right back.

I picked myself up a bit and nodded.

"Yeah…she was…" I said before Pinkie nodded.

"See! No need to feel guilty over well served karma!" Pinkie motivated before a flash of light illuminated our surroundings.

"YOU!"

"EEK!" Pinkie let out in shriek as she quickly disappeared from sight for a moment making me wonder where she disappeared to. "YOU! DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!" Pinkie yelled back from my side making me jump a bit at her sight before looking back up at the pony who found us again.

"SHUT UP! YOU'LL PAY FOR ALL YOU'VE DONE!" She menacingly yelled at us and I quickly tightened my fist and wits, ready for anything.

"FUCK OFF! YOU THINK YOU CAN COME UP TO ME AND ATTACK ME WHILE I'M INJURED!?" I asked her one last time before I knew I would go off.

"It makes it easier to slaughter you!" She clarified. Oddly, she took a slight pause before she said it. I widened my eyes at such a threat.

"Y-YOU WANT TO KILL ME!?" I yelled at her and she growled as her magic lit up, but instead of backing a step now, I firmed it but I didn't fully put on my defense, something wasn't right here. I know the look of a cold-blooded killer, and her eyes were missing the look of a cold-blooded killer. "I won't fight you! I don't want to hurt you!" I assured her, hoping to get something of mercy out of her. She laughed.

"Good, you'll make it easier for me!"

"I don't think she cares!" Pinkie said and I sighed before quickly backing a step and frowning.

"WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING!?" I asked. She stepped towards me and I did as my conscious told me and I backed up one step for every step she took in my direction, in all seriousness, I didn't want to fight her for many reasons, and one was the fact she was suddenly fighting me without a motive, which was doubtful: there has to be a motive.

"I have an order and you're in it!" She revealed and I quickly found her motive. I quickly reacted as I backed up a great distance, taking Pinkie with me.

"From who!?" I asked and she shook her head.

"That I can't tell you."

I looked at her and lowered my guard before turning to Pinkie and telling her to stay down. I now had something in my head, and I had a growing suspicion which I was coming to grasp as I quickly charged my hand up with a magic and I took my first step in her direction.

"BEN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T GOING TO FIGHT!" Pinkie reminded me as I made my hand's magic begin to pick up a wind gust.

"I know, but I want to know why we're fighting, and this is the only way to-FIGURE OUT!" I yelled as I quickly sent out my hand like a bullet and sent a strike of fury embodied in a mass of sparking energy, throwing it with such potency I was lifted off the ground the moment it left my hand. I knew she would quickly try to dodge which the reason I quickly teleported right after and met up above her and with the same level destructive force struck down on her resulting in a collision of the first energy strike and this one I just threw. I quickly backed up and watched as the smoke cleared up and as soon as it did I, I confirmed a suspicion.

"No good." She said with a demeaning glare and I nodded.

"I thought so…" I whispered making her eyeball me.

"Huh?"

I aimed a finger at her shield which was the same from our last battle.

"When we first fought, your shield could only barely stop my sword and my fist, but now you seem to have achieved a way to even block an attack I put a lot of effort into." I said as I dusted off my shirt before shaking my head.

"Who gave you this power!?" I asked and she shook her head, denying it. I lifted an eyebrow and nodded against her.

"Tell me! NOW!" I yelled swing my hand out once again but she dodged this one before attacking back and I quickly flew up and looked as the ground I stood on disappeared before my eyes. I stared before looking down and noticing how all underneath me looked like the surface of the sun, my eyes widened and I quickly aimed my hand down and fired at all cylinders and luckily I slowed the magic enough to back as far as I could from it and watch as the sky's colors changed at the magic disturbing the atmosphere. The sky changed color over five times before her magic finally disappeared and the sky returned to normal but I was now convinced of something: Her power doesn't come from nothing I know to exist; her power is incredible. The idea was starting to grow on me, that I might have to kill her if that's necessary…but just barely, this power of hers was no joke and no hand-me-down from someone powerful. I quickly dropped to the ground and stared at her as I shook my head, teeth grinding on each other.

"Who gave you this power!? WHO!?" I asked and she shook her head violently.

"Once I'm done with what she wants, I get to keep this power." She said chuckling and I tightened the only fist I could. _She?_ The frustration was getting to me. "Oh, and once I'm done with that, Luna will pay too, for kicking me out of the elite guards…" She said before gritting her teeth and raging.

"I'LL KILL HER AS WELL!"

"Not if I kill you first!" I quickly said quickly drawing my weapon and aiming it her way and threatening her. She looked at me and grew chaotic and mad as she began laughing out of the sheer thought of blood on her hooves and I knew I was losing her. This pony…how did this ever happen. Still, I knew Luna's power, and I knew that the power this pony inherited was easily enough to kill her if Luna wasn't on her day. I never thought of Luna as weak, but I knew their strengths, and I knew that it just took one bad move for them to become exposed.

"YOU!? OH, YOU WON'T BE AROUND BY THEN!" She said to me and I shook my head. My shoulders began rising and once locked in place, she had my complete focus.

"You may have better magic now…but just like everyone else I fought…" I said as I gripped the sword and flicked it quickly, quick enough it created a small whip sound with the air and I back handed the blade.

"You can be killed!" I reminded her and she quickly raised her shield but just before she finally fully enveloped herself, I was already on the opposite side of her and my sword was fully stretched out. I didn't want to look behind me, I was trembling as how horrible that felt: the feeling of cutting cleanly through flesh. I was fully dedicated when I decided to just go through with it but I could only feel regret now that I did it. Behind me, all I heard was her hack and spit something out. My breathing became unstable and I closed my eyes before I picked myself up. I didn't want to look at what was behind me but I managed to force myself into it.

I quickly swung around and she was there, looking at me, her mouth red with blood, but she was…standing. I looked at my sword and backed a step. "H-how?" I asked as I backed another step. I was sure I cleanly got her whole body with my blade, I felt everything get cut along the way, bones, organs, and flesh. I blinked a few times before I began shaking my head and back pedaling in my walk.

"How are you not in two!?" I asked her aiming my sword towards her and she licked her blood clean off her lips before swallowing it and taking a step towards me.

"You don't get it, do you?" She asked me as I backed another step.

"What?" I asked following in my back-walking motion.

"I have the power I desire to kill You and Luna, and this time, there are no rules." She said taking a slightly more aggressive step to me and I quickly raised my sword up to my face and my breathing increased. I looked at her past my sword and took a deep breath before quickly bring my sword to my side firmly and readying myself with another attack, hoping this one would do something.

"You still think you can hurt me?"

"I can sure as hell try, but I wouldn't have to if you hadn't fallen so low! And if that were the case, we wouldn't be deciding who lives and dies!" I said, playing a little mind game with her but she wasn't accepting the game.

"Who said we're deciding? You and Luna, and who ever gets in the way." She revealed and I gripped my sword tighter.

"Then in that case…I agree: why are we deciding?" I said before flicking my sword once more "It's you and Athena, you will both die."

She growled before launching her magic full-force against me, I quickly brought my sword and fingers up to my head and quickly teleported above in the sky and looking down at her. She was in the open and so was my chance, I quickly sheathed my sword and aimed my hand down and fired a barrage wall of magic before unsheathing my sword and looking for my opening. She moved around it all but ultimately, she found herself met with the end of my sword and once again I felt her insides get destroyed by my sword, but this time I watched it go down and I quickly realized how her magic was working.

When my sword passed her body, she did get cut in half but her body attactched back together in a split second. I remembered well who else did this before, and it was Yuson, as if there was anything else to enrage me. I quickly backed up again and watched from a distance as she let out a yell and with that she completely destroyed everything around her.

"Oh! Pinkie!" I said quick to realization she was still with me.

"I'm here!" She quickly exclaimed from behind me. I turned and quickly sighed one in relief.

"How have you been safe up to now!? Everything is getting destroyed!" I asked and she shrugged. I sighed and quickly looked back to make sure she was still destroying all around her.

"Listen Pinkie! I want you to find K, Celestia, or…whoever you know who can deal with this and bring them here, they must have something to deal with this pony!" I ordered and she nodded all army-like before dashing off in bullet speed. Her speed surprised me but whatever, anything goes, and the quicker the better. I looked down and sighed before standing and turning towards…I don't even know her name.

She could lose blood, so I could weaken her by making her leak enough to limp. And that's what I was going to do, but I had to keep cutting and cutting until she lost enough.

She found me and quickly swiped something towards me which I jumped away from before she actually began coming at me with a multitude of physical and magic attacks. I did the best I could at moving past each one, but with my one immobile arm, I was not able to balance my center of gravity and I felt a great uppercut delve into my stomach and nearly drive through me before sending me rocketing back a great distance. Luckily nothing was behind me to stop my knockback, and I spread out my body and lunged myself forward with my ability to coast and stopped myself. The pain kicked in and I cringed a bit before spitting out the saliva that amounted in my mouth.

"Ow…" I whispered before looking up and taking a moment to stabilize myself while she just stared me down. I looked up at her and before looking away wondering when she would hit me or take the kill, which I was obviously waiting for with a counter, but to my surprise, I was a full fifteen seconds into catching my breath and nothing. It was odd that she would let me take a breather and for that, I sprung out the question.

"You know, you could've killed me while I was completely out of breath there," I said, still on my knees before looking around and I couldn't find my sword. I closed my eyes for a moment before frowning. "What do you really want!?" I asked her and she chuckled.

"I was asked to not kill you but take out your other arm. But still, Luna, she'll be gone before you know it…" She said before laughing. "Oh, but you won't! You'll be dead by then!"

I thought about what she had said, and how her job was to get rid of my other arm. Either she was a fool for telling me that, or she knew what she was doing, but then she was acting out of her mind.

"What happened to you?" I asked her as I straightened my posture and stood up, tightening my fist. "Where's your honor!? Your dreams!? Your respect!?"

"I never had such fantasies!" She said in a sudden snarl before I hit back at it.

"But you did!" I yelled making her flinch a bit. "We were all young innocent kids at one point and we all had dreams, what happened to yours!?" I asked her again and she became agitated by that. I charged my hand up with some magic and shook my head.

"Where's your family!?" I yelled at last and she recoiled enough for me to know I had hit something deep. She shook her head before assaulting me with her magic out of rage and I quickly reached out my hand and stopped her magic. The collision of magic caused a blinding flash, and during that flash of light only one of us took advantage of it and that one was me. I knew where she was, and I quickly lunged myself out and with my hand caught her by the head relatively easily.

I stared down at her as I pinned her down but before she could react with her magic, I quickly ran my hand up to her horn and gripped as tight as I could. Her eyes rolled back and her magic sparked off in spurts before short-circuiting and canceling.

"DON'T TRY ANYTHING OR I'LL SNAP IT RIGHT OFF!" I threatened and she stared at me, regretting while equally cursing me through her eyes as she clamped down her teeth desperately.

"LET ME GO!" She demanded. I stared at her before beginning to tilt her sideways while gripping her horn, putting pressure to snap it. Her breathing became heavy and I knew I was testing her. She was no coward though, I knew from the start, and so it occurred to me I could snap her horn right off and she'd never even say a damn thing to stop me. I had it in me to break the horn right off and she'd survive hopefully, but something was off from the beginning of our fight, and I felt it way back then.

I stared at her for a moment as her breathing was increasing evermore, before finally giving her a break and returning her back to her up vertical position. She was harmless like this, with someone holding her by the horn, I hope. She sighed in relief before I shook her a bit and got her attention.

"I don't want to fight you! And you're no mercenary for anyone, so you tell me who gave this power and wanted you to eliminate my good arm!" I ordered and she looked at me once more, not angry or shocked: something in between. She almost looked dazed. I sighed and gripped her horn a bit tighter making her cringe a bit and stiffen her spine.

"Who gave you this power!?" I asked her in sudden uprising of my voice. She growled and shook her head before fighting against my grip which I quickly began smothering her horn in my grasp, but it was more of a massage considering how smooth her horn was. She opened her mouth, letting out a line of saliva before I gave her one more shake and made her listen. She seemed to be losing it a bit, her eyes were jumping around a bit and her body was recoiling.

"Hey! Listen to me!" I ordered and she gritted her teeth.

"LET GO OF MY HORN!" She demanded.

"Fuck you! You were just yelling about killing Luna! Like hell I'll let you go!" I told before shaking her a bit more and she let out a moan before gritting her teeth with a blush and fought my grip with everything she had.

"M-MY HORN IS SENSTIVE!"

"Sensitive?" I asked myself before the realization got to me. Their horns are basically what gets ponies on, at least those how have them. I thought about it almost letting my grip weaken before I shook away any idea of listening and gripping tighter making her gasp.

"I don't care! You threatened Luna and the safety of those who would try to stop you, which is most of my friends, and like this you can't really pose a threat to anyone, can you?" I said and she closed her eyes tightly before opening her mouth and slobbering over herself and equally her eyes rolled up high which took a toll on me. I held her a bit further away from me and watched in some discomfort as she wheezed a bit. _She really couldn't hold it…_

"…I'm taking you to Luna…she'll know what to do with you and about that power you have." I said in a final, raising my hand up to my face to do my teleportation but I knocked my own head with hers and she growled towards me before I moved her away from my head.

"Don't-ah-do that!" She yelled my way and the moment she said that, I smiled as her nape came into sight. She quickly looked over at me weakly. "W-what!?" She asked.

"I'm going to knock you out cold, you _really_ won't be a threat to anyone then," I said, confident with the idea of her being immobile. I could easily just put her clean out like this. Her eyes widened and I quickly launched her a bit into the air and flattened my hand to strike. "NO!" She quickly yelled using her magic to cling onto me and hand ended up hitting her back which made me nearly lose balance before I quickly grabbed her horn again and pulled her off me but she clung on tight with her hooves to my shirt before with one more yank she let go.

"What the!?"

I stared at her, confused as to why she reacted that way. Now that I realize it, of all things she could've done: push me away, teleported away, blind me, attack me, she chose to cling onto me. Something was up now for sure. I took a moment to calm down and as I did I loosened the grip on her a bit before I let her slip out the grip of my hand and she collided with the ground.

"You know, you don't act like your trying to hurt me." I said to her and she turned to me quickly.

"Huh!?" She asked before standing and threatening me with her magic which never fired, I wasn't moved by her, instead I shook my head since I was baffled I couldn't see it sooner.

"Why do you hesitate?" I asked her. She wasn't changing her stare for anything but her eye did twitch a bit, so I knew she understood what I meant. "What?" she asked, acting as if she didn't know where I was going with this.

"You said you'd hurt my other arm, but when you have the clearest chances, you don't do it." I said to her and she squinted her eyes a bit in some recognition as to what I was saying. "You missed three clear chances…" I said putting up three fingers before letting myself fall down onto the grass to sit down next to her. She jumped a bit and threatened her magic which I knew wasn't going to attack.

"You want a reason to attack me; you want me to attack you so that you're justified in doing what you want to do, you don't want to seem like a dishonorable fighter." I revealed to her and her magic dimmed a bit as her eyes stabilized a bit and looked weakly at me.

"When Luna told me, you were her chosen fighter, I knew you had to be special in some way, and you are, you're always looking for a motive to attack to keep your honor intact and not taint it with ill-minded intent." I revealed some more and her magic nearly cut off but she held it up as she had one more thing to say.

"JUST GET TO THE POINT!" She demanded and I looked at her off the corner of my eyes before nodding.

"You're a serious fighter, I know that, but you lost something important to you way too soon." I said to her and she reacted by gulping and increasing her magic potency, I could feel the power of her magic and it was enough to put me out if it hit. Despite it, I remained calm knowing what I now know, she wasn't going to hurt me.

"You lost the will to fight when I mentioned family…so I'm guessing something happened on that note."

"Shut up! Nothing happened!" She yelled and I nodded at her resistance, understanding her well on that topic of denial.

"I understand your denial; I lost my family too when I was at war…and I also lost my dreams, honor and respect."

"We are not equal!" She yelled and I knew by now so well the situation she was in. I knew how to react, how to move her, and how to speak.

"No, we're not, but you walk the same path I did. But-" I said before she interrupted me abruptly.

"But what!?"

I looked at her closely before aiming a finger at her.

"You still have dreams and honor," I said which stumped her.

"What?"

"You had your chances to hurt me critically but you didn't take them, despite being an elite fighter…you have respect for your opponent and even with the disability he has…you're looking for a reason to attack me, which means you wish to keep your honor as a fighter." I said to her leaving her silent. I looked to a side to collect my thoughts before sighing.

"Unlike me, you never fully lost your honor. You may have lost your respect and dreams but…they can be found again…I found mine a few years ago, before then I was a revenge-driven monster." I explained and she gulped, looking off to a side before growling a bit and coming back strong.

"What is it that you really want!?" She asked and I placed my hand up on my chest and hit myself with it.

"I want you to follow your dreams and protect your honor! You're a shield to those who need it! You're the pony who fights the fights that others can't!" I reminded her and she looked away again before shaking her head. I shook my head as well against her will.

"Don't just throw away everything for the sake of petty revenge, it's not worth it. Once you're done with revenge, you realize all you did was satisfy yourself for only a few minutes before the regret hits. I don't know what you thought you were getting when you accepted that power…" I said before grasping my ideas with a fist.

"But you won't kill Luna, you won't harm my arm, and you most defiantly will not hurt anyone, that's my promise to you! What's yours!?" I asked her and she was silenced.

"You're not evil, corrupt, or crazy, you just value your pride and honor…and that I know is no reason for me to judge you negatively." I said in a change to voice, to hit the convincing point of this rant. "Please! You must realize that you're not looking for revenge, you're just lost at the moment! I know so because I've been through the same!" I begged and she looked down to her hooves before sitting down, her magic completely gone, her face hopeless, and her eyes blank.

"This power…" She whispered to herself.

I sat up straight and looked carefully as she was growing dire. "Huh?"

"I…" She muttered before her face distorted and she went into a panic and shoved her hooves over her face. "What have I done!?" She yelled and I quickly picked myself up.

"What's wrong?" I asked concerned with two things: Figuring out who was behind this and seeing if I could fix this pony's problems, which now seemed like an option.

"I've…I've messed up…" She swallowed heavily before shivering, doing her best to not spew any tears. I reached an arm over and grabbed her shoulder firmly.

"Hey, calm down, what's wrong?"

"She'll kill me…" She whispered making me lean back cautiously.

"Woah, hey! No one is killing anyone!" I assured her and she shook her head with all hope down the drain.

"I was fooled into believing this power would make me better, but no!" She yelled, enraged with herself and I quickly needed answers before she lost it completely. It seemed she was finally coming back to senses.

"Who gave you the power?" I asked curiously and like that her breathing stopped for a moment before she turned to me and gulped.

"Some creature on two legs, like you…she said I would help her kill you and she'd reward me…she's powerful and I let her cloud my judgement…" She said picking herself up and moving a few steps away from me, looking off in a direction into the nothing but brutalized forest she caused. She sounded like she was realizing a lot compared to earlier; I picked myself up and did as she did and followed behind her steps.

"What reward?" I asked her and she looked back at me and shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it."

I gulped as I had something in mind.

"Family?" I asked and she only looked back once before looking ahead, no emotion but her regret showing. I moved up a bit closer.

"You're back now, right?"

"I don't know." She said under her tongue making me slide in another question.

"Well, if I ask for your help, would you help me?" I asked her and she turned to me and stared curiously.

"You'd still want my help, after all I've said and done?" She asked me and I smiled for a change and nodded. Her eyes widened her face became stressed. "Why…WHY ARE YOU SO FRIENDLY!? STOP WITH THAT ACT!" She demanded making me laugh at her insecurity which made her feel some way I can't understand but I could relate only to affection.

"You only know me from when we last fought, so you don't know me personally." I said and she stared as I smiled a bit wider. "This is how I treat those who I like, in other words, my friends."

"Y-you're lying!" She snarled and smiled a bit wider.

She froze for a good while before she sniffed back something and I let my smile drop slightly.

"We only cry for fallen comrades and friends!" I reminded her of what soldier should cry for and she bursted out in her overwhelmed state. I retracted my firm words and stared with all the seriousness I could put on my face.

"I am crying for a friend!" She yelled in overwhelming joy.

I lifted an eyebrow at her reaction before I dropped everything which involved staying serious and smiled.

"Alright fine, but we gotta go find Pinkie before she informs whoever that you're still a threat…" I said before remembering the blazing speed in which Pinkie took off in and I planted my hand on my head for teleportation and tried to find a signal of life.

"Grab hold of me from somewhere." I ordered and she wilfully wrapped her hooves around my leg which made me look down and clarify.

"Uh…just touching me with your hoof is enough."

She looked at herself and backed off quickly before placing her hoof on my leg.

"Sorry." She said bluntly and awkwardly; I chuckled before sighing and concentrating.

" _I see a red door and I want it painted black…no colors anymore, I want them to turn black…_ "

"K!"

K's eye twitched as he quickly lost concentration and turned to his side at the bright pink disturbance. "Huh?" he asked before rubbing his eyes a bit. K was a lazy one at times and that sometimes meant getting some sleep on the benches in the middle of town.

He looked down at Pinkie and groaned a bit.

"What is it?" He asked and she quickly spewed the news to him, which quickly set off a trigger.

"WHAT!? WHO!?" He asked and Pinkie quickly responded with, "Luna's guard!"

"Luna's guard?" K asked.

"LUNA'S GUARD!" Pinkie assured him.

"It's fine, Pinkie, I've taken care of it." I assured her as I stepped forward and surprisingly found K along with Pinkie, _I guess Pinkie does know who to go to when danger is around_. K looked at me oddly before turning to Luna's guard and lifting an eyebrow, a bit of worry over him.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, noticing how I was a bit puckered out along with Luna's guard. Luckily my clothes seemed to only be wrinkled. I sighed as I aimed a hand towards my partner for now.

"She borrowed power from a certain very, very, very, very powerful being, and we need to talk about it."

He was confused for a moment before his eyes widened and he swiftly turned to Luna's guard who awkwardly greeting him and he stared in disbelief. "This one here?" He asked and I nodded. He looked at her and stared before pulling back.

"So, you brought a tracking system with you?" He asked me and I lifted an eyebrow before actually realizing that was also a possibility. I turned to the guard to see what she thought and she looked surprised but innocent. I bit my tongue and nodded a bit guilty. "Ouch…" I said before patting myself down for the stone and I felt it in my pocket but that didn't make my heart drop as much as I realized that I had left my _precious_ behind. I patted myself again, a bit more frantically before looking around myself.

"Oh damn, I left my sword back where we were!" I panicked and I quickly ran my hand to my head but slowly my hand lowered. I can't travel to areas which I can remember how I got to, I just randomly appeared there and was able to find K since there were signals of life here. I gulped and thought exactly where I dropped it, or as to where it had disappeared.

"I don't know where we were!" I said and K lifted an eyebrow before Pinkie quickly rose up and cheered.

"I'LL GET IT!" She yelled before dashing off at the same speed as before making K turn to me awkwardly along with Luna's guard.

"Is that normal speed for a pony to go at?" K asked and Luna's guard shrugged.

"Beats me, but she does act a bit weird…doesn't she?"

"Hmpf, you're one to talk. She has a good spirit, she means well, and she loves her friends, a bit eccentric, but she's a good pony." I said in her defense before feeling a slight twitch of my thigh. Everyone's attention ran down to my thigh and they all stared as a blue light was glowing through the fabric. Slowly our head rose and we all met each other's stares before I pulled out the stone and noticed the intensely bright light, almost blinding and as if bright wasn't enough, it even seemed to radiate heat.

"Something doesn't feel right with that glowing…" The pony to my side expressed and I looked at K and he looked at me before he thought off to a side.

"That's pretty bright, huh?" K asked with a weak smirk and I nodded.

"Sure is, which means it powerful,"

"Say…that light only turned on when the pink one left us to find your sword…"

K quickly turned acknowledged that point. "What now?" He called for me and I thought some more before connecting some pieces. I quickly brought my hand to my head to get a read on Pinkie's life signal but it seemed as if everything was blurry. It was like something was interfering with my teleportation and I couldn't get any clear reads.

K as well suffered from a broken signal and he cleared his throat before aiming a finger in the direction he saw Pinkie run off to.

"She went that way, I say we move now!" K commanded and I thought some more before getting K's attention.

"Hey! Are you seriously thinking at a time like this!?" He asked me and I refused to have my thoughts interrupted by him, something was still not right, something was still off. Still K was right, last time I thought too much, I nearly didn't save Shining.

"How do we know she's really in danger and not us?" I asked suddenly and he gave me the 'don't play with me' look. I assured him that look was of no need and he quickly growled a bit before shaking his head and aiming a finger towards the direction of Pinkie.

"Fine, we'll do it like this, I'll go check on Pinkie, you and the pony go see if you can explain this to the Queen or Luna and Celestia, I think I'm able to handle myself well in time to see if Pinkie is alright. If shit goes down, I got a good fight in me, what do you say?"

The idea flowed and I nodded.

"Fine, do you know where Luna and Celestia or the Queen are, I can't teleport to them."

"Twilight's home, they were getting some papers done for you." K addressed and I thanked him before jumping into action.

"Thanks…go, GO!" I commanded and I quickly took off signaling the pony to follow me and she did, using her magic to levitate herself off the ground almost as if she was riding a hovering disk.

K eventually ended up on a moderately destroyed area of forest and he was already on edge considering it looked like hell had claimed the area before he got there. He hid behind a tree and looked around carefully, trying to catch of glimpse of anything pink. He moved from tree to tree but could never find a single spec of pink anywhere.

"How hard is it to find a bright pink pony in this place!?" He whispered before suddenly widening his eyes as a gloss in the distance got his attention. Stuck fast to the ground was Ben's sword which looked like it had been engraved deeply. K stepped a bit out into the open before retracting.

"His sword's there…but where's the Pink one?" He asked himself before looking around once more, and the ominous setting along with how the sword was directly at a 90-degree angle with the ground had him asking questions. He pondered it for a moment but he was quite an impatient being to begin with and didn't last long before he quickly dashed across the area and in swipe, he swiped the sword from the ground and took a moment to make sure nothing had tracked him.

Nothing. He sighed in relief and looked at the sword before looking around again.

"Pinkie?" He asked moderately before upping the gear. "PINKIE! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

He lowered his cupped hands and looked at the sword before lifting to his face. He never did admire Ben's sword up close, but it was work of art and forging crafts. He moved the sword to various angles getting a few views but quickly paused after one. His head rose cautiously and he turned the sword back to it's previous angle and in the reflection, he could see the outline of a figure. He stared at it, trying to decode it before he realized how it was trying to sneak on him. He remained frozen for a moment, at the thought someone was going to sneak on him but he held himself together. He loosened the grip on the sword it collided with the ground.

"Damn it…" He cursed with the act before his eyes quickly ran behind him but his hand had already beat him as it fired out a thin beam of darkness before it expanded and swallowed whatever he was intending to hit. He picked the sword up and backed up a good distance.

"Who the hell…" He whispered before the sound of chains slowly unraveling appeared and he backed up a bit at the ominous sound.

"You're the demon…"

K quickly widened his eyes as a chain suddenly and stiffly ran to him. He moved his hand to his chest in defense; it was the only thing he could've done, it was too quick to dodge. "W-what!?" K cringed as he looked at the palm of his hand, the chain pierced it through and through, and his blood was running down the chain. He quickly ran the sword onto the chain, but only felt the sword get rejected by the chain and he quickly began tugging at the chains.

"Like an insect caught in a web," A voice chuckled and K eyes shook as he felt he right leg get pierced at the hamstring. He let out shriek of pain as he fell on a knee and turned to look at his leg. His leg was inoperable now, he squinted in the pain before he felt his shoulder get mauled along with his with the other good arm by even more chains. His screams were no more, his pain had become so excruciating his voice was thin and gone.

"ah…" He let out breathless as his eyes began rolling up at his fatigued pain.

"ATHENA!"

Her head picked up before a sudden solid steel pierced her abdomen. "What!?" She looked down quickly before letting go of the chains in her hands and grabbing hold of the steel but before she could get rid of it, it made a quick right through her rib and demolished everything in its path. K hicced as he stared at the sight before his body finally found peace, being unbound to the chains force and fell back.

"Get K!" Sting ordered Jade and Pinkie as he quickly slashed the sword with his magic through Athena again but this time his sword didn't do anything. Athena put up a shield before she grabbed her destroyed abdomen and used her magic to just seal it. Sting quickly used his magic to down the shield and once again hacked the wound open before using his magic on the wound and forcing it to open more which caused agonizing pain to erupt from Athena before he quickly stepped back at how she mystically spawned a double next to him which slashed before disappearing.

That was all the time Athena needed to quickly use her weapon on Sting which was a huge five-foot warhammer and swung it to Sting's hoof and the sound of a bone breaking was enough to describe the pain Sting was in seconds before he used his magic to levitate himself away from another swing and quickly fire back with a flash bomb and blind everything in sight from everyone.

"Sting, you pain me! You disgraceful unicorn!" Athena cursed before suddenly Sting dropped to the ground and still in complete blindness he blindly followed the voice and fired a chain-like magic attack. It was chains, just like Athena's although his were meant to freeze the body of opponent. Although, all wasn't alright with his plan, he felt his chain stiffen but in opposite effects, his body was pulled by the chain and he was sent into a desperate attempt to stay grounded.

"KEEP THE CHAIN!" Sting yelled, falling back. He shook his head before retracting the flash spell and taking cover behind a tree in the area. He lifted his hoof to his face and looked at it's awkward shape and gulped as he used his magic to place back into shape but it ended up making him hurt. " _It's actually broken_ …" he thought.

"I completely forgot you were still alive Sting!" Athena yelled making him close his eyes.

"I thought you said the war against mortals was over!?" He yelled back.

"I'll never be! And your sick mortal friend had to go kill one of us!" Athena argued with him and Sting opened his eyes before looking around himself.

"Are you delirious!? We haven't killed any gods recently!" Sting protested and Athena quickly aimed her hand towards his tree and Sting quickly moved to another tree near by as the one he was at before disappeared.

"What happened to Yuson!?"

"Yuson…" Sting asked himself before gritting his teeth.

"YUSON WAS NO GOD! YUSON HAD TO DIE! HE'S THE REASON THIS WAR HAS BEEN GOING ON! YOU STILL WANT THE QUEEN!? SHE'S GONE!" Sting yelled before he quickly realized he was in for a barrage of attacks in which he fled from scene to scene and at last found himself in the open with no trees around to hide. He opened a shield to stop her magic.

"The Queen has already been found, you mortal fool!"

"Huh, what did you say!?" Sting questioned as Athena stopped her magic and he lowered his shield. Athena aimed her finger towards the distance which was exactly where Ponyville was. Sting's eyes followed.

"The Queen is there, in the castle in the village. She'll meet fate soon enough, and so will all those mortals who dare question my authority to do as I please!" She said before chuckling.

Sting's eyes traveled over to the direction of Ponyville, his eyes trembling and his hooves weakening.

"She's here…" he whispered before looking down at Athena and positioning himself for battle. "You…YOU'LL NEVER REACH HER!" Sting said, suddenly putting up an aura and forcing his magic to revolt against her. She turned to him and frowned.

"Speaking of fate! WHERE DID THAT DEMON GO!?"

"He's far away from you!" Sting responded and Athena glared death upon him.

"You'll pay for defying me!"

"AND YOU'LL DIE BY THE WILL OF US MORTALS! YOU SICK MINDED GODS! THIS IS THE REASON WE FIGHT, TO PROTECT OUR MORTALITY!"

Athena turned to him and laughed. Sting slowly began growing incensed, and he only grew colder as Athena suddenly became serious and let out the words of arrogance to tip Sting over an edge.

"Then you're fighting for nothing."

"Listen, Luna, she made a mistake! There was no reason to do that!" I protested following Luna around Twilight's castle as Celestia and her mother trailed behind me and talked to each other. Luna halted and I stopped myself from bumping onto her. Her face reached up to mine and she glared at me seriously.

"I've had it with her attitude, she's repugnant, ill-mannered, selfish, disobedient, and wouldn't hesitate to take the life of an innocent by her own judgement! I won't release her!" Luna forced onto me. There was no doubt in my mind that was true, but I had a feeling I could change her, because as far as I know she has problems that need tending too and being locked in a dungeon till her death was unnecessary and wrong.

"Luna, she has problems," I responded, trying to force back my own reasoning. "It has something to do with her family, I don't know what, but I have a feeling the only reasons she took that power was to be rewarded with something involving her family." I said and Luna without batting an eye turned to a side and thought, never losing her tense concentration.

"Her family?" Luna asked and I nodded. She looked back at me before clearing her throat.

"It's sensible, I can understand that." Luna said.

"What happened?"

"You haven't ventured too far from Ponyville and Canterlot, but there are other cities and settlements around here, and sometimes, there are dangers along the path to traveling by hoof: Bandits, wild beasts, etc." Luna explained and as I feared, I came to the conclusion early.

"They died…didn't they?" I asked and Luna stepped closer in my direction.

" _She_ died. Her mother was her only family Ben, and she was a batpony to top it off." Luna corrected me and I opened my eyes a bit to the new revelation.

"Never met a batpony, but you're saying she's adopted then…or was at least?" I asked and Luna nodded. I looked to my side and sighed.

"Then will you let her go?" I asked and Luna shook her head making me turn quickly, but she cut in before I could show my outrage.

"You'll let her go, maybe keeping her in the dungeon for the while is safe in our current situation, don't you think?" She asked with a smile and I guess it's true, she's already in the dungeon and she also accepted her punishment without hesitation which meant she would be fine for a while.

"Can I have the key at least, for when I do get her out?" I asked and Celestia suddenly became to my side.

"A guard of mine, Flash, will have the key, just ask for him and you'll find him surprisingly quickly. He's very distinguishable." Celestia assured me and I nodded before moving on back downstairs but before I could get down completely, I heard sound of a door breaking open. I froze in silence as did everyone else before Pinkie quickly called out.

"BEN! WE HAVE A REALLY BIG PROBLEM! LIKE BIG-BIG!" Pinkie alerted and I swiftly made my way down the stairs and I slid into the livingroom.

"WHAT IS-

I couldn't finish what I needed to say as in my sights I caught Jade with K being dragged. I didn't react for a moment as my eyes traveled down his body and at the series of chains that were engraved in various parts of his body were leaving behind a trail of his essence. I blinked a few times before I finally got it through my head that K was in front of me, with chains sticking out of body and bleeding out. I quickly demanded his body be laid down gently on the floor. First thing I checked what that he was alive and thank everything he was, just very weak. I wondered about the chains, how it seemed that they pierced his body and completely destroyed some ligaments and tendons.

"Oh goodness!" Celestia exclaimed coming down quickly, followed by Luna who slowly moved up and looked down at K. I gulped as and nodded as I picked up a chain and it was the heaviest damn chain I've ever picked up, probably two-hundred pounds in the section I was struggling a bit to hold up.

"What happened to him!? Is he alive!?" Luna asked.

"He's alive! But got attacked by her!" Jade yelled seriously and I gulped, guilt tripped by her words. Luna looked at the chains before using her magic on it, which resulted in K spasming and trembling greatly before wheezing. I jumped back a bit and Celestia stopped Luna from using her magic, letting K settle a bit in his pain before his head feel back unconscious.

"He'll bleed to death if we don't get rid of these chains!" Luna urged us to react and Jade quickly called on me.

"Ben, you can call K into your body by force, all you need to do is command his body!"

"How do I do that?" I asked and Jade ordered me to kneel down next to K and extend my hand out over his chest. I did so and I was confused as to what to do next since she suddenly didn't command me to do anything else.

"Hey! What now!?" I asked turning back and Jade was distracted as she looked off to set of stairs at the Queen who stood there watching in some pained emotions. I looked at Jade again and looked back at K before yelling out at Jade.

"HEY! WHAT DO I DO!?" I asked and Jade snapped back quickly ordered me to plant my hand on his chest. I did as told and she quickly demanded I call for K by his real name. "His real name?" I asked and she nodded.

"Just call his name in your head and concentrate on taking him into you."

I thought for a moment before closing my eyes and thinking. He started off by calling himself Kusanagi, and I called him by his initial, but for all I knew, Kusanagi was the name he used to differentiate himself to me. I thought before going with it. He did react to the name when the Queen called him by that name, but now that I think about it, he could have been just reacting to it because it was a longtime-no-see use of his name. I gulped as I made up my mind and just went with it.

" _K, Kusanagi, whatever your name is, come back to me…_ " I demanded in my head and I opened my eyes to find K still there and I bit down on my tongue at the fluke and shook my head.

"His name…I don't know it." I admitted and Jade looked at me confused before looking to a side and gulping.

"Can you fuse your bodies?" She asked and I slowly turned.

"Fuse?" I asked.

"Fuse!?" Celestia, Luna, and Pinkie asked.

She nodded as she magically whipped out a paper with her magic and showed it to me. I got the paper and looked at what was a series of circles and pentagrams and symbols all of cult relation. She highlighted one with her magic and under it, was some odd lettering of an unknown language.

"This is the fusion ritual, it requires you mix some of your blood and his blood in a container and use it as paint to draw the sacrilegious circle." She explained and I looked at K and gulped.

"Will this get rid of the chains?"

"Completely, and it should also heal him!"

"Wait, does that apply to my arm too?" I asked looking at my arm and she confirmed it with a nod. I quickly jumped up and agreed.

"Um…maybe you'll need this…" Pinkie said uneasily, whipping out my sword out of nowhere in particular but her handing it to me was a good feeling. I knew Pinkie knew what I was going to do with the sword, explaining her uneasiness, but I couldn't have a better reason for my sword now. "Thanks, Pinkie," I thanked as I asked for a container and Celestia spawned a goblet and held it under my hand. Celestia held my blade as well with her magic as I landed my palm over the edge of the sword and with the gentlest push of the sharp edge against my skin, I swiped, and like that I was bleeding a fountain. The goblet filled and Celestia quickly sealed the injury on my hand with her warm magic. Luna had collected the blood from K's body which was already bleeding enough to fill up her goblet and like that Jade did the honor of mixing both the liquids. It was a bit funny that K's blood was slightly darker than mine.

"Alright now let me paint your body, preferably your upper-body, it's much easier." Jade asked and I lifted an eyebrow.

"Do I need to take off…" I asked curiously and she nodded.

"Yes," She assured and I did as she said with a struggle but I got it off. The Queen curiously poked her head from the staircase and I was made to sit down on a seat as Jade grabbed a towel. Jade looked at my body to study it before dampening the towel into the bowl she mixed the bloods in and soaking it. She began by drawing a circle as the paper showed which she levitated by her face for reference. I was imagining well how she was drawing on my chest and down to my abdomen before she suddenly began drawing in an unrecognizable format, going on sharp lefts and curved rights.

Soon enough she finished and she turned to K, where she proceeded to do the same. I looked at myself, wondering how I looked.

"How is it?" I asked turning to Pinkie, Luna, Celestia, and the Queen who all just stared.

"I'm a bit appalled…" Luna expressed in a nervous gulp and I agreed.

"Blood is very unsettling," I said in agreement and Pinkie nodded a bit stuck on refusing to speak about it.

"Are you ready to merge your body with your friend's?" The Queen asked me and I nodded before stopping in a slow-motion move.

"How long does this last?" I asked and the Queen shrugged with a smile making me look down at the floor before quickly turning to Jade, who just finished with a good sweat worked up. "Done!" She exclaimed and then quickly someone else barged through the door, and boy was I not a surprise.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO K!?" Chrysalis demanded and I looked at her, confused out of my mind before I noticed the blood painting on my chest glow. I looked down and at K who had the circle drawn around the floor where he was laid down on.

"W-WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Chrysalis demanded aggressively and Jade quickly hushed her down as I noticed my hand completely begin to disappear into a mist that was floating off to a red orb in the middle of the room. I gulped as I noticed the rest my body disappearing quicker and quicker before I ultimately noticed that my torso and below was nonexistent.

Ben disappeared from the room completely.

"Where did Ben go!?" Celestia asked and Jade aimed a hoof at the red orb in the middle of the room before explaining how K's body was going to do the same and mix with the red orb. "WHAT!?" Chrysalis asked and Jade explained then to her what was going on. Chrysalis looked at Jade, a bit aghast, but understood why this was happening.

"Fusion…to save K, right?" Chrysalis asked, cautiously. Jade nodded and soon K's body faded into the red orb which then caused it to turn a deep blue that had a dark vibe to it. Chrysalis paid close attention to the orb before the orb suddenly disappeared like a flame going out followed by a sudden gasp from everyone. Jade blinked a few times just like everyone did at how it disappeared.

"Jade…where is it?" Chrysalis asked and Jade gulped as she looked back at the paper with the circles on it and double checked she got the right ones. She looked at it twice and looked back up confused.

"That should have worked…" She said before Chrysalis quickly got on her case.

"Forget it working! Where are they!?"

Jade took a small moment to collect herself before looking away.

"I don't know."

The Queen quickly took control and calmed down Chrysalis with a positive assurance. "The fusion takes a while to complete and create the new body for the fusion." Was the Queen's words and Chrysalis took them in with a grain of salt.

"So be it, but I want K back in one piece."

The Queen smirked. "The fusion is not like bodies put together Chrysalis,"

"What now?" Everyone asked and Jade quickly stepped forward.

"Yes, fusion is two bodies being used to create a whole new being, so the fusion will not go by Ben or K, it'll go by whatever he wants to call himself." Jade explained and Chrysalis wondered what the hell that meant, before slowly she figured it out, just like Luna, Celestia, and Pinkie did.

"Oh my…" Celestia expressed.

"Say, where's that Sting pony? He was with us!" Pinkie brought up making the Queen dodge an eyebrow and Jade quickly spaz out in a panic.

"H-he didn't follow!?" She asked before her eyes widened. "STING IS IN DANGER! I NEED TO GO!" Jade exclaimed as she quickly trotted out the room, not much being said. Luna and Celestia wondered before they as well grew to the conclusion but the Queen had gotten there first.

"Sting…I…I need to go!"

"Mother!?" Celestia asked and she looked at both her daughters before gulping.

"Sting is a friend, I won't allow him to fall, not after all these centuries!" Were their mother's last words before she disappeared away. Celestia only stared as Luna cried out for her. Luna quickly tried to follow but something quickly interrupted her: it interrupted everyone actually. A blue orb suddenly manifested in the middle of the room, looking ever so harmless but feeling menacing.

"Is that…them?" Chrysalis asked and Luna turned to it slowly, mystified by the color. Celestia kept a close eye on it, noticing how slowly it was getting brighter. She backed away and warned everyone to do the same and as soon as they did, the orb violently burst into a light show that had everyone hiding behind furniture and putting up shields.

The lightshow ended quickly but not without having tossed around some items in the room and left everyone shaken up. Chrysalis quickly poked her head out from the side of a couch and Luna and Celestia did the same before Pinkie followed along.

Some entity was now in the room. He looked completely unique, taller, confident, and felt ridiculously powerful.

"Oh my gosh! It's him!" Pinkie said quickly stepping out and trotting to the being standing in the room. "Pinkie!" Luna yelled for her which caused the being in the room to twitch a bit and open his eyes. He had menacing eyes and the way he stood was radiating confidence.

"Hi! You must be the fusion guy! Wow! You look awesome and scary! Why are your clothes different from what Ben and K wore? You're a bit taller than them too! Does it feel weird to be made from two bodies!?" Pinkie verbally attacked the new being with her greetings. Celestia, Luna, and Chrysalis all poked their heads out a bit more as the being looked down at himself and at the clothes before lifting an eyebrow and turning to her.

"Uh…which do I answer first?" He asked making Pinkie jump a bit into the air before landing like a spooked feline.

"Woah! Your voice is very echoey!" Pinkie exclaimed and the princesses and Chrysalis all stepped out of the furniture. He noticed quickly and turned his head making them stare and commence a stare off between them that only lasted half a minute before Celestia cleared her throat and he turned to her.

"You're not Ben or K…right?" Celestia asked and he smirked devilishly.

"Right, Ben and K fused to create me, you can call me…uh…" He said before dropping the smirk along with the confidence and bringing a hand up to his chin. Chrysalis lifted an eyebrow and butted in.

"Forget the name-

"Silence, I need to think of a name." He stated waving his hand and causing magic to appear around Chrysalis's muzzle and tighten leaving her groaning and exclaiming past her closed mouth. Luna and Celestia both stared at the magic before clearing acknowledging they should keep quiet.

"KEN! No-no, that's lame…Kenjo…no…" He spoke amongst himself leaving Luna, Celestia, and Chrysalis baffled by how this character was acting.

"Ah-ha! Kenji! But if you have a better one, then I'm listening." He said releasing Chrysalis from his magic and she quickly growled making Luna and Celestia restrain her.

"Well now, if I recall, I was fused to heal up Ben and K, but I know there's something up with a god?" He asked and Luna and Celestia quickly looked at each other before turning back.

"Can you fight?"

He never uttered a word, instead he smirked menacingly and temptingly. Luna and Celestia both quickly looked at each other with a smile and the same demand.

Sting had been cut down to size by the time the Queen had arrived, but he put up his best to have at least have stalled for the Queen. He had two broken hooves now, making it near to impossible to balance himself out and he was easily a lost cause for a fight. Jade had also held off what she could which wasn't much, but it gave the Queen enough time to come in and stop the bickering, allowing Jade and Sting to back down.

The Queen had arrived at the nick of time, quickly stopping a long thin blade from piercing into Jade's cranium at the last second.

"Y-your highness!?" Jade exclaimed as the Queen stared up at Athena who stared back equally. Athena loosened the power she put on the blade, which by reaction led to the Queen letting go of her blade in respects.

"So, we meet again." Athena greeted holding back on her offense.

"Indeed, I thought you'd be tired after searching for centuries." The Queen replied, cocky on purpose. Athena had a tolerance of zero when it came to her enemies but with the Queen she had something else, a more open way of battle.

"I've come for your head as well, but I have someone else over your name at the moment."

The Queen nodded, acknowledging her statement.

"Ben I presume?" She asked and Athena frowned.

"You're quite lax about it,"

The Queen smirked arrogantly. "Truth is, Ben is here to stay and no god will stop him from living his prosperous life fully. Believe it or not, you're but a mere obstacle in his path which he'll overcome."

"Don't taunt me."

"Ben; he killed a god, the first mortal to have done so in centuries, he saved the feeble who couldn't fight back, he gave me the freedom I needed, and he let me see my beloved daughters…" The Queen said before frowning and spawning out of thin air an orb which quickly erupted into a sparking mass of plasma. The mass of plasma was interchanging between the a dark-as-night aura and a bright white light.

"Do you travel in darkness? Or in light? No matter, for I am both! Prepare yourself!" The Queen yelled before quickly rocketing the plasmatic ball towards Athena which caught her off guard and hit perfectly against her chest, sending her back a few before stopping, still on her feet. Athena quickly grabbed her chest and noticed how her chest plate had completely been disintegrated. She looked at it before growling.

"You're magic…it was always annoying…" Athena said in a curse before staring up at her. The Queen let out a quick breath before spawning a deep green orb and slowly increasing in size by the second.

"Oh, I believe you'll find this one aggravating."


	65. Chapter 65 - Conspiracy

#65

"I just…felt weird for a second." Flutters explained after her unexpected dizzy spell which made her fall to the floor weakly. Nurse Redheart, along with the rest of the room, eyed her carefully as she got up. The nurse asked if she should check her blood pressure, which Flutters nervously rejected the offer with, "No thanks, but I'm fine, really."

Redheart remained skeptic over her wellbeing but ultimately turned to Dash, announcing that she could leave if she desired. She warned that she couldn't fly yet but she could move around on her hooves for the time being. Dash remained frozen to the bed for a moment, but as soon as that got through her, she pulled off the blanket around her and hopped down from the bed, almost as if she's been preparing for this moment and the first thing she did was escape that holding room and out to the fresh, non-restricted world of Ponyville. She took one deep of fresh air before tingling at how refreshing it was to finally feel some sunlight on her body, a cool breeze rush through her fur, and see a brighter world than the dim room she was subject to for three days.

"Dashie! Wait, you just got out of here, maybe you should go slower!" Flutters warned catching up with her, followed by Scoots and her Dash's parents.

"Wow, you're fast on your hooves too!" Scoots pointed out with a cheer at seeing Dash making moves again.

Dash turned with a smile before catching sight of her two parents by the entrance of the clinic. They had the worried looks, but the smiles on their faces meant they felt some positive light. She stared at them for a moment before moving up to them, her head high and prideful.

"I'm fine now, really."

"We know, just…be safe." Her mother asked of her, still showing her worry clear across her face. Dash raised her head and beamed a smile as she laughed which caused her parents to become confused: Confused if that laughter was arrogance or joy.

"Yeah, I've been forgetting, thanks." Dash said with a bright smile. Both her parents recognized that positive cheer and smiled back, understanding her laughter from before.

"We'll stay here in ponyville, uh…just to be safe, alright?" They said, trying not to sound too attached since they were cautious of Dash's discomfort having them around. Despite it all, Dash had no problem in letting them be. "You don't need to ask me, just stay if you feel like it." Dash assured them and they all shared an embrace at final to share the gratitude they each had.

At some point, Dash's parents split and Flutters, Dash, and Scoot agreed to get some proper food together, none of what the previous dull place had to offer, but that idea was foiled by the simple sudden greeting of Twilight and Spike who crossed paths. Twilight and Spike shared their gratitude at seeing Dash out of the clinic and Dash was all in high spirits today, ignoring Twilight's comment on her wings.

"Heh, we were going to get something to bite!" Dash smirked before looking to the sky just curious of when she'll be able to take to the skies again. Her smirk dropped, and her eyes opened up more as soon she noticed the clouds.

"Oh, that sounds great! Can we come along?" Twilight asked and Dash ignored her as she cocked her head to one side and then the other. "Rainbow?" Twilight called.

"Uh, Twilight, have you ever seen clouds do that before?" Dash asked, her head still up to the sky. "What?" Twilight turned up, like everyone else and they each did as Dash did and tilted their heads to the odd sky. They watched as clouds were arching in a perfect circular motion away from a main point which was miles upon miles away. "That's odd…" Twilight lifted an eyebrow before she flew up to see from what the clouds seemed to arcing away from. "Twilight?" Flutters joined her up the sky and both stared out to the horizon.

 _What a disrespect to flightless Dash._

Down on the ground, Scoots looked around at Dash and spike before chuckling nervously. "I guess we stay down here, huh?" She asked. Dash turned with an unimpressed look spread across her face making Scoots regret herself before Dash lightened up and laughed. "For now, Scoots." Dash assured. Scoots let her breath out in relief.

"T-that's a fire!" Flutters exclaimed and Twilight nodded before dropping to the ground.

"A fire!?" Dash and Scoots asked and Flutters confirmed it with a concerned nod. "Yes! There's smoke coming from over there!"

"Twilight, can't you just suffocate the fire with a spell?" Spike asked, standing next to Scoots. Twilight nodded, pondering what she had seen before turning to them.

"I can…but how does a fire just randomly start in the open?" She asked and Dash shrugged. "Maybe stray magic?" She asked a bit snobby, making a harmless dig at Unicorns which flew over Twilight's head. Twilight thought about that idea and nodded slowly.

"Maybe, but I'll go and take care of it." Twilight said before Dash quickly stomped the ground getting everyone's attention.

"Hey! I want to go too!" Dash declared forcing everyone ask if she was still in need of medical assistance, mentally, but Twilight was the one to protest Dash verbally. "What!? No! This could be dangerous!" Twilight argued back before bringing some magic up just for herself and Dash quickly went in for the tackle and brought her down. She pounced and forced her harmlessly to the ground but restrained her quite well using a hold she learned from watching Ben hold down some of his opponents. She had her locked down well.

"W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Twilight grunted, struggling to break free and she nearly shoved Dash off but Dash quickly tightened her lock.

"W-WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO DO THIS!?" Twilight asked, her face being pressed to the ground.

"Come on Twilight! I wanna go!" Dash responded and Twilight used her magic on Dash, trying to pull her off before Dash quickly wrapped her hooves around her and locked on tight with her eyes closed, putting all her strength in her embrace. "I'm not letting you go without me!" She made clear against Twilight's will.

Twilight stood for moment in disbelief before groaning and using her magic again, teleporting Dash away from her. Dash disappeared from plain sight for a moment before Flutters suddenly squeaked and found herself getting the life squeezed out of her by Dash's firm hold. "Rainbow…let go…" Flutters begged before Dash quickly opened her eyes and realized Twilight had disappeared. Scoots and Spike each sighed as they watched Dash let Flutters go but not without giving her a tighter squeeze out of frustration leaving Flutters to unconsciously fall to the ground and become the attention of Scoots and Spike who moved up with some worry.

"DAMN IT! TWILIGHT!" Dash yelled before Scoots turned curiously at such a phrase being used by Dash.

"Hey, Ben says that word!" Scoots mentioned making Dash look down curiously as she wondered how she even spewed such vocabulary.

"Sounds like it was meant for this type of situation, doesn't it?" Spike asked and Scoots nodded.

"Huh, It's kinda feels good too." She complimented before shaking her head. "But like Twilight said, that fire can't be random! There's obviously something happening!" Dash said explaining her frustration making Spike put a claw to his chin followed by Dash looking at him curiously. "You got any clue, Spike?" She asked.

"Well, maybe that's exactly why she didn't let us go…" Spike mentioned, slowly clueing in an answer to her question.

"Huh?" Dash asked and Spike nodded before snapping his claws.

"Exactly! Twilight must have sensed something with her magic! Plus, it's hard for fire to spread when there are evergreens everywhere, so it couldn't be that dangerous." Spike explained making Dash look up to the clouds.

"So, Twilight is hiding something from us!?" Dash concluded and Spike sighed, almost as if he'd become use to such a question.

"Could be, she does tend to do shady things at times."

Dash frowned before aiming her hoof in the direction the clouds were moving and ordered against Twilight's word. She demanded that they all march on towards the direction of the "said" fire.

"That way! No one bosses me on what to do!"

Flutters eyes bobbled open she grunted a bit as she lifted herself a bit from the ground. Scoots noticed the movement and quickly turned to help Fluttershy up.

"Oh Fluttershy! You're awake!" Scoots mentioned getting her on her hooves before suddenly backing away a bit at the spine tingling sensation she was giving off. Everyone turned and as soon as they saw Fluttershy, all their ears dropped. Flutters didn't resemble her friendly self, she was slowly and before their eyes transitioning in to that alter-state that Dash had been exposed to way back when. An aura surrounded Fluttershy, a reddish aura that was only threating at minimum.

"Oh no…" Dash recoiled as she stepped back. "Uh, Fluttershy? Y-you're doing that thing again!" Dash warned but it was too late, Flutters turned to her and glared her teeth.

"S-shut up!" She ordered, her voice not shy but demanding control.

"Okay." Dash said without a protest, there some authority in that voice that left all still and unable to move. Spike and Scoots all shared a look as this new Flutters studied them all before lifting her head and frowning a bit.

"I felt something, but it didn't come from none of you…" She said before looking up to the sky and noticing the clouds. Her sharp eyes quickly ran down to the direction and she stared at it curiously. "What's over there?" She said and Dash lifted an eyebrow, turning over to the direction of the fire.

"The fire?" She asked and Flutters turned curiously.

"A fire?" She asked back and Dash shrugged before frowning at how this Fluttershy was just suddenly budging in for her friend's place.

"Well you got wings, go up and have a look!" Dash said in a bit of frustration, frustrated at her friend being taken over like this again. Flutters looked at Dash and at her wings before smirking.

"You got some too." She mocked bluntly. Dash's eye twitched before she growled and leaped aggressively in place. "JUST GO AND LOOK AT IT!" She yelled, her face becoming red with embarrassment and anger. This Fluttershy also had a smug attitude.

Flutters laughed as she flew up before turning over to the direction of the _said_ fire. She glared at it and noticed how the smoke did some jerky movements, almost as if something was swatting at the smoke. She studied it before her sight was distracted by something nearby and close, nearly seconds. Her eyes quickly turned to see a blur going in the distance at a rapid speed and she quickly raised her hoof and aimed it quickly firing a well-aimed attack to halt the blur.

"Fluttershy has magic!?" Spike asked and Dash bared her teeth as she shook her head. "No! That's not Fluttershy!"

She quickly landed on the ground and aimed a wing in the direction of the smoke.

"Seems you were right, there's a fire" She admitted. "No kidding." Dash glared at her and Flutters glared back before shaking her head and aiming her wing just a bit derailed from the direction of the fire.

"But then, there's also something really powerful that way too, I think I stopped it from moving though." She said before her wings expanded and easily noticeable, her wings had become stiffer and edgier, almost as if they were ready for a lightning strike-like takeoff. Dash watched as this Fluttershy was about to leave and she couldn't let it happen, not when her friend was somewhere in that body.

"WAIT!" Dash demanded and Flutters stopped before turning with a growl of frustration.

"What is it!?" She asked and Dash looked awkwardly to the ground and back, a bit unnerved at the sight of her _friend_ looking like she's finally had all her nerves struck. Still, Dash wanted to know and turned her insecurity to courage as she stomped her hoof firmly on the ground.

"Just tell me who you are! Where's Fluttershy!?" Dash demanded. Flutters stopped for a moment, her wings slowly coming back down to her sides before she grinned making Dash a bit frustrated. "JUST TELL ME!"

"Don't worry, Fluttershy is here and she watching, she's scared and confused, she's crying as we speak because she's so confused and asking why this is happening." She chuckled giving Dash more reason to be full of it.

"W-WHY!?" Dash asked. "JUST LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"Why?" Flutters asked a bit gentler than before. "Hmm." She hummed in thought, turning around to think before turning back with a smile, not an evil or menacing one, but some that would belong to the original Fluttershy. Dash lowered her glare and shoulders at the innocent smile.

"I'm the little bit of confidence that Fluttershy has…but at some point, she'll balance out confidence and herself enough and drown me out, but until then, I'll do what she's too scared to do." Flutters explained. Dash blinked curiously, confused by the array of knowledge she had been exposed to. "Come again?" She asked and Flutters explained it again for her.

Dash looked off to a side before her ears perked up and she began thinking closeminded about it. "Wait…so, you're Fluttershy's confidence? And you trapped Fluttershy's normal side away so you could take over?" She asked, not too sure of herself but feeling like she was getting somewhere. Flutters curiously looked at her before looking off to a side, confused as to where she was getting with it all.

"Well, I guess that's the right idea…" Flutters confirmed and Dash quickly rose, her face slowly regrowing her confident smile from earlier.

"Then you're actually Fluttershy! You just can't control your feelings! Right?" Dash simplified and Flutters looked at her straight-faced as she let that flow through her head before she gulped.

"Out of all the ponies, aren't you the last one to be smart?" Flutters detested making Dash nervously chuckle.

"Sorry Fluttershy, but now that I know it's you, let's get moving towards whatever your pointy wings were pointing at!" Dash exclaimed, enthusiastic at her solved mystery of Fluttershy's secret. Dash squinted her eyes a bit towards Flutter's wings before lifting an eyebrow as her eyes ran all about her body. "Hey…ya kinda look like a bat pony, don't ya think?"

"No kidding." Flutters said before quickly unraveling her wings which were easily much more longer than a normal pony's wings and easy detailed as that of a bat pony's. Dash moved up to Flutters face and looked at her eyes, ears and teeth before jumping in place.

"YOU ARE A BAT PONY!" Dash exclaimed making Fluttershy facepalm herself with her wing.

"Well what did you expect a demon pony to look like!?" She asked and Dash gasped at the words.

"A DEMON PONY!?"

Flutters stared at her, wondering if she was seriously oblivious to all of it before she shook her head.

"For a speedster, you sure are slow, you know?" Flutters insulted but Dash wasn't taking at as she glared back.

"My wings may not work, but I can surely tell you who's faster between us two!" Dash pushed back and Flutters unraveled her wings and stiffened them for flight.

"Fine then, try and keep up!" Flutters tempted making Dash frown a bit at the taunt and stared her down.

"Tell that to my face when my wings work again!"

"Twilight's gonna have a field day with Fluttershy when she figures out about this." Spike sighed scratching the back of his head before turning to Scoots who seemed lost in the pool of things.

"You're confused too, huh?"

"Yup."

"Hey! What the!?" The new fusion exclaimed as he jumped a few feet away as suddenly before him the ground caved in. He stared at the hole in the ground before looking around, confused as to how the ground caved like that. He squatted down in front of the crater and scratched his head. For a moment, he thought he was being attacked when he noticed a strike of lightning land in front of him and cracked the ground a bit, but now this?

"W-who are you!?"

Kenji (Ye, we're callin' him that for now) turned his head to notice the strange pony hovering behind him. He stood up and fully turned his body to her squinting a bit at her odd look. Both him and the pony stared at each other for a while, both squinting at each other until Kenji picked his head up with some surprise.

"Fluttershy!? Almost didn't recognize you! Someone hit a nerve? You look like it." He grinned making her stare at him even more potently.

"Who are you!? And how do you know my name!?" Fluttershy asked him forcefully and he didn't flinch at all as she demanded to know who was before her. "You don't recognize me?" He asked before the rest of the part arrived.

"Goodness, you move swiftly!" Celestia and Luna finally managed to appear beside the new character and quickly their eyes reverted to Fluttershy. Celestia and Luna stared at her as Fluttershy looked at them as well, an awkward moment for all.

"Er…Fluttershy, you let that inner demon take over again…" Luna pointed out making Fluttershy turn to her before aiming a hoof at the one they stood beside.

"You question me, but not whoever this is!? The only two I know who should be moving on two legs and standing straight should be Ben and K, not whoever this is!" Fluttershy said, trying to be insulting in a way.

"Strange, I thought you'd be kinder," Celestia remarked making Fluttershy turn to her as well, about to spew some more argument but the Fusion took a step forward with a blaring smirk.

"Now, now! No need to be so petty," The Fusion cut in making Fluttershy turn with a glare. "I'm not Ben or K, but both have merged to create me! You can call me whatever you like, I need ideas for names anyways." He explained making Fluttershy drop the glare instantly.

"W-wha…" She said before a tired out and wheezing for air voice appeared behind next to Fluttershy.

"T-THAT'S…SO…AWESOME…" Dash exclaimed taking a pause every word for a breath of air before wheezing for air. "AND CRAZY! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!?" She asked before wheezing some more, out of breath from having to catch up with Fluttershy. The Fusion admired the compliment and took it from her. "Not too long ago, thanks." He chuckled. He had a nice attitude, which was something Fluttershy took from him, but something she didn't was the question: why fuse?

Fluttershy focused hard on this fusion making him turn to her, questioning that look on her, dropping his smug smirk.

"Why did they fuse?" She asked and the Fusion looked confused for a moment.

"Something about saving K, right?" He asked, turning to Celestia who nodded. "Yes, seems like the idea worked flawlessly as well in the end."

"Then what's so special about you!?" Fluttershy asked, almost insultingly making everyone silent. The Fusion froze for a second before raising an eyebrow and tightening a fist. He moved up to her, not once lowering his head or shoulders as he did, and once he had her face to face, his power rose, but only by a small fraction. Celestia and Luna both distanced themselves and Fluttershy widened her eyes as the Fusion gave her a deeply menacing glare.

"A fusion is not just a fusion: it's the creation of a new being. You don't know what I am, and I don't blame you, just sit back and watch if you please, or would you like a personal and hands on lesson on what I am?" He asked making Fluttershy look away from his unnerving stare before gritting her teeth.

"No, I'm fine…Fusion," She called turning back to him. "Will you just unfuse when you want? Or do you plan on holding Ben and K hostage?" She asked next and the Fusion thought before smirking and crossing his arms as he remembered what his goal for the little time he has left was.

"Actually, I was off to fight a god before you came along, see ya." He dismissed himself before disappearing from sight making everyone look around themselves apart from Celestia and Luna and Fluttershy who were all capable so seeing the blur go past them.

"Where did he go!?" Scootaloo asked turning to Dash who shrugged.

"D-did he just disappear?" Spike asked next before Celestia sighed.

"No, you just can't see how fast he's moving!"

"FAST!?" Dash asked making Fluttershy giggle to herself.

"Yeah, don't worry, you'll get there one day."

Dash's nerved ticked before Scoots came up and helped convince Dash to stay grounded on this one.

"FINALLY!" Came a pony from behind who no one recognized, just like Dash earlier this pony was wheezing and out of breath. Luna and Celestia looked at her before their eyes narrowed on her and they quickly identified her.

"Chrysalis?" Luna asked with a smile, and intention to laugh. She turned to her and fell face first into the ground, defeated by her shape.

"What's…so funny?" She asked, noticing the smile on her and chasing for her breath. Luna and Celestia actually giggled now.

"Why didn't you just morph into a pegasi or alicorn? Or are you trying to get in shape?" Celestia asked with some laughter looking at Chrysalis using that pure-white pony identity. Chrysalis looked up, frozen in place for a few before picking herself from the ground and dusting herself off.

"You left in such a hurry I only did what came to mind." She said, trying to be professional about it before Dash sighed.

"Wish I had some magic like yours." She lamented before Chrysalis asked for a reason and Dash showed off her handicapped wings. Chrysalis remembered them and took the point. She only looked away before quickly and before their eyes morphing into Dash.

"OH, COME ON!" Dash yelled out making Chrysalis quickly double down and quickly change in Fluttershy, who only lifted an eyebrow. "Sorry." She chuckled before Fluttershy flew down and looked at herself.

"Woah…that's me?" Fluttershy asked, studying Chrysalis. Chrysalis only watched as Fluttershy circled her and she lifted an eyebrow. "Aren't we getting distracted from the fusion?" She asked.

"You've become rusty, haven't you!?" The Queen taunted holding firmly to the end of Athena's blade with her magic. The Queen easily disarmed her and took the blade for herself and aimed it. "You know? I'm quite enjoying this!" She laughed, tipping Athena over the edge as she quickly drew out her warhammer and swung with all her might.

The Queen would've, but didn't flinch or move as Athena moved her arms across her body: because what was there to fear if she was swinging nothing. "Is this a joke?" The Queen asked as she watched Athena look at her hands before looking around, her warhammer had disappeared.

"A joke!? Your trickery is bothersome!" Athena remarked making the Queen stare, confused as to what she meant before aiming the sword she had over her throat. Athena didn't flinch as the steel cut a bit into her neck, she was immortal after all.

"Athena, you killed many of whom I called friends in the past, so I don't plan on sparing you no later than sunset," The Queen warned and Athena grew cold. "But if it's possible, I would like to eradicate you knowing I fought you at your best, or am I subject to this pathetic excuse for a god?"

Athena felt something deep as that last line echoed in her head like a chant that was only growing louder the longer she looked at the Queen. Athena fell onto a knee, weak at the rush of thoughts in her head. Quickly a few steps appeared from beside the Queen and she looked to her side to find a warhammer and a waist line before looking up to see a bright face.

"So, I guess you had this handled all along, huh?" Kenji asked looking down at her.

"Look at that, you finally managed to fuse!" The Queen noticed before looking at the hammer. "I didn't notice you take the hammer, you're quite swift."

He looked at the hammer before smirking as he looked back up at Athena, looking quiet mentally dead.

"Might as well just put an end to her godly nonsense, you'll be saving us all the time." The Fusion passed some advice to the Queen, and she looked back down and sighed.

"Seems like it, she's given up as far as I can see."

The Queen pulled back the sword and lowered it down to Athena's chest and quickly drove it forward but suddenly felt it stiffen and halt. The Queen's eyes struggled a bit as she looked down and noticed how Athena's hand had wrapped around the sword and was gripping to the blade to the point she was bleeding heavily. The Queen tried to get the blade back from her hold but she was on fast.

"Mother! And uh…Kenji!" Luna yelled as trotted up from behind them but stopped at a distance as they noticed how still everyone was. Celestia stopped as well before Fluttershy, Scoots, Spike and Dash all came to a halt.

"What's going on?" They asked before Celestia squinted to get a better look at the action before noticing how her mother had a blade in her magic whilst Athena had her hand on it.

"Funny, I was wondering if you were really the Athena who killed millions. Now you want to actually try and fight?" The Queen asked as she tugged at the sword a few more times before using her magic to try and teleport the steel away but Athena's grip outdid the magic and kept it from teleporting. "Huh?" The Queen expressed before looking up to Athena's face which was unrecognizable compared to before. There was a patter of scars on her face, almost like war scars which seemed to be in abundance.

"Athena? This is-

Without any signs of it happening, the sword that seemed wedged between the Queen and Athena had stopped directly millimeters away from the eyes of the Queen and not just by Athena trying to spare her life. Kenji's fingers were well gripping the blade's body and gripping on fast. The Queen had no reaction at the moment apart from noticing the blade so up close before backing away.

"W-what is this!?" The Queen asked in fury of how nearly she was to having her head penetrated. Kenji looked down at the blade before gripping the blade with his entire hand and quickly swiping it away from Athena before disintegrating it with his magic.

"Queen, I don't think you're fighting the same fight you fought earlier, let me take care of this one."

The Queen listened well and backed up as she noticed Athena was quickly becoming irritate with her moving away. She studied her before nodding and turning to Kenji. "Fusion, you're on borrowed time, so end this quickly! You do possess the knowledge to kill a god, see to it that you waste no time!"

Kenji turned to her and nodded before looking back at Athena and quickly lighting up his hand with pulsing dark and light magic.

"Mother, what's going on!?" Celestia asked as her mother came over and took a moment to collect herself.

"I don't know, but I didn't think…"

"Be honest, what happened?" Luna asked next, already hearing an excuse being made. The Queen looked at her before nodding and smiling, using her magic to grip Luna's check gently.

"It's fine Luna, Athena just outdid me for a moment." The Queen admitted making everyone there a bit worried.

Kenji was listening well on the conversation going on behind him and he turned back to Athena before quickly swinging his hand fully force with the magic only to have no target in the end. He quickly backed down and looked around before noticing a blur go by him and he rapidly turned.

"Celestia, Luna, maybe you should learn to use those demons of yours-

"WATCH OUT!" The Fusion yelled as he quickly appeared beside the Queen, his hand quickly stopping a magically spawned blade before he destroyed it with his grip and grabbed Athena's hand and held on tightly.

"Get out of here! All of you!" He yelled at them all but the Queen hesitated and shook her head making him stare at her with force in his gaze.

"No! I-

The Fusion quickly hunched over as he felt his stomach pierced and quickly looked down as a great-steel longsword had impaled him still through his stomach and gone out the other side. Everyone froze in shock, especially the Queen who realized the danger before her. Kenji only stared for a moment before growling and quickly sending out the strongest and quickest punch he could and it hit, making Athena lift off the ground and gag a bit before he flipped around and lopsided in midair met her body with his leg which hit with the force hundred of times stronger than his punch, sending her rocketing away, breaking trees upon trees endlessly as she rocketed away.

Kenji returned to the ground and quickly grabbed the sword and pulled it out swiftly and carefully, making sure to not cut more than what was already messed up. He ran his hand down to his inflicted area and hovered a holy magic over it which sealed the wound but that was as much good as it could do, the damage was already done.

"I'm…I'm sorry." The Queen apologized, shocked above all and Kenji quickly increased his strength dramatically, making it clear he had no time for messing about.

"I said get lost, and I mean it. I only have a small amount of time before this fusion ends and I can't be summoned for a good while after then, so I gotta make the most of it." Kenji admitted making everyone ponder before the Queen nodded.

"All of you go!" The Queen demanded and Celestia and Luna protested, but the Queen was serious and even threatened them if they didn't go back. Celestia and Luna both backed down with fear of their mother's safety.

"Don't get hurt, please." Celestia asked of her and she nodded.

"Go now, Twilight was here earlier and she took Sting and Jade with her, go check on your student Celestia." The Queen advised and Celestia did so before enabling her magic away, being able to do so now that Athena was out of range.

"I'll stay!" Dash, Chrysalis, and Fluttershy, said quickly stepping away from Celestia's magic which prompted Scootaloo to do the same and leaving Celestia to quickly resort to demand their compliance but they denied her, claiming they wanted to stay with actual deep regards.

"Let them be, it's after me who Athena's after in the end." The Queen said and Celestia gulped before closing her eyes and making her mind up. "I'll be back soon Mother, I promise!" Celestia left making Kenji quickly turn and scowl at the Queen as Celestia vanished.

"I mean that for you too!" He reminded the Queen and she shook her head.

"I'll see if I can bait her while you try to go for her weak spot, if I'm right, you have around five minutes before the fusion ends since it's almost been fifteen minutes since we were at Twilight's castle?" She asked with a plan and he could only follow with it since it seemed time was too limited to argue.

"Damn it! That's all we need then!"

"If you need it, we're here too!" Dash assured and both nodded with a "thanks" before looking off to where Athena had been blasted to.

"Let's move, no time to waste." The Queen ordered.

"W-what was that!?" Athena asked as she struggled a bit to get up on her feet, and once she did she clutched her stomach and began wheezing as the pain suddenly kicked in, excruciatingly. "Just from a punch…" She said to herself as she floated her hand over her impacted area and eased the pain.

"Athena! You're reign of terror has come to an end!" The Queen exclaimed appearing in front of her, along with Kenji. "Say your last words before we end this!" He said raising his hand towards her.

Athena watched them closely before her eyes narrowed.

"My last words…"

"Speak while you can." The Queen ordered and Athena smirked and chuckled in her defeated state.

"I must have missed the joke." The Queen scowled before Athena glared at her with a smirk, something unexpected by all means of Athena. Athena wasn't the type to laugh at being defeated, her pride was too great for it, and the Queen instantly recognized this difference.

"So, Queen…I hear you have a knew found bond with that mortal from the other world." Athena oddly remarked making the Queen drop some guard.

"Get to the point." The Queen demanded. Athena looked up at her and sighed.

"How would it feel to be stripped away from him, to watch him die before your very eyes, to see him suffer as every bone in his body is shattered, to see him crying out for help…and you couldn't do a damn thing." Athena asked boldly but in such a serious manner it left the Queen unable to react for a moment before she gulped.

"I don't dare to imagine such pain and cruelty upon one mortal, especially one who offers and lends his assistance so innocently to mere creatures he's never met in his life until now." The Queen answered making Athena raise her head. "He's now with us, he's one of whom I take under my wing, I'll fight for his survival and his prosperity."

Kenji looked off to her before lowering his hand to his side, realizing there needs to be talking done here.

Athena nodded slowly, almost as if taking note on it.

"You make the life of this mere mortal sound as if he were as valuable as a god's."

"Maybe because he's doing what a god should be doing, protecting creation and making it prosper and enjoy the gift of life." The Queen answered, never needing to think of her words.

Athena looked at her before her shoulders began bouncing up and down, and her face showed all the signs of holding back laughter. Kenji and The Queen both glared as Athena finally lost the battle with laughter and let loose a maniac of joy.

"What's wrong with you?" Kenji asked, disgusted by her ways, before the Queen gulped, weary. Athena looked at them both before closing a fist before them.

"The five minutes are about up, Fusion," Athena said making Kenji's eyes widen. Athena laughed some more before facing the Queen, who's eyes widened as Athena's face had all the signs her plan had worked flawlessly.

"And you're the real fool here! Did you seriously think that Athena would show herself so easily!?" She laughed at them and the Queen's eyes weakened heavily, she became heartbroken and soulless in a matter of seconds.

"You can't be-" The Queen began before Athena cut her off.

"A doppelganger? Good eye." Athena filled in and the Queen became sickened on the spot as Athena laughed some more.

"What you're about to face…will be like nothing you've ever encountered." Athena remarked before her grin grew longer and rigid. "What you just said, about that mortal known as Ben…the gods know of his place in your heart, and Athena, she'll rip him out of you and making it hurt every second it's-

Kenji fired out what he had in him before staring at what was left behind: a small transparent blue orb on the ground. "You alright?" He asked turning to the Queen who stared at the empty space Athena occupied. She was unresponsive, something had her mind in turmoil. Kenji let her be for the moment as he moved up and squatted down to pick up the small orb. It had a smooth clean-glass surface as the inside glowed blue. He held it as he picked himself up and showed it to his company.

"What's this?" He asked and the Queen shook her head, ridding the thoughts that were plaguing her mind. She looked at the orb before using her wing to feel the texture.

"A piece of Athena's soul, she created a double to fool us…" The Queen explained making Kenji study the orb a bit more as the Queen returned to her shameful state. "Couldn't this be useful in a way?" He asked and the Queen sighed, her head down low in disappointment.

"It has a shield on it, I doubt-

Kenji closed the grip on his hand and quite literally cracked and destroyed the glass layer around the orb. The Queen's ears perked up in an instant and soon her head followed. "D-did you… break the shield!?" She asked making the fusion smile, proud of his deed.

"Well that was easy!" He smiled before the Queen moved up and asked for the orb and Kenji passed it down to her. "Goodness me, you're actually physically outstanding…" She carried it gently as she laid it on the grassy ground and carefully used her magic on it, almost in a way polishing it. She did a process in which the orb suddenly changed in color to a deeper hue of blue.

"Are you not going to explain?" Kenji asked, crossing his arms. The Queen nodded.

"Yes, now that this soul has no shield, we could quite literally give anyone the powers and abilities Athena has, not fully, but some!"

Kenji lifted an eyebrow as he aimed a finger at himself.

"Does that involve me or…"

"No, you're temporary, but maybe some pony who is willing!" The Queen said quickly picking the orb from the ground and holding it close to her. Kenji was going to ask another question but before he could, a hiccup come from him which caused the Queen to raise an eyebrow and watch him as his eyes widened.

"Are you alright?"

Kenji gulped before he noticed his hand begin to disappear into a holy golden dust.

"She…wasted the only time you had left…" The Queen said before the Fusion closed his eyes sighed in disappointment.

"Fuck…"

With a flash of light, Ben and K both suddenly appeared, their bodies standing soullessly and standing next to each other. The Queen sighed and took in the fact that the Fusion wasn't going to be helpful for a while.

K twitched a bit followed by Ben before they both erupted into a great deal of shivers and spasms.

"BAH! Fusion feels weird!" Were the first words to come from K's mouth before he jumped a bit in place to wake his body up. Ben did the same, stretching and shaking his body down before looking down at his arm and seeing the cast around it. He moved his arm in various direction to see if his arm was back and surely enough it was.

"Hey, get this cast off of me!"

"I got you." K said reaching to his side and whipping out a bowie knife.

The Queen looked at them both before looking at the soul and smiling at seeing both K and Ben there.

K freed me of the cast and I quickly worked my arm till it was fully in my service again. I stretched some more after so because as K said, fusion was completely weird, it felt almost as if my body was completely hollow on the inside and everything around me was squeezing in on me.

Anyways, that was beside the point, the Fusion worked for K and me, our bodies were well conditioned and now we knew more about this Athena than we knew before. I heard that threat that that double of Athena's gave the Queen and that threat was a word of advice at least. It sounds as if I'm going to be a prime target of Athena's and so I should get it in my head.

"Are you two alright?" The Queen asked, moving up to us and I nodded along with K who seemed beaming with joy. I reached to my side and luckily, my sword seemed to have been unaffected by the fusion, somehow staying intact by my waist. I pulled it out and held it close to me as I closed my eyes and took a moment to give myself a small mental recap.

 _I had a dream last night…a bad one. Athena is after me…and with the thirst for my screams. The Queen will shield me at all costs if she's true to her words, in which I hope her words won't get her hurt. This all reeks of a tragedy about to happen, the ending was written to be a scream as the exclamation point to the events that would lead up to the climax of my story._

"I'm ready to kill another god, what say you!?" K asked with excitement making the Queen laugh a bit at the enthusiasm.

"That's the idea." The Queen remarked before turning to me.

 _K is here, which was assuring, but if an Athena double could hurt him as badly as earlier, what's the real one got in store for him? The Queen seems to not mind the matters at hand, but is that simply ignorance or her trying her best not to worry? And I'm thinking to hard again, just like I did whenever I know I'm about to lose something valuable. This all reeks of another painful loss, mentally or physically, both maybe, and this time, I feel like I'm going to lose my mind._

I let my finger slide down the face of my blade before I noticed a set of hooves in front of me and my head rose to meet the Queen in front of me. "Lost in thought?" She asked me and I nodded, silently before sheathing my sword.

"I just over think things sometimes," I said and the Queen stared at me for a moment before looking down at the small orb in her possession and bringing it up to my face.

"Look, a piece of Athena's soul." She said to me, almost as if expecting me to do something with it. I reached my hand out and she placed it gently on my palm. K turned to me, but he remained silent as he watched me hold the soul idle in my possession. The Queen kept staring at me but I was still and unresponsive as I wondered what to do.

It was an awkward moment before I brought the soul close to me and looked up.

"What do you want me to do with this?" I asked, but I knew the answer already, stumping the Queen.

"Well…the soul could prove useful if any were to inherit the traits in it…"

"Does that involve exposing anyone's body to being possessed, turned evil, or changing into a whole new character?" I asked and the Queen quickly reacted by lifting her head before lowering it with some disappointment.

"Those are possibilities…"

I looked at the soul before reaching my arm out again. "Then I can't do anything with this, sorry." I said to the Queen's disappointment. She stared at the soul, not knowing how to react, she seemed to have expected me to handle it but I wasn't her answer. A few seconds passed of the Queen staring before K cleared his throat and reached his hand out and picked the soul up off my palms. The Queen and I turned quickly. He chuckled as he held the orb close to him, before encasing it in magic of his own and tossing into the air making it disappear.

"I'll hold onto it, no need to be unresourceful at these times Ben." K said turning to me, and I let myself take in a lesson. He was right, it would be best to hold onto such a soul in the case we need it by some surprise. I turned around to look around myself at the tree lines before I felt a hand slap onto my shoulder.

"And Ben," K called.

I turned to find his smirk.

"Try not to hurt your Queen's feelings, sounds like she's actually got it for you man!" He reminded me, passing his good advice down to me. I would've thought about that earlier, the Queen's affection towards me, if it wasn't for this situation. Still, being reminded of such news was stress relieving. The Queen looked at us curiously before leaning into the conversation.

"I've got what for him?" The Queen asked making K laugh a bit.

"No, not a physical thing, it's modern day terminology." K clarified, which still left the Queen oblivious. I smiled for a change and turned to her.

"If it makes it easier, you can replace the word "what" with "affection" if you want." I said and the Queen raised an eyebrow before looking away curiously and plugging in the word to the line. Her eyes widened suddenly and she quickly turned back to me, blushing as she noticed my smile widen.

"So, your majesty, do Luna and Celestia have a father?" I asked and the Queen blushed even deeper making me laugh as I signaled the order to move on: it was about time we go back to the two Flutters, Dash and Scoots. It felt great to lay down another friendly-fire line like that again, especially for a positive change. I smiled at the hilarious scenario that line created in my head, _hell, how does a twenty-one-year-old man become the father of two alicorns who he's slept with and both have ages too beyond belief_ , _and then their mother is the Queen of the land…what does that even make me?_

"The first King to have an affair with his daughters and by an age ratio so big it's blasphemy." K answered my thoughts making me turn to him quick.

"Out of all the times to read my head, you mind reading bastard!" I called him out and he chuckled as he aimed a finger at his head.

"Don't worry, the Queen is imagining something you'd never even imagine." He said making the Queen turn to him in a dime drop. I quickly looked at the Queen and back at him. "Huh…I guess that was useful to some degree." I said before the Queen raised her head high and with a displeased look.

"What do you think of dungeons demon?" She asked and K turn with a semi-frown. "I fucking hate them, why?"

"Because you'll be in one if you ever break into my head again!" The Queen made clear. I knew well how much K hated dungeons after our last experience in one; the magic-binding chains and grim feeling of isolation. K stared at her in some disbelief before turning away, his arms crossed across his chest.

"Fine, whatever, just trying to lighten the mood!" He said walking off to a side to collect some thoughts. The Queen looked at him sternly before turning to me and smiling at seeing my own smile still on. Somehow, K managed to make my smile stay longer than it should've.

"So, what were you thinking off?" I asked the Queen and she giggled.

"You go first." She returned and my smile hurt a bit as it fully showed.

"Shh…you'll make my smile rip my face apart." I said raising a finger to my mouth to shush but my smile wouldn't allow it, making her giggle some more.

"You have a lovely smile." She complemented with an intention for me to react. And I did react: by my refusal to stop smiling. It hurt by now to smile so much, but it was almost impossible to combat it. She took pleasure in seeing me smile, she giggled and I let her.

"Funny, I was about to say the same about yours." I simply put it for her and her blush lightened compared to before, showing a friendly side of hers which went into something even deeper, something intimate.

"Alright you two, enough of that shit, we gotta move!" K barged in pushing from the back. _So much for intimate!_ I would've planted my feet onto the ground in resilience but he reminded me of how we're all still in some form of danger, forcing me to comply. I shook K off anyways and nodded.

"As much as I wish we could enjoy our time, we do have to realize we're still in a bad situation." I said to calm the mood, and slowly my smile faded. The Queen's smile lasted longer, but she soon came to the same realization as us all.

We went back to two Flutters (in which one turned out to be Chrysalis), Dash, and Scoots, who where asking what happened to the fusion. We broke it to them and they seemed a bit let down by it (except Chrysalis), but above all were glad we were back to being Ben and K. I as well had to admit that fusion was an amazing being; even though I like moving my own body since it creates a feeling of security, with the fusion, I felt like I could sleep like a baby during an apocalypse and wake up hours later well rested.

That ended that. We all moved towards Ponyville via walking, which the Queen knew how to get to. She told us about Sting, how he was injured, having two broken hooves which came to a surprise to us all. K was the first to feel some shame, admitting he was careless and got into a deep problem before Sting and Jade came to save him. The Queen dismissed his shame, telling him anyone could have been the victim of her attack. K agreed with a sigh.

Soon, K eventually took notice of Flutters, which caused us all to turn to her as we moved along.

"So, Fluttershy…how's your power getting along?" He asked. Flutters turned to him and shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm starting to feel weird about myself." She responded getting K to smirk.

"Yeah, that's normal, you're realizing you're actually just a part of someone else, and not really your own persona." K explained and Flutters looked down to the ground almost gloomy in a way. I turned to her before looking at K and asking about their conversation. The way he phrased those words, it made it sound as if this demon Fluttershy was on a timer, counting down to the point she'll become non-existent. And that was precisely what she was on.

"So…she'll just vanish?" I asked and K nodded, careless as to how much he hurting this new Fluttershy.

"Yup, she'll mold into the Fluttershy we know. She's like the physical manifestation of Fluttershy's confidence, at some point, Fluttershy will be able to achieve her own confidence and this Fluttershy will no longer exist."

I gulped at hearing that because all I saw to my left was a down and depressed pony who knew she would no longer exist in the near future. At first it sounded right, for Flutters to become strongminded but taking another look at her "confident" side, gloomy and depressed. I wondered if this was really something about confidence or two separate entities who have separate feelings. "Is there anything we could do?" I asked and K lifted an eyebrow before he shook his head.

"What do you mean?" He asked turning to me. I aimed a finger to my side at Flutters looking down and without a glimpse of a sunny day over her hailing cloud. He looked at her before thinking off to a side.

"Huh…" Was all he said before looking back and scratching his head. He seemed to not know what to do.

"Anyway to at least turn her back to normal Flutters?" I asked then, seeing as he didn't know what to do.

"You mean put her out of her misery?" K asked and I thought in about it and nodded.

"Just…put her to sleep or something, doesn't look she'll mind." He explained, a bit awkward about it. I looked over to her, and she was looking at me. She heard what K had said and the look on her face just begged me to do it. I reached my hands out and told her to come up and she did. She hovered over to my arms, down and guttered. I got her to lay down, her back facing me and placed my two fingers behind her neck and began massaging a certain and specific point. Needless to say, she was out cold in seconds.

"You felt bad, huh?" K asked, not taking it as seriously as I was. I told him exactly what I felt and he listened in well, just like everyone else here. The Queen listened closely as she soon joined the conversation.

"Who raised you to be such a kindhearted human?" She asked me and I lifted my head to the question before thinking.

"I guess the world I came from and this one all had something to do with it. The virtues my parents gave me, and the advice from my past friends helped me avoid derailing into someone I'm not, and now I've got ponies who really messed me up."

"How so?" She asked and I looked down at Flutters in my arms, a smile emerging from her, comfortable in my hold. I smiled too as I turned to the question.

"Before I got here, I honestly couldn't shed a tear based out of emotion, my friends all disappeared, my parents passed on, and I couldn't bring out a single tear because of how broken I was."

"Sounds painful," She said before I nodded.

"It only took a few days for these ponies to get me to cry, just how they did it? I don't know. Honestly, I don't care either, but without a doubt, crying was the best relief I had ever felt."

"It has a little something to do with compassion." The Queen explained and I guess I could agree but she wasn't done there.

"But our compassion is always there for you, you still have a few secrets you have to let out, I know you do." She said. I looked at her and flinched greatly, stopping right on the spot and gulping. She stopped and turned to me with a smile.

"If you don't remember right now, Luna or Moon will help you remember."

I stared at her and even K turned to me confused, and he's suppose to know me inside out. I looked at down at Flutters in my arms for some while before I looked up and wondered. As weird as it seems, even to me, I had to admit, her saying that gives me some feeling of Déjà vu: almost like that topic-hidden secrets-has been brought up before, and by a similar voice. _Was I really hiding something?_

"Why don't you tell me, if you know!?" I asked a bit desperately and the Queen giggled.

"I don't know actually." She said before looking off to a side. "But you're too simple for you to be so special, I just have a feeling there's more to you!" She said, cheerful in the way she meant it.

"Oh, so you're just assuming?"

She thought about it before shaking her head.

"Something is missing in between! I know it!" She exclaimed, sounding sure of herself, leaving me to nod slowly.

"If you say so…but I doubt it." I said, taking her words with some level of discomfort. She sighed ultimately and signaled us all to move.

"Well, we better check on Sting, he looked…grim last I saw him."

I watched as they moved on, while I stayed still for a moment. That feeling was now boiling inside me, the feeling that there was actually something I was hiding from all and myself. And if I do recall correctly, I know I've asked myself this same question in the past few days, no doubt about it. Something was actually true in the Queen's words and I have a feeling it's no coincidence she's telling me this now. It's like a board: Athena, the Queen, me are all pinned to it and we all surround the one conclusion: the hidden secret. The thing is how many more clues are involved in surrounding this "Hidden secret" or is that just it?

I over think things like I told the Queen but looking over to her and seeing her moving away from me, my gut feeling was telling me that maybe over thinking these things, might just be part of what is about unfold. If I were to put it in simpler words, there's a conspiracy developing, and I think I'm just getting clued into it.


	66. Chapter 66 - Foe or Ally?

#66

Earlier, the Queen and I headed out to the rural areas outside of Ponyville, talking about how we could deal the problem at hand. She brought up some facts about Athena and some things that could help. K and Chrysalis went their own way and wandered off to do a _training_ of some sort they wanted to try out. We were on the way to them now but I took a small stop at this high hill, giving me a good view of the horizon. The Queen stopped by my side to admire as well.

"What do you think is life's greatest gift?"

The question ringed a bit in my ear. I turned curiously.

"What?"

She turned to me with an out of place smile, unnerving me slightly more than I already was given the situation of godly presences wandering again.

"What do you think is life's greatest gift?" She asked again. I remained seated on the ground and crossed my arms, the unnerving feeling turning into insecurity now unfortunately. My mind was thinking up reasons for the Queen to be asking me such questions instead of answering.

"I don't like the question, it's very ominous." I responded forwardly and she thought, not really challenged by my retaliation. I eyed her carefully before locking the stare. "And what's with the question to begin with?" I asked, showing my insecurity.

Her smile faded before my eyes, almost as if she was hoping to have gotten somewhere with her strange question, but I became too suspicious. "Nothing actually, I just thought the question fit the scenario." She said looking out to the open, sun-setting horizon. I looked out to the horizon with her and she was right; the setting sun gave her question a strange feeling of belonging in this moment which I didn't see earlier. I stood up and stretched to make up for the rude conversation.

"Sorry,"

She turned to me, not hiding the weary look.

"I was a bit too lost in thought and your question came onto me as ominous."

She thought for a moment. "I see you're insecure." She said in her soft voice. This was the first time I've heard her soft voice, but I understood a warning from a mile off. "I know." I admitted and she came onto me with another soft-spoken line.

"I've noticed this about you, your insecurity towards others." She went on, not hiding her thoughts. I straightened up and watched her as she gave me her attention equally. I wish I could've said I was confused, just to make this feeling of uncertainty a bit less suffocating. I held myself together and waited, not uttering a word. She moved up closer to me and my breathing began shortening as the space between us shortened.

"You have a fear of the unknown, there's no denying it." She stated a fact that I had long come to accept. I admitted she had a point and she was glad to hear I acknowledged the problem, but she wasn't done.

"Good, because now I can easily tell you you're afraid of this whole world, your friends, and even yourself."

I had something to say back to that, but it only made it up halfway through my head before her words suddenly made sense. I was afraid of the unknown, it's true and I have said it all my life, but could I have been so blind as to not see it manifesting as the fear of those who are new to me? I think the Queen was trying to get me to credit the fact I was dropped into a world that I don't know how to navigate, a world where cultured ponies inhabit the lands, and mythical beings manifest themselves. Sounds like things from a fictional story made to entertain a reader, but as much as the reader enjoys it, it's at a price: my price. I had no argument to make back to the Queen and agreed to her valid point.

"I wasn't ready I guess." I said, swallowing heavily the saliva that was becoming sour in my mouth. I would've just have shut up there, but mysteriously, I felt like talking some more.

"Sadly, I'm still in the mindset that this is unbelievable, I would've never of thought my life would change like this. This land is what I thought dreams were made of, you know? A crazy one that seems incredibly lucid, but I never woke up. It's been days now, a week or two maybe…I lost track."

The Queen seemed moved.

"Funny, I feel…" I dropped the smirk to think carefully of my words here. "I feel…alone in a way, like I'm the only one who's gone through something like this and I can't share this feeling with anyone."

I didn't want to look back at the Queen's reaction to that, especially when I was already in a downed mood, I didn't like having others see me with a mood. I was alone, and even with the Queen physically by my side, I was alone.

I felt something grab my arm and turn me.

"To me, life's greatest gift is having the ability to understand each other."

My eyes ran from her wing grabbing my arm to her expression. Her quote flowed through my head smoothly, taking away the tenseness. She gave a look into my eyes to lock me in place, which I could debate she was using magic to hold my eyes onto hers.

"You've failed to understand us and this world, thus you're insecure. The fact you don't know this world; you've been shrugging it off and telling all you're fine. That was brave of you but it would've destroyed you from the inside if you had kept yourself isolated, and luckily you didn't. You've been open about it at times and when you were heard, you felt relief for a small period of time for whatever that lasted until something comes and reminds you that you live in a world where you're just the odd one out who has been thrown into a land where nothing makes any sense logically. Like Athena and Yuson. " She explained before softening the look in my eyes with her sweet smile. "Well, there is one thing that makes sense."

My eyes never broke from hers.

"I've been watching you since the day you set hoof on Equestrian soil, and one thing I noticed had become a common occurrence was the night. You love the night, and it's no surprise." She said letting my arm go from her wing, but by then I was attached to her eyes and frozen in place by her words that were getting through to me.

"I'm guessing the nights here and back where you came from are similar, so you get a warm, nostalgic, and "welcome home" feeling. But that's just one thing. The darkness of the night also helps blindfold you from the reality of this world…"

I only stared in shock. Her words shocked me, her way of making me feel so surrounded froze me, and her understanding of my personal problems stopped me from breathing.

I fully understood the concept of having 'your life flash before your eyes' since it has happened to me, but now, it was happening again and I wasn't dying. I can't explain this feeling, the feeling of seeing life again but with a new perspective. I trembled in place, my knees shook like the world was on my shoulders, _maybe it was_.

Everything I've been subject to since I got to this world has only been confusion without questions, actions without questions, and getting along with the unknown without questions. It was a mess: it was like skipping to the to the middle of a book and finishing to the end, only to have to go back to read what you skipped because it wasn't connecting. I did this to myself. I made myself hurt. But like the analogy goes, I can always go back to the beginning and read again.

"All I want you to know is…that I understand." She said and my knees gave out and I reached out my hands to the ground to hold myself up. My eyes stared straight into the ground and at the grass that was gently moving in the breeze. It amazed me how the grass now seemed to have even more meaning now. I noticed the Queen's hooves take one step closer.

"My daughters; they know about your insecurities as well, but they have yet to understand the situation you come from. The closest to understanding being Luna. There's a reason you and Luna have a great relationship."

I finally managed to blink for the first time since the flash of my life happened. My knees became sturdy and my breathing began regulating as Luna began shaping in my head.

"Believe it or not, you're the only being to appreciate and bless the night more than she does, and she feels that from you. She's knows how you feel at all times, she can read you from anywhere you may be, and she can see what pains you because of your love for the night…but she just can't understand your pain."

I felt my arms get stiff enough for me to begin getting up, but my body held itself down, the urge to hear on what the Queen had to say.

"And that's even more painful to her. You share her love for the night on a level with her but she can't share the pain you feel. You finally gave her someone who understands her, but she can't do the same for you."

"I don't want her to feel the pain I feel," I said putting a knee before me but I couldn't pick myself up. "I hope she understands that."

"I know, but you'll have to tell her that, to put her mind at ease. Maybe treat her to something."

I looked at over at her. "Still at it?" I asked, remembering she was still trying to get me to somehow marry her daughters. She smiled and bowed her head, turning to the setting sun again and letting her glory glow off her face.

"But save that for when you have the time." She said before closing her eyes calmly. "But everything I just told you will be engraved in your head for the rest of your life, and at some point, it'll give you strength."

I lifted myself off the ground, a new-found strength in my knees and arms.

"You already gave me enough strength to go on."

She looked over to me, glad but confused.

"Have I now?" She asked with a smile of surprised accomplishment. It was simple really: she understood me, and that meant the world to me. I smiled, feeling full of harmony. "Just take my thanks for it."

"No need to thank me, seeing you smile is enough thanks." She complimented to cement her tone. I liked her. I didn't catch on at first to it, but she has a habit of being optimistic when most needed, kind of like me when I'm not busy doing over the top things like getting targeted by gods. I smirked at her cheeky compliment but I couldn't respond back to her without doubting my words.

"I'd usually have something to say to a compliment like that…" I laughed a bit to show my lightened mood. She giggled as well. "Save it for later-"

"It's too early to be saying "I love you" so…" I smirked at her sudden change in expression. "I hope you're alright with "I like you" for now."

She looked at me seriously for a moment before using her wing and placing the tip right over her mouth.

"I hope you're alright with me saying the same…for now." She repeated back to me, a smile for the ages she bestowed onto me. Reading a smile to me is quite simple but hell, hers isn't. Her smile kept me attached for a while before I realized I would begin to stare for too long.

"For now." I repeated to give her words some closure and she held onto her smile.

We both moved out of the area and went to meet up with Chrysalis and K, a new found peace between me and the Queen. When we arrived, I needed to make sure I wasn't seeing double. K smiled as he introduced his "new double" to us, which was Chrysalis in her own recreation of his body which I had to give props to K's intelligence, this was an amazing use of Chrysalis's ability. The Queen smiled at sight of K getting along with Chrysalis so well before mentioning it to me; the both of us at a distance now to watch them both mess about.

"They get along well, don't they?" She asked and I watched as K helped Chrysalis improve her reactions by tossing a ball to her and seeing how quickly she could catch it: it was sweet and heartwarming sight to say the least.

"It's funny to think that when I first met K, I had the feeling he was gonna be a pain to deal with, but on the contrary, you should have seen how quickly he learned to stabilize himself in this world." I mentioned back. The Queen only laughed as K began picking the pace up and pushing Chrysalis to move quicker.

"I can see it now. And I did see it develop too, I've been watching you all from afar, remember?" She reminded me. "But I've been slightly absent in seeing how he's adapted to this world, but I do know he's got a heart-load full of love, and that's healthy and rich for a changeling like Chrysalis."

"Heathy and rich?" I asked and the Queen smiled.

"You don't know?" She asked and I lifted an eyebrow. "It helps her psychologically, I guess." I tried to make sense. The Queen held her smile before cocking her head off to a side and thinking. "No, that wasn't what I had in mind, but great point too."

I crossed my arms. "You mean to tell me Chrysalis is getting proteins and stuff from K?"

She thought again before she nodded to my surprise. "Yes." She responded. "A changeling feeds on love, thus is why we had that scandal way back when Chrysalis was trying to use her magic to deprive Cadence's now husband, Shining Armor's love. And while that's what is said, I think it's safe to assume she also wanted to keep him for herself in the process."

"Nah!" I tersely objected. The Queen returned back with the same enthusiasm.

"Yes nah! She imprisoned Cadence, used her magic to metamorphize into Cadence, and use some mind control to pull it off, which Twilight and her friends prevented of course, but if my theories are right, she was really just in it for the love and Shining Armor."

I had to take that all in before finding the problems.

"So, in theory, she wanted Shining Armor…" I repeated before some questions surfaced. 'Then why didn't she just marry him if she was replicating Cadence? Why didn't she "dispose" of Cadence? Or why didn't she just ask to take the love nicely!?"

"Do you think Shining Armor would give her his love if she asked nicely when he loved Cadence?" She asked me and I quickly backed down awkwardly. "Oh…" I chuckled. "I guess it's better to take it then!"

"Or get it from a demon who's willing?" The Queen asked looking up at K who watched in laughter as Chrysalis reverted back to her original body, exhausted and out of breath. I smiled as K got on a knee to comfort her.

"Damn straight, I can't see Chrysalis liking anyone else, she's really found something in him."

"Truly, and he's got the most wonderful attitude for her."

"I'm glad." I simply put with a smile. I felt some attention shift to me.

"What about you?"

I turned to her, not liking the question.

"Who do you find special?" She asked, slowing down a bit at seeing my worried expression. I feared that question would arise from this. For K, loving Chrysalis is simple when he didn't have any other pony besides Derpy to deal with wanting love. I, on the other hand, had one too many ponies with their own unique things to cherish. It was a blessing honestly, but the fact I didn't want to hurt them by saying another meant more to me than the other was a problem I don't need or want.

"I love everyone…and I hate the idea having to put one over the other…" I explained before shaking my head. "I'd hate to think of how one would react if I said the other was more special to me than her…"

The Queen looked back out to K and Chrysalis and sighed at their sight. I went back to thinking about what to do if this god does suddenly show up and how I would act. The Queen had her sight fixed on them as I sat down and whipped out my sword and began distracting myself by looking back in time.

"Ben,"

"Yes?" I asked, my attention still on my metal.

"Chrysalis's symbol on her flank, or as time has grown to call it, a cutie mark,"

"What about it?" I asked, still not too interested as I continued going down my memories.

"Why are all ponies, even my daughters, confused as to what it means?"

I lifted an eyebrow, putting down the sword and turning to Chrysalis with K, both talking on the ground with smiles.

"Are you saying you know?" I asked and she turned to me, excited to admit it.

"Of course! But I would've thought you all would've figured it out by now!"

I looked back at her before shaking my head. "Well, after some erotic night together it mystically appeared! My first theory was maybe it was a symbol of the loss of virginity or something."

"I assure it's not that." She responded, not impressed with my imagination. I smirked and shrugged. "Better tell me then because I'm not guessing anymore."

She looked over to Chrysalis and back to me, the intention to keep it a secret being obvious with her whispering voice.

"She's evolving!" She whispered with glee. I didn't react instantly as I tried to get in my head how the hell does Chrysalis evolve but eventually my eyes widened to a new radius.

"Evolving into what!?" I asked back in my casual speaking voice, fully giving the attention to her.

"Into something!"

" _Damn, I would've never have thought that evolution means you go from a something to another something_ …WHAT SOMETHING!?" I asked sarcastically demanding an answer. She pouted and looked up at Chrysalis before smiling again.

"I don't know, that's why I only said something." She clarified.

"Shouldn't you know? You've lived long enough to see things like this." I asked and she nodded in agreement. "Yes, of course I've seen changelings evolve, but I've never seen a Queen changeling evolve, they usually just remain like this, this is the first time I'll actually see one go through the process!"

"Why is she evolving to begin with? Is it because of K?" I asked, now keeping a good eye on that cutie mark of hers and if I should go about this as bad or good news.

"Could be she's full to the brim with his love and now her body wants to evolve to adapt to the increase of love." The Queen explained and I nodded to that very possible theory.

"Is this a good or bad thing?"

"I believe it's good. I know there's a book on it, theories of course, but they may be helpful. Apparently, the book even mentions some personal debates from members of the now Six Pillars of Old Equestria on the topic."

"Have you read it?"

"Unfortunately, no, these books were written after my time, but I know you can find them in Canterlot or, if your friend is as much as an enthusiast as is, Twilight should have a replica somewhere."

I sighed and put the news to rest. "Fine, but no more theories, they kinda make my head hurt."

She laughed and pushed me away with her magic.

"You're exactly how I was when I was younger!" She laughed and I laughed too. "Oh really?"

She went onto to talk to me more and more of how she was when younger, and I listened, entertained by it all. She sounded like a mischievous character. She would pull pranks on guards, fight guards, act spoiled, sneak around at night spying on everyone, etc. Despite her ways, she claims she realized at one point that responsibility was versatile in times of rule and order, and she's who I see now.

She enjoyed talking that's for sure, and she didn't mind sharing some of the stories of her days. Her stories were timid and some were wild: the one most stand out of all of them was the one about their past execution methods. Apparently, the most popular method of execution involved finding the biggest creature and having it eat the criminal alive and on extreme cases, forcing rape with the creature. Without a doubt, I had questions.

"Goodness no! I never participated in that!" She responded outraged slightly before sighing. "I didn't change the execution methods until I actually became serious about what I was doing."

"Did you see any of them?" I asked and she nodded. "One…or two…but I was too young to understand what I was seeing." She explained and I felt a smile come up.

"You poor thing." I chuckled and she followed my lead with her own smile.

Eventually, darkness took the world over, the Queen advised I go find a place to rest and I denied it, I had enough energy to stay awake a few hours at best. K took a tired Chrysalis to Flutter's home for rest and we let him disappear. I remained alone with the Queen, she looked at the stone Jade and Sting had given me which wasn't active fortunately.

"Any idea how a stone like that actually works?" I asked, hoping to see if she had any extra details besides the ones I already knew. She nodded before tossing to it me.

"Yes, but it doesn't work for us mortals though, it's a pretty sight on the other hoof." She mentioned as she turned to look up at the sky and gaze at the stars which slowly began popping up one by one. I looked back at the stone. _Doesn't work for us mortals_? I asked myself before shoving the stone back in my pocket, keeping it in mind. I looked at the Queen, her back to me and staring at the sky's starry night, a breeze moving her mane in the wind.

"So, Ben…"

My head kicked up, wondering why her back was still turned to me if she was calling for my attention.

"Would you like to have a small…challenge?" She asked. I would've laughed if I hadn't forgotten how to from seducing tone. "What?" I asked and she suddenly started spewing a wave of heat which I felt from where I was. My body tightened up but my passion fell.

"What she doing…!?" I whispered to myself as she began standing up and finally turned to me with a smirk. Her smirk only lasted before it became a taunting glare, staring straight into my eyes with a burning passion to put me down. I never derailed my eyes from her as she suddenly made a glowing halo over ground she stood on before, in a sudden swift move, her body erupted into blinding light. I rapidly fired my hand to my head and teleported behind a tree in the area and quickly squinted my eyes from painful burning her light gave my eyes. I looked up, ahead of myself and blinked curiously. "W-what!? Why!?" I asked past gritted teeth.

"Oh…sorry…" Her voice chuckled nervously behind me. "It's been years and I forgot how bright the transformation was…is your sight alright?"

I rolled onto my feet and turned, ready to unleash some words of frustration but the sight forced me quiet. She was enveloped in light, not blinding anymore but controlled enough for me to see her clearly past the light. She giggled at my expression, her eyes showing some sympathy for own eyes.

"Maybe I shouldn't have been so subtle about the transformation…"

I sighed and rubbed my eyes to rid the giant spot I was seeing.

"Here, I'll take care of that." I heard her, and as she said, she took care of it. I was stuck between saying a "Thank you!?" or a "What the fuck are you doing!?". I chose the first one obviously.

"Thanks…" I whispered, not really meaning it but she took it with a positive light.

She smiled brightly, quite literally. "Well, in that case…I present to you my pure-light form! Quite the view, right?" She cheerfully presented. "I was worried it wouldn't activate after years, but it works!" I couldn't be at the very least mad at her, she meant no harm and now she showed me something new. I looked at her curiously and got closer to get a better look. I could barely see her body, it was almost like she was a celestial being made from pure light, _maybe she was_. I could see where her eyes where and her outline of an alicorn, but it was all made of light.

"What happened to you?" I asked in growing excitement as I circled her. She laughed a bit.

"I knew you'd be surprised! Impressed?" She asked, looking for attention. I smiled and nodded.

"Very: I've never seen anything like this!" I expressed before she flapped her wings to show it off. She was absolutely nothing like I imagined her pure-light magic form looking like. I wanted to touch her body, just to see what this light felt like. I imagined my flesh being melted off the bone or my body being disintegrated by her touch. Either way, curiosity beat my fear of having my hand fried and I pulled through. She stiffened for a moment at my touch before relaxing at realizing it was me who had put hands on her.

"You sure do like touching, don't you?" She asked with a giggle which I ignored as I noticed my hand react strangely. I felt my hand shake followed suddenly by my arm shivering. "Woah…what's…" I asked as pulled my hand back. I never finished what I wanted to say as I literally pulled off of her a piece light. She felt that and twitched before quickly spinning around to me.

"What are you-

She never finished her statement neither as we both stared at it for a moment.

"D-did you just take that from me!?" She asked and I quickly remembered I've done this before with Celestia and Sting. I can take auras or magic maybe, I never quite figured that out but I knew I had her magic in my hands and it was mine now.

"I did…I've been able to do this for quite a while now." I explained but she already knew that part, she was confused as to why I had taken it, which I explained it was out of my control. She looked down at my hand and stared at it before reaching for it and I quickly stepped away from her.

"No, you're not getting it back." I said, studying the light some more.

She came defensive on the spot.

"What!? What game are you playing!?" She asked and I brought the magic up to her face and using my hand, I did just as I did with Sting's darkness and squeezed the life out the light. Of course, I did know what I was doing. When I did this to Sting's magic, I became surrounded by that aura of his, and without a doubt I got similar results.

My body flared up and like that I was now of the same light essence as her. Her magic felt odd. I felt incredibly responsive, almost like I could easily lose control of my magic and start popping off. She stepped back a bit and I chuckled.

"Ta-da, a little magic of my own." I winked and she stared in utter shock.

"Y-you took my magic…" She whispered seriously and I looked at her curiously. I was expected her to be impressed but I guess I got something else. "Huh…not the response I was expecting, but yeah, I did." I confirmed and she looked at me seriously before moving up to me.

"How do you do that? How do you take my magic and make it your own?" She asked me and I shrugged.

"I don't know, I kinda just figured out I had it and use it." I said before the magic suddenly disappeared around me and I chuckled. "But as you said, the magic is not mine, so it won't last that long before it disappears. But I can store it too."

She hummed curiously and nodded. "I wonder…" She mentioned before squinting her eyes a bit. "If you steal my power by just a touch…what can you steal if you eat a god's heart? This might just be useful."

As happy as I was to have done such a magic display, I felt something stiffen in me. "Why are you asking something like that? I just wanted to show you something, I didn't mean for it to blow up like this." I asked her and she quickly apologized for her thoughts, not that I really needed one, but she explained it was just thought and I agreed with her on that.

"Sure, I guess, but I honestly haven't felt anything since then and I haven't really had any power like his." I explained and she smiled, "Good, his abilities were quite bothersome anyways." I nodded and agreed.

A few minutes past of us just trying to rid the awkward moment that ensued the moment we went silent and had nothing to ask each other. I looked to a side and she did too before I realized this was just gonna be a long night if this went on.

"Uh…why did you actually activate that magic of yours?" I asked and she quickly answered, glad to finally have something to say.

"I wanted to show it to you, when no pony was around." She explained and I smirked. "Oh really? Why?" I asked.

She smiled and closed her eyes, full of joy. "I wanted you to see it first."

I took that from her and smiled a bit wider. "That's sweet, but what did you mean by challenge then?" I asked making her stiffen a bit. "You can't just say the word challenge around me and not expect me to react to it." I chuckled.

"True," She admitted before blushing a bit. "But I really just did it to show it to you."

"If I could show mine, I would show it, but I don't know how to activate it." I chuckled. The Queen made her light disappear and neared me some more. "You've done it before though, when your emotions are heightened…I guess I'll have to rile you up to get it out of you." She said, semi-seriously and worried.

It was sudden but I got a flash in my head of back when Celestia literally did the same with me and it literally had her dying by my hands in a simulation. I haven't had a violent outburst like that in a while, but I wouldn't want to risk it. "No, don't do that, I'll figure it out soon enough." I asked of her and she agreed. _She knew what I was thinking_.

All the talk we made had finally gotten to me and my eyes buffering a bit and I let out my first yawn of the night. The Queen turned to me quickly and alerted. "You can go home and rest, I'll be fine alone." She reminded me, but I refused again. I yawned once more and finally beaten out of ideas, I laid on the grassy plain and laid my head flat to ground.

"I'll sleep here then,"

"You don't have to-

"No worries! I've done this plenty of times back when I was out there doing my duties." I chuckled and with my head flat on the ground, the stars really looked great like this. It looked like the whole sky was just there for me to wander around in: hypnotic described it. I remember Chris calling me crazy for being able to enjoy sleeping on the hard ground, and I still think to myself I'm not the only one who likes it, it's just a thing I can do. The Queen had become silent for a moment, almost fooling me that she'd run out of ideas to get me to go home and sleep.

"You know I'll just take you home when you fall asleep." She mentioned and I smirked, closing my eyes.

"Where ever I lay my head becomes home!" I debated with a smile and I felt her come up to me, the sound of her hooves gently landing next to my face. I opened my eyes and looked up at her, her chest out and her eyes staring down at me. The first thing to run through my head was that she was trying to beat me at a staring contest for whatever reason, and I knew exactly how to win in this one. I focused my eyes on her and smiled. "You have beautiful eyes, your highness."

She quickly jumped back and shivered as she did her best to ignore it, as I expected her to do so. You see, the Queen suffers from a problem many have, they've never been told their beautiful when they are. I turned my head to her, and she looking at me, shocked as if me teasing ponies was new. _What_ _a reaction_.

"Why would you say that!? At a time like this! I wasn't expecting it…" She said and I understood if she was not expecting it. I lifted an eyebrow to fit the scene.

"Would you rather I lie?" I asked back to puzzle her and she slowly and unwillingly said no, making her blush deepen. I sighed and closed my eyes again. Even though I wish I could drift immediately to sleep, my mind was too clouded with thoughts to do so. The Queen had become silent, which had added to my thoughts until I opened my eyes again and noticed the starry sky. It was pleasing to see and quickly made my head dizzy and my sight faded. I wanted to call for the Queen once more, and ask why she was so silent, but my sleepiness caught up with me.

"Ben?" The Queen turned to him, having the feeling something was wrong and he was unresponsive. She came up and used her hoof to nudge his head a bit. She stared seriously before she smiled gently at his limp body, and laid next to him, her mind just processing if she should leave him here or take him somewhere safe. For the moment though, she scooted closer and laid her head on his chest, thinking about that last compliment he gave her.

" _Awaken mortal_ …"

I was dreaming again, and that voice wasn't of any known persona I knew. Nonetheless, I awoke. I was where I had laid down to rest although the Queen wasn't in sight and the sun was up again, but the feeling everything wasn't as it should be was clear to see and feel. The sun hitting my skin wasn't at all pleasing, it was growing a fear in me which I couldn't explain, and the gentle wind blowing made me feel hollow. This was a dream and I knew so, so I took everything here with a grain of salt.

 _I can never have a good dream_.

I turned around to face Ponyville off in the distance. Even from this far, I knew it was empty, this dream had specifically not put anyone in the town. It was disturbing. I felt for my sword and it was gone, which was my source of defense up till now. I patted myself down and one thing that did remain with me was the stone that sensed danger, and now I was getting a big picture in my head. I looked up from my hand and closed my eyes to take a breath and hope I wake up.

Not even a second later, my hand shook and my eyes opened slowly, no adrenaline pumping yet. My hand was vibrating radically and emitting a light through my fingers, as I expected, but I never expected it this soon. I opened my hand and the stone was doing its warnings. I held back any fear since I knew this was a dream and I would wake soon, probably at the climax of it all.

Sometimes dreams can suddenly become uncontrollable and that was a bad sign. I was wandering aimlessly now, just looking down at the stone as I walked in a direction. I wish I had some control but all I could do was move my eyes and control my breathing. The walking stopped and I suddenly controlled myself again.

Looking up, I was in Ponyville to my surprise, and a very recognizable spot too: Yuson's death spot. I couldn't get it through my head how I got here, from just walking, but dreams have that tendency to be ominous. As I deduced earlier, no ponies in sight, which only made the eerie feeling I was being watched much worse. I could feel bad vibes radiating from specific areas, one here and there, on the ground and in the air, bad vibes coated the place.

" _Hello_?"

I turned at the sudden voice and I could swear it was behind me, but nothing. The fear in me activated and I was starting to feel exposed standing here in an old battlefield. "Hello?" I asked myself to see if anyone would respond.

"Mortal…"

That voice, unlike the others was clear and brought back painful memories and a mental image that I could not forget, no matter how much I try. I slowly turned to the direction I heard the voice, ever so slowly, afraid of it and hoping like the last voice that no one was there. Unfortunately, there was someone.

"Yuson…"

"Like a father and son reunion wouldn't you say?"

"No." was my simple answer and immediately his tone began making me ask questions. I couldn't frown like I wanted without weeping a bit at seeing him again. It was hard to look at him and not feel like a failure. I couldn't grit my teeth, the strength in my body was gone. He was as monstrous as ever though.

"Funny, I brought you into this world and that's the answer I get?"

"You brought me here and you made me suffer you monster!" I couldn't hold back the Insults.

"Not true, I brought you here to kill those who I had problems with." He said seriously before laughing. "Well, which was basically everypony alive!"

My face was a stone as I remained quiet, letting him go on to speak, I didn't feel like wasting my breath when all that will come out are insults. He snapped his fingers and two chairs appeared before us, and he took a seat on one and I could only guess who the other one was for. He was playing a game of some sort or trying to persuade something onto me. I didn't move from where I was to say the least.

"Sit." He demanded, not forcing the demand.

"What's this game?" I asked. "And what's with you!? Acting like this, as if that could get me civil with you!"

He smirked before chuckling and laughing again but only before growling. "Sit your ass DOWN!" He ordered with a quick snap of his fingers making me disappear and appear seated down and restricted by a magical force I couldn't see.

"Good." He mentioned back to his tamed side before clasping his hands together, getting to business on his end. "I've come to compromise, now listen."

The amount of emotions that passed through me were overwhelming. I felt like laughing before crying, then suddenly I had a blank mind before rage took over and it stayed there. "NOW YOU WANT TO FUCKING TALK!? AFTER ALL YOU DID!?" I asked with a laugh which had no humor in it. He chuckled too, but at my reaction.

"Hey, where's my second chance?"

"SECOND CHANCE!? YOU-YOU…" I couldn't get what I wanted to say out, his nerve-touching tease was just drilling into my head too deeply and breaking me. "F-FUCK!" I yelled out my desperation before a yank on my head forced me to look up. Yuson had gotten up from his seat, his hand gripping my hair and forcing me to look at him.

"You make me regret bringing you into this world more and more every day."

"I couldn't give a shit what you think." I made clear and he unhanded my hair making head fall limp. I looked up weakly, his hold had weakened me mentally. He was still as strong as ever.

"That so?" He asked. I watched him turn away from me and like a professional, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. I wondered what he was doing now, but I couldn't think straight with my emotionally-clouded head. " _Why_ …" I whispered to myself. " _Of all dreams, why this one?_ "

He turned back to me. "You want one?" He asked. I turned to him slowly.

"What did you say?" I asked and he reached a hand out to me, in his hand, a recognizable cigarette. I stared at it, my hatred for him clearing for a few seconds as my head began filling with nothing but the thoughts of Chris and his relentless cigarette offers. I felt like tearing up and I was, but I refused to let anything show, I turned away from it in rejection. I tried to say no, but I choked at the thought Chris was still with me somehow and I was rejecting him.

"Let me guess, _not unless it'll save my life, no thank you_?"

"How do you know about that?" I asked, already guessing he knew about that phrase before he brought me into this world. "I've been watching." He simply stated, proving my theory one way or another.

I looked at his hand still out with the offered cigarette.

"You said it, now get it out of my face." I demanded and he did so, neatly putting it in his pocket. Now that I noticed his attire, he was wearing what he wore before, though now, when not in the dark, he looked normal. Normal as in what Athena looked like: he would be almost human if it weren't for his feral ways. He found his way back to his seat and slouched, observing me from feet to head. I remained quiet, hurt by everything that I was going through at the moment.

"I'm surprised, you know?"

The things he was saying were very unique for him, giving me a reason to chuckle on the verge of insanity once or twice. This Yuson compared to the what I faced in the real world was driving me mad. My rage triggered once more and I let my mouth get ahead. "Surprised!? By what!? What surprises a god!? WHAT!?"

"I recognized it just a few days ago…" He went on ignoring me.

"JUST GET TO IT!"

He got up and squatted in front of me, huffing in some smoke before tainting my face with the gas. I coughed and shivered at the foul odor.

"I got killed by a mortal." He said staring at me and aiming the hand with a cigarette in it to me. "Specifically, this one."

I coughed some more before panting in the lack of air, that smoke was heavy. I noticed his finger aimed at me before he moved back to his seat.

"But now we've both got the same enemy." He said in a sudden change of direction of attention from his burning nicotine to me. I cough in disbelief and the fact I couldn't inhale that cloud of smoke correctly. "W-what!?" I asked.

"We do." He said and grounded up the cigarette in his hand to powder which flew with the breeze.

"Athena was always someone I hated, she never cared about anything but her self-gain and getting her hands tainted with the blood of the innocent."

"The irony." I mentioned getting my breath back. "And what's with the sudden Nice Guy act!?"

He nodded in acknowledgement of my question.

"Well, I didn't mind her killing innocents, but for her to blame all her victims deaths on me! Oh…she was asking for war. She got the other gods to turn against me, and I was chastised for a century! I was subject to having my body boil in a burning lake of magma in Tartarus! My body would regenerate and I'd be plunged in again!"

"Seems a century wasn't enough." I mentioned, snobby by my part on the surface, but down inside, I was growing to hate this Athena on a level over Yuson. Yuson was dead now, but Athena was next. He ignored my words and continued.

"When I served my time, Athena did it all over again and once again I was sent out to suffer, but a war had broken out which required my attendance. I was spared because of war. Gods may not kill other gods without war being waged first, and I tried to kill her."

"How did it go?"

He shook his head. "About as successful as trying to cut steel with paper. I failed and was shamed by all gods above me, which resulted in them taking a power of mine. My ability to use pure-light magic."

"Pure-light magic!?" I asked suddenly and he smirked.

"Yes, pure-light magic. I trained ever so hard just to attain it…only gods with the tenacity to go through centuries and centuries of rigorous training have ever achieved it, I was only one in three to actually have achieved such a power. And it was unjustly taken from me, because of a bitch who didn't want to take responsibility in her wrong doing…I hate her to her very core."

I didn't feel like insulting him. I remained silent for a while before looking off to a side to think deeper.

"When I saw you active some form of pure-light magic…I felt…"

He was taking time to find his words which made me focus hard on him.

"I felt proud in a way."

"W-what?" I asked and he smirked.

"I wanted and still want to take credit for your magic, but I can't really explain how you achieved the magic. If I had to guess, you must have absorbed some of my magic when I was porting you over to this world."

I was dead silent. If he was the best explanation I could get, then I had to take it. He made sense to the fact that I do absorb magic from sources, and what's denying that I actually did take some of his magic? I couldn't believe it at first, but I was slowly getting somewhere with Yuson.

"Still, besides the point, I hate Athena Mortal, and I can't really do anything now that you've killed me."

I got a hint from that which led me to swallow heavily.

"I'm not your puppet anymore, if I'm going to kill someone it's for the reason I say, not yours Yuson." I made clear and I felt like biting my tongue at the level of respect I showed in my words. He stared at me before shrugging and slouching in his seat.

"I see, I'll be satisfied either way, just kill who you must."

I stared him down before eventually he turned away and sighed in peace. A minute of silence passed and he was out of his seat again. He moved around a bit, kicking a pebble or two on the ground as if uneasy. I only continued staring because I knew well he had something hiding, he was merciless and this act wasn't going to change my mind, but, as much as I hated it, I had some nano-level of sympathy for him.

"I know you have questions." He suddenly turned to me. My head quickly nodded for me, and I guess this was an opportunity. Now I could figure out why. Why did he do what he did? Why did he do this me? Why make us suffer? Or at least get an answer that isn't influenced by his insanity.

"Ask then."

"Why did you do what you did? Why did you make us suffer and hurt!?" I had to calm down since his tone required I follow the same. "What reason did you have?" I asked.

He remained silent, only staring at me before humming in thought.

"I'm the god of despair, not the god of light or darkness, not the one of love or war; I bring about fear and hopelessness across the lands…it's what I do. I only needed you though to mask my wrong doing." He answered seriously. The answer stunned me for a moment, I argued with myself if he was being serious or messing with me. He held his stone look for a good while which prompted me to take his words seriously.

"Why would you do what Athena did? It failed…but why would you mimic it?" I asked and he sighed.

"I thought about it whilst dead, in here, and I do see I went about what I did the wrong way."

I stopped and gulped at his resentment. "A-are you actually regretting it?"

"Just trying to do what Athena did, the rest: no."

"Huh…do you enjoy doing so then? To bring pain to so many?" I asked, slowly becoming friendlier, and it was easy to see.

"You wouldn't understand what it's like to see the suffering of others like I see it…or you did at one point, but you grew out of it." He said, going back to my past.

"I did what I did out of revenge, you did yours out of your own pleasure." I said, refusing to relate in any way to him.

"But that pleasure fuels, and you'll understand it once more when the time comes."

"I pray that day never comes."

He smirked and shook his head.

"When you awake, the day you so pray for will never arrive, will be waiting for you with open arms."

I went quiet at the response he gave me. _What does that mean?_ I knew what I meant, he was saying that I'd find pleasure in revenge again, but my rejection of his words makes me ask such things. I gulped and looked wearily to the abyss of this dream, which I know wanted to know: was this a dream/nightmare, a vision, or a telepathic communication.

"This is no dream or vision, I'm simply communicating with the only body I can." He read my mind.

My silence grew and lasted around two minutes. Surprisingly, Yuson let me take in some air before I slowly rose with another question.

"Then…what's with the righteous act?"

He didn't hesitate in being straightforward.

"Simple, I think I should show some respect to the one who bested me in battle." He stated. I was quickly on him for that.

"I don't believe you. If you were still alive, you'd rip my head off." I countered with the same calm tone he had.

"I never said I wouldn't rip your head off if I had the chance, all I'm saying is that you defeated me and so I'll show some level of respect. You don't really understand me, do you?"

"No, I don't, but I know enough to hate you beyond the grave." I said and he silently took my answer, making feel slightly guilty for answering like I did, but I had no control of it when I'm reminded of what he put me and everyone I know through.

"I won't torture you anymore for one reason Mortal."

He gained my attention with that, I couldn't think of any reason being so important that it held back this monster from giving me the most excruciating torture of all the dream worlds. "What reason?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment before giving me the serious stare down. "You're still my puppet, and you may not see or feel it, but I'm a part of you and your body, permanently."

"Explain." I demanded.

"When you consumed my heart, it was bold move, or maybe you didn't know of the consequences of it." He simply stated and my mind went aloof to when I asked what the consequences were of consuming the heart. K didn't know, no one did. "What are they?" I asked and he chuckled.

"You'll figure them out." He said, purposely leaving me in the dark.

I couldn't beg in front of him for information, I begged enough when he took Scoots from me, no way I'll ever try again. I looked to a side to get my thoughts. I heard his hands clasp.

"I take that ends this communication-

I quickly turned to him. "WAIT!" I halted him and he showed off his grin.

"I actually believed you had no questions left. What is it Mortal?"

"Why are you talking to me in a dream, why are you acting so…civil!?" I asked, showing some disturbance in my words. He was quiet again as he stared at me. He stared at me a good while, and I stared back at him with the demanding look in my eyes. I guess that had some affect since he closed his eyes and smirked.

"I'm speaking to you through a dream, but I can do so as an apparition which only you can see." He said. "And like I said, you don't know me completely, so you have no idea of my personal traits when it comes to talking with someone seated across from me."

"Then answer me why you attacked me and my friends then? Without the bullshit that it was in your title to do so."

"I personally felt attacked when I realized you weren't doing my bidding and so I decided to just exterminate you, in which no matter how hard I tried you survived pasted it all, you even took my two ponies with you."

Hearing him mention the pair of ponies, another question surfaced.

"Not that it's any of my concern, but what's the little one's name?"

"Call her what you want, she's not mine anymore."

I had so many questions that I took more than I needed to just ask one.

"Why did Scootaloo have to get killed?" I asked him and he smirked, and it was an honest smirk to my surprise, it's been a while since I was surprised like this.

"That's that little things name? Huh…chipper name." He said to himself before shaking his head. "I would apologize, but you really had me foaming form the mouth with rage…I guess I relieved it by doing what I did."

"Can you apologize? To Scoots at least?"

He thought about it before looking at me.

"Kill Athena and my apology is yours…and hers."

I let myself rest a bit in my seat. Funny, I was actually relaxing despite my head telling me I shouldn't be because of who was opposite of me. I felt my hand weakly fall off the chairs armrest and I quickly noted it, soon enough my whole body was moving again, I was suddenly free.

"You're free to wander your dream, I was just here to talk in the end."

"Yuson, you better up hold that end of your bargain."

He smiled, realizing I had given my word to killing Athena for him.

"I will," he said turning away before quickly rewinding and focusing back on me. "But one more detail of advice."

"Advice…from you?"

"You have accumulated a lot of hatred in your body from Sting…convince that demon of yours to slowly take it from you. Your body isn't meant to hold such vast amounts of hate, it can, but it makes you unstable."

"I wasn't expecting any advice from you."

"It's a warning. Hatred is only for those who know how to control it, you are not one of them."

He vanished from sight with a warp and I was left here, alone. The seat disappeared and I fell down to the ground but I didn't react to it. I thought and thought about Yuson and tried to get through my head this interaction with him. I couldn't believe it but I knew it was him and he really acted like this, even promising an apology. He could easily be lying about the apology, but my bullshit meter never went off. I was lost in my train of thought.

"Ben!"

"Huh?" I asked getting distracted as hooves trotted up to my face.

"Are you alright!?"

I looked up, and of any sense this dream was making, Luna and Moon where there. Their faces worried and asking questions as I only stared up at them. The rush of emotion that flowed through me was massive. I wanted to explain Yuson, and everything he just said to me, but they got a head start.

"Yuson! We tried to stop him getting to you but he held us out of the dream! Are you hurt!?"

I turned to Luna before shaking my head and picking my back off the ground. "No, I'm not."

"What happened?" Moon asked and I had to take in a deep breath.

"Believe it or not…he just wanted to talk."

"Talk!?" Both asked.

"Yes." I assured them with a struggle in my voice. "I know it's hard to believe, but even I'm just choking up at the thought I just spoke to him and nothing violent happened."

"What did you talk about?" Luna asked and I had to think of my words.

"We talked about Athena, this god, and he explained why he wants her dead even more than I do."

"Why?" Moon asked.

"Athena made him suffer for centuries in Tartarus after falsely accusing him of murdering victims, when it was really she who was doing the murders."

They were silent for a while before Luna stepped up. "But you can't seriously trust him!?"

"I don't, but he did make sense of what he was saying for the whole conversation, but if I get the chance, I'll see if Athena herself has answers."

"Good, but did he really speak to you like that? Was he violent or aggressive?" Luna kept asking. I shook my head.

"Surprisingly no, I was though, but he was showing too much respect to the conversation for me to not show back some. He even let me ask questions afterward and he answered them without a problem."

Luna looked off to where Yuson warped away. "…that's hard to believe…"

"He even said he'd apologize for all he has done, if I killed Athena…I took it with a grain of salt, but I ended up agreeing to it."

"Doesn't sound like you could miss that offer, you were planning on killing her anyways." Moon helped find reason in my choices. I thought to myself. "I was…or maybe I could've reasoned with her…"

"Don't regret decisions, just work them out." Luna encouraged and I smiled at her motivation. "Thanks, but I'm gonna need something to drink or do to distract myself from this…my head really hurts."

"I'll make this dream one to find peace in," Luna smiled before turning to Moon. "And I hope it stays that way." She said as a clear sign to Moon.

Moon smirked with a shrug. "Do as you will, I'll be taking my leave."

"You just came to check on me and now you're leaving?" I asker, looking at her moving away. She stopped and turned, a smile present on her.

"I suppose so."

I sighed in relief and waved. "Good to have seen you again, stay safe."

"Likewise."

She disappeared in a flash of light and Luna turned to me and looked back at where Moon stood before she left. "So, there is something between you two!" She suddenly let loose and I smirked at her reaction.

"Wasn't it obvious?"

She took a long pause before letting out a groan. "…let's just change this dream of yours…we'll talk about Moon later."

"Mother? Wake up!"

She opened her eyes but not without being blinded by the sun rising and using her wing to cover her face.

"W-wha-?"

"You overslept…Mother." Celestia sighed at the sight to behold.

"What? How?" She yawned and smothered her cheek into her _cushion_. Celestia looked at her and pouted at her cluelessness.

"You got too comfortable…" She said clearing her throat. "With him."

"Comfortable-?

Her eyes worked their way up her cushioned surface and soon she met face to face with her piece of comfort. She quickly widened her eyes before looking at her daughter eyeballing her and the scene she was involved in. She slowly rose and nervously let out a chuckle as she patted Ben's chest with her wing.

"H-he makes a good pillow…"

"I'm sure he does…" Celestia agreed sarcastically with a glare. The Queen knew she had nowhere to hide on this one and lowered her head in shame.

"I-I'm sorry, I was a bit moved by his kind words and gestures…"

Celestia smiled warmly, it seems her mother was no exception to Ben's ways.

"Yes, he does have a tendency to not hold back from compliments." She chuckled. Her mother smiled at the truth in that statement. "Yes, I've experienced it first-hoof."

Celestia eyed Ben carefully before giving a small look around. "So, no present danger all night?" She asked. The Queen surveyed around as well and to her surprise, nothing had happened.

"How peculiar, nothing happened?" She asked back at Celestia who lifted an eyebrow.

"I'm asking you."

"No, nothing happened."

They shared a brief moment of confusion before turning to Ben. He was still out but not for long. Celestia, with the tip of her wing, tickled the end of Ben's nose until he swatted away at it which in the course woke him up. He turned away from the glaring sun and rolled over onto his stomach, groaning in the process.

"You won't believe who visited me last night in my dreams." He muttered his face planted to the ground. Celestia and the Queen giggled as they had somepony in mind. "Could it be somepony we know?" Celestia asked and Ben sighed.

"No, but you do know him."

"Him?" Celestia asked.

He sighed as he weakly pushed himself off the ground. On his feet and rubbed out the blur in his eyes and stretched. "Who's him!?" Celestia asked, demanding the answer now. "I don't know a _Him_ who'd visit your dreams."

"He's a monster, a god, a pain in the rump, he killed Scoots, need I say more?"

"YUSON!?" Both shouted as I expected.

"Bingo, now can we go talk about this with some tea? We need to talk about Yuson and Athena."

 ** _NEXT CHAPTER: The Coming of Fear._**


	67. Chapter 67 - The Coming of Fear

#67 The Coming of Fear - Part 1

 ** _Warning: This is fiction, where ideas are put on paper and made for your entertainment. Please don't attempt to fuck a Fluttershy in real life, for your own safety. Thank you._**

 ** _Now, enjoy the story._**

I was given a strict agenda to follow from now on from the two of them: Never listen to anything Yuson has to say. I agreed with them verbally but mentally I had other plans. Yuson approached me with a civil approach and so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for while it lasts; come to find out that he's the liar in all this and I won't take anything from him ever again.

I didn't get tea or anything to calm my nerves but I was given a plastic cup of icy water which did nothing but stop me from sweating cold-sweat. The Queen and her daughters were telling me to not trust Yuson, while deep in my conscious I held strong to my own beliefs. Or so I did before Luna ratted me out about trusting him in my personal opinions, putting me on the spot. And no matter how hard I tried to get them off my case by lying and saying I was taking their word, Luna always exposed my lie.

At some point, I snapped out of my patience and just abruptly left, quite rudely as well. Their conversation wasn't getting me anywhere and I was just getting tired of hearing their repetitive claims which bored me about the fifth time they were mentioned. I wasn't fuming but I was, to say the least, annoyed.

I had taken upon me to hide somewhere and rest but things never really work out when you do that.

"You look pissed about something." K echoed behind me.

"Sounds like you like you had a visit last night." Chrysalis completed K's thought.

I didn't expect them to find me so suddenly after that little thing I had with the royals. Not to say I thought I was well hidden sitting on the thick branch of a tree, covered my leaves around.

"You two listened to that conversation, didn't you?" I asked looking down at them as they walked up. They smirked, no surprise there.

"I don't know about that, but I did come back to check on how things were going last night, and found you sleeping with the Queen snuggling with you. Why was that?" He asked. I had to figure out if he was messing with me first then figure out what he meant. Seems the Queen was also pretty _sleepy_ last night. I couldn't hear him mention the Queen without being reminded of my headache. I groaned in frustration and shook my head, trying to get rid of the conversation I just had a while ago.

"What's the matter? You got a problem?" K asked in that half-serious, half-playful voice. I explained it all to him and Chrysalis, Yuson that is, but to my surprise, I got repeated what I heard last conversation. I was now officially fuming. I jumped down and went about finding a new place to rest.

"You know what? Go fuck yourself then!"

"I take it he didn't like hearing that." Chrysalis turned to K, as much as K wanted to just shrug off Ben's comment, he couldn't when it meant to him he was now listening to Yuson's words, the last thing expected from him.

"Hey, what does that mean!? You want to listen to that monster now all of a sudden!?" K asked catching up. I held back something vulgar in exchange for an apology which went through clenched teeth and fists.

"No, I didn't say that," I said releasing my fists. "Yuson just said some things that made sense, that's all."

K didn't want to disagree, I could see it in him as he tried to figure out his words. "I don't know Ben." He said. "Yuson really messed us up, and he did try to make you his mask, and he killed Scoots and hurt Derpy…nearly took all of Ponyville too if it wasn't for us and Fluttershy."

K was trying to persuade me, which I didn't mind since he was actually telling me logical things instead of jamming my head with propaganda.

"I know, and he didn't deny those things, he quite literally said he'd still kill me and do worse if he could. He's not suddenly playing a nice guy act, he's trying persuade me into something, and that something is killing Athena as far as I know. Maybe it goes deeper than that."

I already explained to K what Yuson had told me about Athena and he refused to believe it then, although now he seemed to be intrigued. "Listen, we'll handle Yuson later, Athena is our focus, Yuson's dead, alright, he can't hurt us in the real world." He said reaching a hand out to me, just to shake on it. I was on the way to do so as my hand was reaching for his, but as soon as nearly planted my palm in his, I snatched away.

"No way! Not after what I now know!"

"What do you know!?" He asked in a revolt.

"Remember that time you said eating Yuson's heart might have side effects!?"

He flinched a bit and the weariness began showing on him. "Well…yeah…"

"Take a guess!" I demanded and he only let his head limp in shame.

"Dang…"

"Apparently Yuson is now a permanent part of me and he's slowly becoming one with my body! I tried to ask him what it meant but he didn't say a thing!"

"Maybe he's just messing with you-

"Or he could be telling the truth and I'm actually doomed!"

"Or he could be lying."

"Would you really take that risk and do nothing as my body becomes corrupted by him!?"

"Okay!" He yelled trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation with a humorful tone. "You missed your morning tea or something?"

"As a matter of fact, I did!"

"Alright. Don't be a pussy about it. We just need to think of a way to get him out of you if that's the case. But don't forget, we got more important things like-"

"Killing a god. Again." I cut him off. He bit his tongue.

"Doesn't look good either way, does it?"

"No." I simply put and he coughed to fill in the empty air. We were in two very terrible situations, one was Yuson coming back to haunt me, and the other was Athena trying to kill us. We gave each other a glare and he was the first to look away.

"Why can't we go back to when you weren't afraid of who you fought? When you grinned because you wanted to fight?"

His words reached somewhere deep in me. I gulped as my head became poisoned with his words. They spread quickly and had me in a knot within seconds. My self-conscious took over.

"I don't want to see others hurt…" I whispered, barely getting those words out. I was at a mental struggle between the words that I'd say now and the words that would come out my mouth before.

"I know you don't, I don't want to either, but you need that fighting spirit back!"

I remained silent. His words were fitting into me like missing jigsaw pieces.

"You lost your fighting spirit and all you do now is care about defending! That's not the Ben I know!"

I glared back at him. His words made all the sense in the world and I had no right to doubt them, although my own memories got in the way. Scoots stood above all but K was blurring the images in my head with his words.

"Wars aren't won by just defending! You take the fight to the enemy and you hurt them where it hurts most! IN THEIR HOME!"

He was speaking my language now, and I was taking it all in. Not one little detail had slipped past me.

"You must strike first! Hard!"

"Show no mercy?" I asked, a grin almost forming from the smile already bestowed upon my face. He paused and grinned.

"Not the reference I was making but hell! Go with it!"

He was the artist who put this grin on my face when I thought it couldn't come on. He tightened his fists and took in some air.

"But people like you never learn until it's beat into your heads!"

"Beat?" I asked.

"Oh, we can help with that! We're gonna set your heart on fire once more!"

"We?" Chrysalis asked.

"So, Ben, how about it?"

I looked up at him as his hand enveloped in a black flame which ran from his fist to his shoulder. I had never seen this magic from him before.

"How about that spar you promised me?"

My eyes moved up to his and back to his fist enveloped in flames. I stared before I looked towards my hands and how they were covered in gloves unlike his. The gloves…they're used so your grip was still good, despite how sweaty your hands get. I closed my eyes and took one out before taking the other and placing them neatly folded in my back pocket.

"This time…the gloves come off." I smirked as rubbed my hands against each other, getting a feel for their natural grip and the exposed skin. A shiver began at my fingertips and began climbing to up my arms. Seeing my hands, not hidden behind some leather was frighteningly intense. K had no problem in noticing.

"You must have been dying for this, huh?" He teased. I laughed slightly before balling up my hands into fists. I turned my attention to him and quickly noticed something I never noticed before. On his back, he had a wooden sword sticking out. I stared at it before patting the sheath by my waist.

"Titanium beats wood." I simply put and he smirked.

"You're in for a rude awakening."

"Are we really about to do this!?" Chrysalis asked and K nodded before turning over with an even wider grin.

"Of course, and as a matter of fact, you need to learn how to fight as well!"

She quickly had some backlash to that.

"W-WAIT A MINUTE! Can't I start off slow!?"

"Don't worry, we'll take Ben down together, not everyone started off slow, Ben didn't start slow, but he's now the one you see." K helped intrigue her. She bought into it after some more persuasion and agreed. I only wondered about how I would take on two enemies coming at me. I've done it before and I didn't have this power back then, so it should be easier with this power, hopefully. I backed up a bit to open some space between us. Chrysalis and K looked towards each other before nodding. A green flash erupted from K's side and died down just as quick.

Two K's were now on the field, my eyes quickly labeled the K to the right as the right one. I tried to find something to differentiate the two of them and as good as Chrysalis was at her mimicry, there was luckily one little detail. That sword of K's.

"Alright Ben, I know you might wanna go easy, but I want you to give us your all! And when I mean all, I mean don't kill us, but try your best to give us some serious injuries."

"What!?" The K next to him asked and the real one smiled.

"Well just go the princesses or Twilight, the Queen if that's serious!"

"You're crazy K, but whatever."

"That's the spirit!" K cheered her on.

I smirked and nodded. I'll try and go easy on Chrysalis but once she gets a hang of it. I'll make sure she learns a lesson. As for K, I'll break his ribs any day of the week if it means I can do it again and again without consequences.

"Alright you two, let's see what you two got against me!"

"Oh, I want to see this!"

"Huh!?" I asked turning to the left and K and Chrysalis did the same. "What!?"

Out of nowhere literally, Celestia and Luna along with the entire party of ponies were here. Friends, some guards, and even one special guest. That guard that accepted Athena's power was here but with a certain pony who wore the same guards' uniform at the rest but was different to them all in fur tone. He had a chain connected to her neck on one end and on the other end to the guard's hoof, like a dog. I stared at them before Sting and Jade emerged from the crowd with excitement boiling over.

"WE WANT A PART IN THIS!" They both yelled. I quickly lifted my hand to call them over but before I could signal them, they had both joined K's side. My grin dropped with my hand as I notice now there were four enemies and one me.

"So, it's gonna be like that?" I asked and they smirked, their silence conforming their answer. I looked at my hands and back at them.

"Alright then-

"I want a part in this as well!"

I quickly lifted my head towards the crowd and the Queen emerged out of all of them. I smiled and raised my hand but before that happened, she had joined K's side. My eyebrow rose and my stance flinched into defensive mode.

"What the hell is this!?" I asked my hands in front of me.

"We want something to do with this as well!" Luna and Celestia cheerfully pledged.

"Hey! I'm over-AHHH! BULLSHIT!"

This gag had gone on long enough now.

"Alright, stop this shit, come over here."

No one did as I said.

"One?" I asked as a final plea but it seems they wanted a piece of me. I sighed before suddenly a shake in the earth emerged and I looked to the side. Flutters had emerged, but holy shit if I didn't recognize that demonic aura around her. I looked over at her and by now I had been pushed over the limit and I was ready to hit hard,

"You know what? Flutters get over there, I'm about to take you all down!"

She smirked and did as I said.

"I wasn't planning on going to your side." She let me know with a wink.

 _Damn_. My friends, my opponents. I'm gonna have a field day.

"Uh…Ben, ya sure you can handle em' all?"

I felt my head nearly twist off as I turned. AJ was there and watching, her voice sounded like an angel's after not hearing it in so long. I suddenly grinned at the thought of her being there and lifted a thumb.

"I'm feeling the best I ever did!"

She smiled, probably not believing it but she'll see soon.

I looked at my challenge, and how could I not get excited? This was fight for the ages. I assumed my defensive position but weirdly it felt off. I felt in danger like this and I slowly began leaning my stance forward into attacking.

K looked around himself before looking at me.

"You're really gonna do this?" He asked, a smile showing he wasn't taking me seriously. I nodded slowly, my eyes quickly going back and forth between my opponents. A few had the power of spells by their side, one had pure-light magic, all could fly, a few were demons, one had killed me before, but all had their own fighting styles.

"You're all going down, ALL OF YOU! That goes for you too, your highness! And daughters!"

She looked at me smugly and nodded.

"I'll consider you lucky if you last fifteen seconds." She winked and I laughed at that.

"Same my Queen, same!"

I looked at them once more and laughed to myself. I raised a hand to the sky and with a snap of my fingers I showed off all I wanted to show for now. My aura sparked off and quickly the weather pattern was in for changing. The Queen laughed at the excitement and quickly used her magic to rid the area of obstacles. Trees disappeared and all that was left was field.

"This is madness!" Twilight yelled as she looked around and Dash was there to join in with laughter.

"IT'S AWESOME!"

Octavia questioned the fight's fairness and Vinyl shrugged it off.

"The world doesn't play by the rules sometimes, sometimes you just gotta punch it in the face.

"But he has a lot of faces to punch!"

Off in the most active conversation of this place, a leashed pony spoke with her walker.

"Why must I be leashed like a dog!?"

"It's by the princesses' orders, I can't protest and neither should you. Just accept your punishment."

She only looked ahead and sighed. She couldn't do much with the muzzle over her mouth, the ring on her horn prevented her magic from working, and the magical leash quite literally made her body do as the owner tells her to do.

"But look at him! He's going to fight that many by himself! He'll get killed!"

Flash turned to her and nodded.

"That seems possible but you can't argue he's strong."

"Yeah, absolutely kicked the life out of you he did."

"No kidding, I still can't land this hoof right without feeling a small pain surge." He said showing her his hoof. "But I don't blame him for what he did, I hated him for it, but after what he did for us, I just forgot about it."

She watched him put his hoof down before gulping. Flash turned to her and cleared his throat.

"You seem to worry about him…you've never shown anypony that much emotion before, what changed?"

She turned to him and shrugged.

"Do you like him?"

She didn't react to that on the spot.

"Why do you assume the most?" She asked him and he laughed.

"Because I hear love makes a pony change faces and I've seen it first hoof…who knows? Maybe I'm seeing right here and now."

She looked him deadeye and he looked back, not moved by the look.

I breathed in and out slowly, preparing my body for the intense battle that would soon commence. I had no clue what would happen, I had no clue who would hit me first, or if they'll all come at me equally. The unknown had risen again but this time I was grinning and I wanted to feel the pain, the burn their hits caused and the blood they could draw out of me. I was ready.

"Whenever your ready Ben." K chuckled and I quickly jumped with a fist full of might to my side and rushed in.

"BRING IT!"


	68. Chapter 68 - The Coming Of Fear - part 2

#68

Rushing into the barrage of danger, I was quickly shown my welcoming in the shape of five beams of light, each one different from the other from color to the menacing look as they went in to impale me. I teleported immediately and did so as many times as necessary until I managed to confuse the honing magic. I had two K's and one Flutters already in front of me all simultaneously about to strike me. My hands knew what would happen before me as they shot out ahead and blazed them with magic. Two may have withdrawn but K came in strong and tanked through my magic, his fist out and raging before I moved aside and let my knee bury as deep as it could into his stomach. He tried to absorb that hit as well but I need him down for a while to handle the rest.

I wasn't about to let him recover either. I quickly grabbed his arm and forced it into a position that all would agree meant he wouldn't be swinging it around anymore and yanked on it, getting a yelp out of him. After kicking him away, I quickly turned to five swords before me and unsheathing my own to hold them off. The magic these swords operated on was beyond me; some were solid while others fazed right through the metal of my sword and went towards me, making me back up and evade as much as I could.

My sword found itself awkwardly behind my back stopping a destructive strike to my spine courtesy of Flutters before I noticed all five sources of the swords. My eye became deadlocked onto Sting and Jade before finding the royal family as I braced myself. "Sorry Flutters!" I quickly apologized, turning and swinging my leg towards her before sending a time-splitting fastball of magic towards Sting and Jade. I gave the royals the same to which they all dodged as I expected and wanted them to do.

I had bought myself the famous three-seconds before their attack would resume. I quickly set my body up in an area where everyone would be within radius and pressed the two palms of my hands together. I felt the hair on my head and face stand on end as I heard magic starting up and war cries rumble all around me. My hands began repelling each other like inverted magnets as the pressure of magic was building up and reaching the limit. I held on for as long as I could to my hands before ultimately hearing Sting right behind me.

My arms went opposite ways and with a firm yell out from the deepest part of my lungs I sent everything around me searching for something latch onto. I added more time and strangely I could see it as well. Time was slow again.

I noticed everyone trying their best to cope with that blast that went in all directions. The adrenaline finally started to pumping quicker as time slowed down even slower. I haven't had time slow down in a while, it felt exhilarating to see and feel it return. My eyes locked onto Sting and Jade, K and Flutters, who are the most active of all and took advantage of the slowed time.

With swift movements, I found the napes of Sting and Jade and hacked at both of them before doing the same to Flutters and K only before time resumed again only for me to fall back down to the ground on a knee with pain surging through my other leg. There was a thick rod that had impaled my leg. It was a magical rod, and if I could differentiate the pure light color of it, I knew the culprit.

"That was most impressive I must say, you're quite the blur when moving, almost didn't think I'd hit you."

I looked up at the Queen who smirked. She sent that rod that had gone through my leg. I couldn't think straight for a while: _there was a fucking rod stabbed into my hamstring._ I noticed Chrysalis, Celestia, Luna and their mother surround me, the rest were unconscious on the ground. I gulped as I grabbed the rod and tried to pull it out but only to have it out of nowhere suddenly grow thorns making my leg stiffen and my hands recoil.

"N-NO!" I yelled at the excruciating pain.

"Mother, I think he's unable to do much with that in his leg."

I turned to Luna, weakness and pain shown through my face, before turning to the Queen who shook her head.

"He may well not be able to move now, but the victor is decided when one surrenders or is unable to continue, Luna."

I didn't know how to react to that on the spot. I was about to get tortured until I spew the surrender. I looked at my hamstring again and at the rod with thorns. The Queen was heavily distracted by Luna and I had a choice to make. I looked around and only noticed one set of eyes on me, Celestia's, and that was all I needed. My hand found the end of the rod and through a shriek, I pulled it out, my mind going blank as I did before tossing it aside and rolling as far away as I could and onto my only operable foot.

The Queen only stared at her rod before following the trail of spilled blood to me.

"Did you really just…?"

I wanted to laugh a bit but the pain was too much. Luckily, as much as I suspected that rod to have left a huge gap in my leg, it seems the magic did only a small amount damage, leaving only a small puncture which leaked the red essence slowly. _This must have been that magic resistance I've been hearing._

"Y-yeah…did you really think…I'd give up after a few seconds?" I said with a heavy breath, trying my best to regulate it.

She stared at me before looking at my leg.

"You've got heart enveloped in hellish flames but lack the mental ability to comprehend your situation."

I looked at my leg and at them.

"Maybe so, but I've knocked out four of you, just need to get rid of the rest and I win."

"Have you now?" She asked as her magic glowed and suddenly K and the rest of those I had taken out got up, a bit dazed but awake. I gulped before growling a bit before hopping a bit on my foot which was growing weary of having weight on it.

"I guess I'll have to take you out first then…" I forwardly stated and she laughed at that.

"I've taken it easy on you, but if you insist on keeping up this stubbornness, I'll show no mercy till you surrender."

"We all have a weakness, it's just a matter of finding yours."

I took on my position again, this time hovering slightly over the ground to give my foot a rest. I wasn't weakened yet. She glared at me as she used her magic to summon a sword and showed off its unimaginable massive size: about the size of a three-story building. I unsheathed my own again and aimed it at the giant weapon before me. I had faith in myself despite the dread I was feeling.

"Woah, when did he hurt his leg?" K asked resuming his own position, shaking away his daze.

I quickly flicked my sword and received a reaction. That massive sword had taken aim rushed towards me, absolutely terrifying me to the core as it zoomed towards me. I threw myself to a side firing back a magic of my own which later split into three separate attacks and hones onto the Queen and her daughters. I was oblivious to how that attack managed to be but I wasn't arguing with it. That massive weapon burrowed into the ground causing the ground to shake and I rapidly flew over head and once again began building up pressure in my hands before unleashing it on all of them below me. Quickly, I was met with K, Flutters, and Chrysalis surrounding me in the air.

Not a single second of rest with these guys.

"Bring it!" I yelled and they all had a go. They relentlessly took sequenced attacks, coordinated, like they had prepared for me. They had some plan but I had my own way of dealing with each one of them as well. They had been trying to land a hit on me while I dodged and stopped some attacks when I suddenly charged out with a fist which landed harshly on Chrysalis sending her down before I felt K's leg hit my injured one making me flinch. I felt his arm grip my ankle and send me down to the ground with a swing. I managed to stop myself from colliding with the ground but only before Flutters brutally struck down on my chest with a kick, cementing me to the ground in a crater.

My breath had become non-existent.

I wheezed in pain and let my breath escape through my clenched teeth as saliva leaked out the corners of my mouth. I was paralyzed to the ground. I never expected such a move from them.

It all hurt, and I was having trouble with my breathing after that hit Flutters landed. I tried to get up but almost immediately that massive sword appeared before me and shot straight down forcing my hands to do the only they could. Before the massive weapon could end me, I clasped the sword with my palms and held it tight as I could. The magic that surrounded the sword burned into my palms and I could feel my flesh heating to a point it shouldn't. I grunted and struggled with it before hearing hooves land beside my head.

"Surrender. Or I'll have to." The Queen threatened and I refused.

"Y-you wouldn't kill me!" I grunted, focused as much as I could on holding my palms together.

"I'd simply transfer your mind and soul into a pony's body before this one perishes."

That was a cold statement but it did force my arms to grow a bit of last minute strength.

"Surrender! I don't want to, but I will!" She demanded and I gulped as I felt my palms give in slightly. The sword rushed about an inch closer to my body and my hands got an adrenaline boost as I let out a cry of desperation.

"I WON'T SURRENDER LIKE THIS!"

"SURRENDER!"

" _Don't mortal!_ "

"Y-Yuson!?" I grunted making the Queen glare at me.

" _Let your body suffer the pain, let the sword bring about the pain of the world, but never surrender! Pain will make you stronger! It has from the start!_ "

I felt the sword zoom another inch closer to my chest, almost touching it now. I bared my teeth and closed my eyes instantly.

" _OPEN YOUR EYES! SEE THE PAIN YOU'RE ABOUT TO LET LOOSE!_ "

I did as he said and looked at the massive sword.

"SURRENDER BEN! NOW!"

" _Thou shan't mutter such a treacherous lyric!"_

"FUCK! I CAN'T FUCKING HOLD IT ANY LONGER!" I yelled out as let go of it and let it go right through me. My eyes widened and I became at a loss of words, as so did everyone. There was silence for almost five seconds before I endured the worst pain I had ever endured. I couldn't do much but revolt around in my crater, there was no hiding place for this experience and it was coming in at all it could. It seemed a wave of pain died down before an even stronger one came in and lasted longer than the last. I was on my feet suddenly, gripping my hair and crying in pain as my body felt like it was tearing apart in all directions. My flesh felt like it was being pulled apart, my eyeballs felt like they were melting, and my insides felt like they were turning inside out.

K stared at the sight like everyone else did, cold and without a clue on what to do, hoping for the best.

I suffered through more waves and desperate shrieks of pain before I finally found relief in the sensation that the back of my skull had bursted open. My screams ended immediately with a wheeze and I felt the back of my head. It hadn't blown open but it felt like my body got hit with a freight train at full speed. I turned to look at them all, my body leaning to one side and my vision giving out. I stared at their looks, showing this wasn't meant to be, but all I could think of was emptiness as my body leaned harshly to a side and walked towards it like a drunk before falling face first into my crater.

"Oh, damn it! Is he alright!?" K quickly rushed up to the crater before the Queen got next to him and stared into the crater. Luna and Celestia joined in as observed Ben nearly motionless apart from his twitching fingers.

"He's…he's…alive…" The Queen assured with difficulty. Celestia turned to her.

"You we're not planning on killing him…were you?"

She gulped and shook her head.

"No…but that magic was enough to have killed him…should've killed him. I thought I could've scared him into surrender…" She explained, the guilt overflowing in her expression. Luna stared into the crater before shivering.

"I'm surprised you haven't learned Ben isn't like others, he never gives into anything." Luna mentioned with a bit of tremble in her voice.

The Queen had no answer to that one.

My head began clearing up and I could remember that huge sword pinning me down. I shivered at the massive size of it, and even more at the pain I could remember, just thinking about it hurt. I buried my fingers into the soil under me and gripped onto it as I began pushing myself up.

"You can still…move?" I heard someone ask, but I couldn't make out the voice with my ears just echoing the word "surrender" indefinitely.

Every soul watched me, their eyes wide as I slowly rolled onto a side and huffed out a tired breath. I shook uncontrollably for a while before I began moving my body upon my one still functioning foot. I climbed out of my crater, tired beyond anything and laid down on the grassy bed. My mind was blank to the point I couldn't comprehend words to speak and all that came out were incomprehensible mutters.

"W-w-w-w-what…?" I asked my breathing fluctuating.

" _Calm down mortal, you did well._ "

"D-d-d-did what…well!?" I asked quickly in a small fit of rage at remembering I was pinned down and left for dead. I looked at my hands and noticed how red they were from the burning. "I…didn't die?" I asked, my breathing slowing down enough to stop my stuttering. He chuckled, amused by my question.

" _No_ , _your body is firm enough to survive that magic, but if it hits you enough, it will be fatal._ "

I gulped and continued staring at my hands before sighing and letting my head hit the grass, my breath finally finding me.

"That's good to know…" I said picking myself off the ground and turning to them, my opponents, again.

" _She's relentless and merciless, even threatening you with death_."

I listened in as he ranted about it.

" _Maybe you should-_

"I won't do anything." I said, cutting him off. Last thing I needed were suggestions with dealing with others from him.

" _You don't have to, but at least listen._ "

I listened to him as he told me to look at the Queen.

" _Sometimes others need to be taught a lesson, she hasn't had anyone give her a challenge in a while but she has her mind set on that she can easily dismantle you and push your face in the dirt. That attitude is what allows her to push around like she did. Assert your dominance and show that you're no pushover._ "

"I'm not a pushover, they know that." I countered him and he only whispered back on thing.

" _I haven't seen the Ben that defeated me or Sting, that Ben isn't a pushover, this one seems to be one though._ "

"Ben…are you alright?" The Queen asked, honestly looking worried. I shook my head.

"No thanks to you, but I guess wars aren't won with mercy, are they!?" I asked her, a menacing scowl to show my disdain. She shook her head quickly.

"N-no! Wars can be won with mercy! I was just-" She said trying to recover some of her wrong doing and I quickly shook my head and readied myself again.

"The irony of preaching something you don't follow. Well guess what!? It's a little too late to start preaching!" I affirmed as I quickly went in and with my one leg out I hit two birds with one stone. I sent Jade and Flutters out the area with no way they'll get back up anytime soon.

"Jade!" Sting called before I put my hands out in front of me and fired all cylinders in his direction. K quickly whiplashed in with his own magic and covered for Sting. His magic was powerful enough to push me back but only before I rushed in another angle, finding K at a blind spot behind him. My hand swung back for the strike before he slightly turned, allowing me to look into the corner of his eyes to find out he was looking right back at me just as my hand was about to make contact with him. He grabbed onto my fist, too quick for my eyes to detect his hand before pulling me in trying to go for my chest with his elbow. I braced myself for impact before unknowingly, my arm zipped downwards on his elbow and I found him struggling to stop himself from zooming away before he stabbed his wooden sword onto the ground and came a halt. He got up quickly and glared at me, surprised by my move.

I had somehow managed to block his attack and send him flying away.

I didn't plan that last move; my instincts must have moved in control for a moment. Nonetheless, I was back in my attacking position. My hand to my side as I charged something up before launching from the ground my hand out towards him, he readied instantly but before he could stop me I respawned behind him forcing him to unleash a kick behind him before I found myself grabbing his leg and rushing my hand towards him. I had caught him well this time.

He had no time to react; I thought he didn't at least. He rammed his hand onto mine, greeting magic upon magic causing us to go in opposite directions. He came to a stop but landed awkwardly in his leg forcing him into the air. I was just about ready to move towards him again before two magical binds tied my legs together and pulled me to the ground lifting me over head. I quickly looked around noticing Luna and Celestia with some accomplishment showing. I looked around before finding K and his hand aimed my way. My eyes widened suddenly and, in a panic, I shot out all the magic I could out of whatever direction my hands were facing. The magic that held me was destroyed before I harshly fired a rocket of magic towards Luna to which she didn't react fast enough and it hit, distracting Celestia and allowing me the time to end K.

"Luna!"

My eyes narrowed on K and his also did before we found ourselves, fist greeting fist and kick meeting kick. He relied heavily on heavy swings and connecting each hit after another, which was easily noted in someone who is desperate. Despite it, he managed to connect one kick, and right then I knew he was about to unleash some potential onto me. He flipped around swinging a fist to my shoulder before showing me a kick to my chest, knocking the wind out of my lungs, but just before he went in for a killing blow to the head. His foot, only a few inches from crushing my head in, slowed down as time did again. My hand reached out immediately and I locked his leg with my arm sending my other swinging behind me.

"WHAT THE!?" He exclaimed before I let my hand engulf in deep, destructive magic. His eyes widened as the world suddenly got swallowed by light and my hand suddenly shot towards him. A wave of pure bred light following my every movement.

"THIS IS WHERE IT ALL COMES TO AN END-

I felt something zoom past my ear, interrupting my strike. I turned but only before my body hunched over as something carve into my stomach. I never saw this coming. I felt my spine get pounded before getting flipped around by some monstrous force midair, freezing time in its place. I had no clue who was attacking me and I couldn't see them, meaning I was in the worst of situations. I tried to turn quick, but it was too late: something zoomed past me, running something against my cheek before showing a powerful kick to my face before hitting my chest, sending me back a great distance and tasting the grass. _Tasted like defeat_.

" _Hmm…you need to work on that awareness_."

I grunted in pain, trying to stand up, but my body was too shocked to make any more moves.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!" I heard K yell in the distance forcing my arms to push me up slightly. I felt the side of my face before feeling a warm sting. Someone had cut my cheek with something and I painfully turned to all of them before seeing my sword within K's grip…or one of two K's grip.

"Holy shit…" I whispered, not believing it at first glance.

I was raging at my defeat, but my mind settled upon the sight I was shown.

I looked at the blood on my hand and at my sword in her possession, still in her mimicry of K's. I was the first out of all of us to lose blood on the battlefield and that meant something to me. I stared at my sword as she held it firmly in her hand. I planted my head down in the grass in defeat.

"Surrender?"

I looked up at her, she was aiming my own sword, just three inches from my forehead. She was back in her changeling form, enjoying her victory with her devious toothy smile, oddly similar to K's, and menacing me with my own weapon. My face hit the ground, ashamed above all.

"You did this?" I asked her from the ground. I heard her chuckle.

"Yes!"

I felt my cheek warm up, probably in some embarrassment from getting owned by her as I lifted myself and rolled onto my back to look at her better. I held back some childish frustration, letting only a smile show, unsettling her a bit. My smile lasted about as long as it took for the stream of red vitals to run down onto my neck and to my ear. She didn't seem to be too pleased seeing my leaking cheek. I placed my hand on my neck and raised it to her so she could see.

"You did this?" I repeated to her and she looked at it before her eyes widened. "Oh…I…uh…"

I looked at my blood-stained hand and laughed a bit, closing my eyes in peace.

"You did good Chrysalis, you did good."

"I think I probably shouldn't have used the sword…"

I chuckled at that.

"I'll admit Chrysalis: I rushed in a seeing a bit of red Chrysalis, I was losing my self-control there."

I turned away and nodded with a gulp.

"But in any situation, I could've been any other merciless bastard and could actually have killed someone, yet you managed to slit my cheek. I'm sure if you practice a bit more…" I turned to her and smiled. "You'll aim for the head next time."

She smiled enthusiastically. "Really!?"

"Yeah, just not my head." I said extending my hand out. She looked down at it and lifted an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Help me up, my body feels dead." I asked and she helped out with her magic getting me onto my feet. She really messed me up good. I was numb in all sorts of places, and some were just not working at the moment.

"Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have over done it."

"No, that was awesome, I didn't expect that out of you, who taught you to do that?" I asked and she looked to a side as she used her magic to help me move about towards the group of ponies who watched me arrive with my limp.

"I just saw what you did to K and what he did to you…and when I got to doing it, it felt so natural and flowing."

I stared at her as she said that, my head only imagining the type of things that I had just heard.

"You're a quick learner, I like that."

"Thanks, and you're quite the skilled one when it comes to holding your ground. I'm in a bit of awe at the thought you held your own against us."

Against them…

"Yeah, all of you…" I said in a bit of aggravation at the thought I was left to fight alone. I noticed her looking at me before she turned forward.

"Don't feel betrayed, we all know how strong you really are and to challenge it…well we moved to one side, against you."

"Yeah, but you saw how I got knocked down many times. Maybe with even one partner I would've done so much better!" I explained.

She was silent for a moment before clearing her throat.

"No Kaio-ken technique? Whatever that light magic was you had on when you killed Yuson? That darkness that surrounded you when fighting Sting?"

I looked at her, thinking about it before I ultimately shook my head.

"That magic is not for these fights-

"So, you did go easy on us." Chrysalis cut me off.

I was silent for a moment before a smile grew, making her smile: she was looking to make me smile. "Yeah, I guess I did."

I made it to the group full of ponies and K. They all stared at me, some wondering and others smiling. But there were no negative vibes present between us all. The Queen stepped in my direction.

"Ben, I'm sorry about the incident, I had no intentions to hurt you like I did."

I shivered a bit at the thought of that insufferable pain. I lost my smile quickly, but I took her words sincerely.

"Oh yeah, that was the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life, words can't even describe what you did to me." I said making her sigh with all the guilt she deserved to feel.

"I do sincerely apologize, I was just trying to push you into using that hidden magic within you, but instead you let go and I didn't expect it and you went through what I put you through." She restated her apology. I turned to her and laughed to myself making her look away in even more shame.

"Yeah, but I'm fine now, but you owe me one." I stated and she turned at the option.

"What exactly?" She asked and I hadn't thought that much into my statement but the ideas flowed in smoothly.

"First off, you can heal me, because I'm done! I surrender to Chrysalis, who took me down to my surprise." I could see the surprise in some of them and the smile that Chrysalis and K failed to contain.

"Chrysalis finally managed to beat us at something Luna." Celestia turned with a smug look towards Luna who laughed, humored.

"That's insulting."

The Queen healed me well enough to lose the limp and sore muscles before she stared me eye to eye.

"Why didn't you surrender when I had you pinned, it was the same situation?" She asked, puzzled. I looked over to Chrysalis who still had my sword, which I wanted back.

"To say "I surrender" is to pay respect to whoever you're giving it to and tell them they dominated battle. You may have dominated me physically, but my spirit won't burn out when you're forcing me to surrender like that. My back against a wall while you're trying to establish your already established dominance, I'll never surrender to that."

She felt that land somewhere deep.

"I have respect for you, and I know you're a great fighter, no doubt about it. But we must show honor and class where it's needed. We're friends after all, we got to know our limits and if we should ever need to break them, make sure it's for a cause."

She understood and pushed me playfully with her magic.

"You never cease to amaze me with those words of wisdom, where does it even come from?"

"I've been through things, seen things, and done things. That's all you need to be wise."

"Goodness me, you're being wise while explaining how to be wise." She laughed, shoving me harder.

We all shared some peace at the idea this had ended and Flutters was back to her normal form, oblivious as to what happened. She relieved us with her innocence while the Queen took me elsewhere, alone with her. Leaving Celestia and Luna to explain to a crowd of ponies why a certain changeling was there among the circle of friends. _Quite the tale I hear_.

The Queen wanted to talk about Yuson, more specifically why I said his name during our fight, and I answered. She was confused and worried about what he did to me when he spoke: taunted me? demotivated me? persuade me?

"None." I simply answered. She hummed curiously and looked away.

"You're not telling me he's just wanted to…chat?"

"Not that either," I explained.

"Then what?"

I thought about my words, trying not to give Yuson too much good light.

"He tried to… _encourage_ me not to give in to your surrender." I said making her frown a bit at the statement. I would frown too at his suspicious behavior but I already gave him the benefit of the doubt, no point in taking it away without reason.

"Really? He's motivating you now?" She asked with a strong look trying to get me to tell the truth that was already served. I didn't change my stance on it and nodded. "It's what he did, I didn't ask for it, but he did it."

She put away her look and sighed. "Well, I can't explain why, but as long as he isn't hurting you in any way I'll put up with it…but can you?"

That was my stance at the moment.

"I can. I'm more worried about Athena at the end of the day."

"Certainly, although she doesn't seem to be nearby at all."

" _It can seem that way, but she can hide in plain sight_."

I closed my eyes and acknowledged Yuson's point. I heard a shift in noise, like some leaves getting rustled around.

"Ben, do you know how to fight with friendship?"

I opened my eyes in her direction. Seeing her curious gaze made me smile, and possibly want to laugh a bit along with the question.

"No, how does that even work?" I asked.

She smirked.

"Just keep making friends. It'll answer itself soon."

She began trotting off back to the direction everyone else was. I followed behind her, curiously pondering it. Fighting with friendship seems like a funny concept but there are many things that surprise me, this might be another. I finally emerged and showed myself to the crowd of ponies who discussed amongst themselves. It seems the crowd had grown a plentiful amount since we started fighting.

"He's back!" Lyra come out of the crowd, over the top excited.

"Lyra!" I exclaimed in greetings, feeling the mood of the moment as she rushed up tailed by quite a tail of ponies. I looked at each one individually and laughed, there were too many to greet by their names. They all had smiles as they asked what I was doing fighting a bunch of princesses and demons and ponies.

"Just another day in Equestria." I laughed it up.

As I browsed around their looks, my eyes suddenly locked on a pony. A muzzle over her muzzle and being moved around like a dog by some guard of Celestia's who unlike other guards, stood out. I watched as she was forced to follow his command as he spoke with Luna and Celestia.

"Uh…distract yourselves for a moment." I left behind as I headed towards this guard and his makeshift dog.

"So, what should I do with her?" Flash asked making Celestia ponder a bit before opening her mouth. "Take her back Flash-"

"No Flash, how about we start by taking off this humiliating look?" I came up, picking up on a new name. They were surprised by my appearance before I affirmed what I wanted. "You can't have her looking like some dog."

"Do you have a punishment of your own?" Luna asked me and I looked down at the silent embarrassed pony. I did have something in mind and it just randomly spawned in my head.

"Yeah, she can be my slave."

"Slave?" Luna turned to me, giving a look which showed she had some questions and I smirked.

"Slave to do what!?" The suddenly outspoken chained pony asked. I turned to her and chuckled.

"What do slaves usually do?" I asked to turn the question to her.

"Pray for freedom!" She answered and I gave her that one.

"Well, you'll be doing that." I stated turning to Luna who eyed me carefully on what I wanted.

"I don't condone slavery…" She stated and I nodded, before clasping my hand together.

"Yeah, you're right, slave is a harsh word." I reasoned, putting my hand up to my chin and thinking. I snapped my fingers as the word I was looking for revealed to me just a few seconds later.

"Maid."

"Huh?" They all asked.

"She'll be my maid!" I said with presto on the word _maid_.

"I'D RATHER DIE!"

"Shut up maid!" I ordered and Flash tugged on that leash making her straighten her back and sit upright like a dog. I looked at her carefully.

"You follow orders from him?" I asked and she growled my way, showing her snarling teeth. "Bad dog…" I chuckled making her fume.

"No, it's this leash here, it makes her follow orders of the holder." Flash explained as he made her bow down for me to see. I knelled down and watched in some amazement, I didn't think something like this existed.

"Wow…imagine what I could do with one of these."

"Shut up!" She snarled making me lean away slightly before Flash tugged on the leash some more. "Yield rabid mare!"

Luna and Celestia began laughing behind me as one came up from each side and looked down at the humiliated pony drowning in embarrassment.

"Maid? Really now Ben?" Celestia asked.

"I'm guessing you want one of these leashes?" Luna asked and I thought about it for a while before my smirk grew in an instant.

"If you can provide a wireless one, then I don't see why not."

"I swear if you try anything-!" Luna suspended the guard and froze her in place as she retrieved the leash from Flash and quite literally snipped off the string that connected the two ends of the leash. "You broke it." I coughed and Luna giggled as she magically put one end onto my wrist. Luna released the guard leaving her to glare as I strutted the new wrist band.

"It works like this too, infinite range!" Luna explained and I looked at my wrist, trying to take the band off but ultimately, my hand was too big to pull the band through it. I tried a couple of times and Luna began to laughed to herself.

"I can't take this off Luna…" I explained before realizing Luna had this all planned out.

"She's yours Ben, enjoy this gift on my behalf."

The bound pony eyes lit up immediately as she stood up and began spitting out objections and pleas for help.

"Princess! Please, you can't do this to me!"

I looked at my wrist and at the band, it seemed to be made durable. I looked down at her, the guard who was pleading with Luna and decided to put it to the test and make her sit back down on the ground. It occurred just as I had imagined it to be. The power to control a single being with my mind, this was truly a gift.

"Oh yes, and do keep that ring on her horn, it'll prevent her from using magic." Luna warned and I nodded in agreement. I kneeled down in front of my new maid and reached for the muzzle around her mouth. She growled menacingly before I lifted it off and revealed her face.

"I swear-" She warned before I booped that muzzle of hers leaving her dumbfounded and unable to react.

"W-what!? What was that!?" She asked.

"A way to silence you."

She didn't have a restrain sadly to that mouth of hers, this band didn't control her mouth. "If I didn't have any of this on me, I'd-

I stamped her another on her muzzle, a bit harder this time.

"STOP THAT!"

"Stop threatening me then, it's getting annoying."

She paused before laughing hysterically. "Then I'll annoy you! Day and night!"

I stared at her for a while in silence. She really didn't like me. "You're pathetic for that." A wagged a finger in her face.

"You made me a maid! DO I LOOK LIKE A MAID!?"

"Of course, you do, you just need an outfit!"

As if I hadn't embarrassed her enough already she must have become desperate and began losing hope leaving her whimper a bit, barely noticeable. "N-no!"

I looked down upon her and at her reluctance, only imagining how I would find a way to get her from arguing with me. I snapped a finger as I remembered the best part of maids, as far as I knew.

"Do you know what happens to maid who disobey their masters?" I asked, the most serious glare I could put on ravaging her emotions.

"…"

"Tell me! What happens when you disobey!" I demanded, raising my voice. I must have asserted myself a bit too harshly since she whimpered some more and I could see the gloss of her eyes, tearing up from the despair.

"I-I don't want to!"

That was the wrong answer.

"I'll give you one last chance before I answer it for you!" I used the wrist band to make her sit her body to the firmest position I could get it, so all could see those glossy eyes of her. "And I'll do it my own way…"

She hyperventilated for a moment before closing her eyes.

"F-FINE!"

"Well?"

"I…I get…" She gulped heavily letting a pair of tears go down either side of her face. I asserted myself some more using the band. "…p-punished…!"

"Good, you understand." I said patting her head, letting her suffer in her mistake, sniffing and trying her best to hold back more tears.

Luna chuckled a bit and I turned to her.

"You're a really good enforcer, aren't you?" She asked and I knew immediately she had read my mind on my actual plans. I laughed at it a bit before smiling and raising a finger to my mouth.

"Shh…" I winked and she giggled. Celestia only smirked.

"You're quite the actor as well Ben, I'll let you enjoy your… _gift_." Celestia chuckled as I stood up and looked around at all the faces before noticing AJ coming up, a smile present.

"That was some show." She chuckled taking a stand in front of me, making me smile. "How's it been?"

"I miss hanging with you." I let her know right off the start making her smile wider.

"Funny, I feel the same way, when can we…" She still had some difficult finding her words.

"Soon, I promise, I'm just a bit busy."

"I know." She said, crestfallen by the situation but eager to talk about it.

I looked away, looking for good news but ultimately some confidence found me first.

"Don't worry AJ, I always come back for the things that matter." I assured her and she seemed to glance at me in a mystic way, making me smile like I haven't in a while. Something was new about her, that's for sure.

"I miss talking to you like this." She said deeply.

"I think we both missed each other."

She giggled cutely and winked.

"Ain't no doubt about that, when are we gonna dive into another big bath tub again?" She asked, her eyes only signaling that night we had. It stunned me, and the thought intrigued me. Ultimately, I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'll get looking for one as soon as possible!"

"I'll hold you to that." She smiled with glee before being bombarded by Dash and Twilight. I was asked about my well being by them before I laughed it off and explained it was all in good faith. Relieved, AJ left with Dash who pulled her in for a conversation about sharing something Twilight had, prompting Twilight to follow behind them. Leaving me to enjoy seeing them move away from me.

"She likes you…"

I turned to look at my new maid.

"I'm grateful." I responded. She quickly turned away from me, disgusted by my sight. I stared at her before sighing and smiling again. "Can't stand to look at me now?" I asked and she refused to answer.

"I'll fix that, promise." I assured her with an ominous chuckle.

" _Mortal_ …"

I sighed and turned away to speak to my new inner demon.

" _What?_ "

He remained silent for a brief moment.

" _I have no doubt Athena is watching you_."

I felt my arms tremble as just a statement before I grew a spine to my own knowledge.

" _Don't mess with me, how are you so sure!?_ "

He was silent again before telling me to look around. I did and all I saw were ponies of all types, some I've never hanged out with and others very close.

" _Having so many of them in one location is bound to attract a wandering eye._ "

It was true. He was speaking in clues, unnerving me as he went on to make more sense.

" _A fight like the one you just had was sure to bring attention._ "

I held myself down and looked around casually, trying not to look like I was desperate. I didn't see anything too out of the ordinary and turned to find my _maid_.

"You look worried." She simply mentioned making me glare at her for a bit before looking up again.

" _Even so, that's not enough to assure Athena is watching me._ "

He must have taken it the wrong way since his response was straight out of the character I knew before I killed him.

" _Let your new maid die, let your friends die, let your lovers die, LET THEM ALL DIE_!"

"Yuson…" I whispered before turning around again and looking around. He was so sure of himself he was now telling me my friends would die. Even if I didn't buy it, I wouldn't risk my friends over some distrust I have with Yuson. I circled some more before I stopped at hearing Yuson laugh a bit.

" _There._ "

I stopped, staring at the forest of in the distance that rustled slowly with the wind. I shivered and my body tensed. I couldn't see a thing for the life of me, but he could. I wanted to call bullshit on his claim, but I didn't want to be wrong and risk anything. I quickly let magic flow down to the palm of my hand and threw it in the direction of Yuson's claim getting just about the attention of all.

"Ben?" K asked quickly rushing over to me along with a team behind him.

We all stared as the blast I shot out seemed to travel so slowly due to our arisen fears, and fear was confirmed when the blast just suddenly shot straight up into the sky and disintegrated. As everyone's eyes looked up at the sight, I remained locked on the forest. I couldn't see a damn thing but I knew something was there, driving me with fear.

"Take the ponies back," I whispered off to K who listened and passed the message to the princesses who with a strict nod quickly backed up and began unleashing their magic to retreated everyone to safety but before that could even happen, the ground rumbled and a transparent barrier grew out the ground and locked us in a dome. The princess's teleportation magic seemed to be failing, just like ours did a while back settling our fears.

The terror began cementing into the city of ponies we had and us. The fear was easily seen in our eyes, the fact that we had been compromised like this was the worst scenario.

" _You're too slow Ben, look what has happened._ "

I panicked a bit before I rushed up to the barrier.

"Shut up!" I yelled back in some anguish as I quickly tried to find a way to down the barrier to which I had no results with punching or slashing it.

"Ben! What's happening!?" Celestia asked helping me try and take down the shield, but to no avail.

I didn't need to make any confirmation or find evidence to back up anything now, I knew Yuson had gotten this one right.

"Athena locked us up." I said in a sigh before stepping back from the barrier, only to rapidly swing my arm to it and have it return in defeat. "DAMN IT! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!" I yelled, throwing slashes and punches in despair.

" _Calm down._ "

"YUSON! JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

I must have garnered the attention that deserved as K came up and put his hand on my shoulder firmly to calm me down. I looked over to him so see the support shown on him and everyone behind him. I sighed and looked away.

" _Like I said, calm down and wait for Athena._ "

"That's the plan?" I asked almost wanting to laugh, but surprisingly he assured me that was it.

"Are we really going to depend on the knowledge of Yuson!?" Luna asked, getting a nod from Celestia who explained to her the importance of taking a risk. I held my ground before finally noticing something begin to walk up to the barrier.

"It's her…" The Queen gulped before Celestia and Luna failed at holding back their gasps.

I only gripped my fists tightly, worried. Her sight was frightening, her face showed that of psychopath, that and the blood stains on her face sold me onto something, she had come from slaughtering many, some of the blood still dripping from her face. Her eyes looked calm but desperate for more bodied to pile up.

"W-where…where did the blood come from?" Twilight asked taking a few steps back from the barrier. K's breathing picked up, his own fear was showing as well.

" _What is this…?_ "

Even Yuson was speechless. I refused to show anything but fury as of now, but her deep glare was easily destroying all those behind me from the inside some were crying from just the glare.

"Ben…"

I looked down the corner of my eye at the maid next to me, who was absolutely destroyed mentally from the sight.

"Protect me…"

I could only take in those words and glare back at who was walking so terrifyingly closer. She was crying to my surprise, but then again, who wouldn't be at the sight of a monster coming closer and we're all helplessly trapped in a dome. I looked around at the rest of them and back at her.

"I will…I promise."


	69. Chapter 69 - Deepening Intentions

#69

 ** _Sorry for the long pause in the updates, I've been working towards getting a new PC and that requires money which requires work. Still, I managed to get the chapter done which I'm actually relieved about. Thank you for reading if you've made it this far! Enjoy._**

I took my last step with some self-assurance as I reached the barrier and placed my hand on the surface, only a few friends behind me. She reached the barrier and we gave each other a glare: I never relieved my face of the scowl, and she never seemed to stray from her look either.

"We finally meet face to face." She spoke to me only. My glare tightened as I observed what I had come in contact with. She looked the same as her double did. She dressed like a medieval knight without the helmet, but I wouldn't put it past her look for her to be carrying one somewhere. Besides it all, she was identical to a human female and her black hair was well kept and in a ponytail. She was bulky as well, but that was just the armor she wore. I looked back up at her.

"I never asked to meet."

She was silent for a moment, a bit taken back, before smirking with delight.

"Yuson's words…" She said as if she knew something. "I guess he lived up to that promise." She held back some laughter before hardening, not taking me seriously. She looked at everyone else in the dome, their looks of despair pleasing her disgusting ways.

"Still, I never imagined he would port over a being from the weakest world imaginable and get killed by him in an act of rebellious nature." She smiled turning back to me. Celestia and Luna both began speculating and I opened my mouth to respond but she had already opened hers. "Really telling of him isn't it?"

I held my mouth down, stuck between defending Yuson or accepting her claims: I chose to not speak.

"Oh, but Yuson was always going to be the stupid and weakest amongst us all, it was really fitting of him to have brought you of all weak beings over, we even warned him of how stupid it was to save him the time." She giggled. "Still, he did put a lot _faith_ in you which made it even more hilarious when you completely disobeyed his bidding!"

I was losing patience by the second with her constant belittling, I almost believed it was the only thing she had until I punched the barrier out of the sheer frustration of hearing her utter another insult towards Yuson which was later aimed at me. She became silent.

"All I hear is Yuson this and that! What is your problem with me!? Why are you here!?" I asked, skipping past all her insults and to her. She put away the insults and stared at me, neither of us fazed. "It was stupid of Yuson have brought you into this world, but to be killed by you makes you a symbol of disrespect to us higher beings." She stated which nearly drove me to madness if it wasn't for the fact that I noticed the guard I promised to protect standing very close to me, just hiding behind my legs. She was without a doubt afraid, but she had faith in something I couldn't figure out. I looked up at Athena and shook my head.

"So out of your own selfish pride, you hurt others who never aimed to be your enemy…who's blood is on you?" I asked the question that lingered in my mind. That question should have come with anger but it came out with disappointment. She smirked, getting my blood moving faster, and luckily, in my mind, I had drawn the card I needed.

"Again, taking the lives of innocents, what's next? Shifting the blame of your murders onto others?"

Her smirk left and her face showed the intensity I had expected. She looked down in deep thought before she came to some conclusion, her head jerking back up to glare.

"How?" She asked before growling and reaching her hand through the shield, grabbing me by the neck, too quick for me to have reacted.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT!?"

" _Told you._ " Yuson finally spoke before I noticed a blur run vertically in front of my eyes. I was pulled back by the princesses' wings which ended with me sat on the ground, some pain on my rear.

"Are you alright!?" Celestia asked, as I rubbed my neck and stood up again. "Yeah, thanks."

" _That's not the blood of a pony, let alone a mortal's on her…_ "

I paused at Yuson's unpredictable claim. If not the blood of a pony or mortal, then whose? The question engraved its way into my brain making me quickly turn to Athena to ask again. As expected, I turned to my liberator: K with his wooden sword. It was glowing a strange aura before it faded and he showed some disgust at it being wedged in Athena's arm. Athena seemed unfazed but it wasn't hard for anyone to figure out she was holding in the pain. K quickly dislodged his weapon and stared at Athena retracted her arm to safety jerkily.

"You alright?" He asked my way.

"Yeah, thanks." I said as Athena made him the new target for her glare. He looked back, no problem in dealing with that attitude of hers. She was slowly wrapping her arm in a golden silk-like bandage that glowed luminously before revealing her wound had fully healed. K fully turned and with a look of disgust, he scoffed.

"You can't regrow limbs?" He asked but she wasn't moved by the question. Yuson chuckled.

" _Only some gods have such abilities, but she's got some traits that make up for it._ "

I moved up alongside K, keeping a good eye on Athena.

"She can't regrow limbs, she's not the type."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm giving the benefit of the doubt a chance."

He stared at me before he finally figured it out. He remained silent, knowing well of we needed to conceal Yuson's presence in this battlefield. He turned to Athena who displayed a new look for us to take note of.

"This dome…"

My eyes slowly wandered to look at the barrier's spherical shape.

"You've all been doomed by it."

I glared carefully at the barrier before turning back to her and knocking on the surface of it. Ironically, it sounded like thin fragile glass.

"What do you mean?" I asked stepping away from the magic wall and swinging at it. It was sturdy contrary to the fragile texture.

" _This is a god's instrument of destruction. Used to destroy civilization. Anything encapsulated inside of it will begin to experience abnormal changes. Attitude or physical changes. Metamorphosis and mutation_." Yuson explained freely.

"What does that mean for us?"

" _Anything_ : _monstrous mutations, homicidal mentality, everyone turns on each other_. _Soon enough_ , _the dome will begin to compress slowly until the inside of the dome is but an orb of gore._ "

The image in my head wasn't pleasing.

"How do I take it down?"

" _Punch it again_." He chuckled.

"Don't play that game! That's not an option!" I firmly stated before I felt K grab my arm and silence me with his scowl. I became silent and Yuson hummed in thought.

" _There are ways to destroy it, but we need to get outside first._ "

"Looks like you're already losing your mental state." Athena mentioned. Getting me to mark her down.

"How do we get out!?" I asked smashing my fists to the dome.

"I'm merely just trying to have a conversation before you die, you won't get out, rest assured."

I gulped as I backed up and looked at everyone, trying to not show hopelessness of any kind. I had never thought of how many were inside of this place and looking at them, the hopeless was settling in deeper. I sat down for some thought before I realized how close I had some ponies around me, hoping I had something in mind that would save them. I couldn't look at them without feeling nauseous, my eyes solely focused on a patch of grass ahead of me. I wasn't done with hope, but I was fading mentally and trying not to panic.

" _So Mortal, this is how it ends?_ "

I thought about that riddle. Was it really the end? And if it was, then why does it feel so surreal? Something wasn't yet finished in this chapter of ours and I never did lose hope. The guard pony showed up next to me, my new maid which I haven't even given an order to, not that I would've anyways.

"This can't be it, can it?" She asked making me shake my head and think some more. It was really all too surreal. No one was panicking, there was no sense of urgency, everyone was just confused ultimately.

"Ah, and it's you! My failure embodied." Athena spouted.

I turned towards Athena and glared at her as I stood and went up for a confrontation.

"Did Yuson ever try to plug that fucking mouth of yours!? Give me the chance and I'll do what he couldn't!"

Yuson halted me quickly, but I was already so far ahead of myself. I didn't need to hear anything out of him to figure out what I needed to begin thinking about. She stared at me, her face slowly tightening and molding into anger itself.

"You're mad!? As if you have the right to be! I should be the one in your face for having such a pitiful amount pride that you have to kill innocents to feel mighty!"

"And who are you to be speaking such nonsense!? You're a product of Yuson's degree! The lowest form of mortal there can be! Have you forgotten your place so quickly!?"

I was at a point in which I wish I had something stopping my nails from cutting into my palms from the anger of my fists. I banged a fist up against the dome.

"Shut up! I'm not anyone's product, my parents have died and I've lost it all before I am who you see! I'm my own man! But you! You were a product with potential, that rotted away to what I'm now forced to look at!" I exclaimed before feeling the presence of K next to me. I looked away and hit my head onto the dome.

"No one is born evil, we were all innocent children at some point who couldn't care less about this conversation we're having right now! SO, EXPLAIN WHO THE REAL FAILURE HERE IS!? US OR SOME STUCK-UP BRAT WHO BECAME THE BIGGEST DISSAPOINTMENT IMAGINABLE!?"

She was silent for a while before she straightened her back and stared at me, a cold dead stare that will never faze me.

"We mature, Mortal." She simply answered

"What does that mean? What have you matured into!?" I asked and she sighed before smiling again.

"The last thing you'll see before it all fades."

She was hopeless.

"That so…" I backed up from the dome with a nod before turning around and observing everyone. K and the Queen were studying everyone and Celestia and Luna speaking with Twilight and Spike about any ideas she might have. Again, it was eerie how calm everyone was making me wonder if they were a bit out of it.

"I'm sorry."

I looked down at the guard who looked deprived of all hope. "What?" I asked, confused if she had directed that towards me. She looked at me, mournfully.

"I'm sorry…for trying to kill you back when we first met."

I thought back to then, and to when I learned I had magic and lit the sky in colorful lights and tasted the ground when I passed out. A good time for sure. I imagined the whole thing from start to finish and how Luna tried to stop it, then I was face to face with Celestia and the tale goes onto today. A fight sounded like a good time as well.

I nodded before smiling a bit excessively.

"Before anything, what's your name?" I asked and she became bewildered by my out of place smile.

"T-that's not for you to know. Just call me X or Y or something." She implored making me smile a bit more.

"We're going to die anyways, might as well let me go knowing the name of my maid." I said making her blush and look to a side. It really troubled her but with a quick look around she asked for me to get lower. I got low enough for her to stand and whisper a name out which made me almost laugh if it wasn't for her embarrassment. I stood up and smiled uncontrollably.

"Would you prefer I call you Hearts or-?"

She blushed and sent a kick to my knee which had me skipping a bit to avoid it.

"Shut up! I already said-

"X." I reiterated with a smile making her smile in some peace and nod. I wouldn't have guessed such a name from her, and I couldn't even see her cutie mark, it was hidden behind some padding that guards wear. I smiled before finally turning to Athena and lunging at the dome with all fists startling her into focusing on me.

"Athena, how about a fight to the death!?" I demanded with as much feral anger as I could have regurgitated out of me. Athena glared at me as if I had lost my mind and I was quickly gripped by the leg by the guard who demanded I heel.

"BEN! WHAT THE FUCK!?" K yelled as he came up and tried to pull me away but a quick elbow to his spleen had him backing up before he came at me with force, obligating me to threaten him to back off. He stared just like Athena and now everyone did.

" _MORTAL! YOUR SOME KIND OF IDIOT! LISTEN TO YOUR DEMON!_ "

I ignored Yuson, shutting him out of my mind as I stared at Athena who returned some look shock.

"What the hell has gotten into you!?" K asked again and I ignored him as well. With my fist planted against the shield and the glare that took every bit of selfishness, greed, and ambition, I've got the world cruelest punishment awaiting. Worst thing was, I knew it was coming soon. I nodded towards Athena.

"Torture me, gut me, skin me alive for all I care, but I'm not going to die being a pathetic shit. The pain is worth it."

Athena smiled unnervingly.

"Just you?" She asked. I nodded, my face suddenly drenched by sweat and agonizing weariness I felt, but this was what I needed when facing her.

"You came for me from the beginning, if this is my end, then I'll die doing what I began with!"

"Which is?"

I would've smirked if it wasn't for my glare. "A challenge."

"A challenge?" She asked before I felt a some a set of wings wrap around me, I was about to send a kick behind me, but the white color of the wings dumbfounded me and with a passionate tug, I ended getting thrown to the ground, my back rubbing against who had grabbed me.

"NO MORE CHALLENGES BEN!"

"Celestia!?" I asked as I looked over my shoulder, sure enough it was her. She was very strongly holding me down, to the point I couldn't make any movements. I gulped and looked at Athena who was smiling, making me tighten before turning to Celestia. I couldn't miss this opportunity.

"We're goners anyway! You, me, ALL OF US!" I harshly replied trying to keep the hopelessness alive in them, for their sake.

"Don't say such vile things!"

She was very assertive, now gripping to a bone crunching embrace. She seemed to believe Athena was either going to end me for good, or she'll end us all in here. It almost made me feel the need to break but the feeling of sorrow for them made me nod with her beliefs. I looked at her from my shoulder before closing my eyes, I had my mind made up on the only chance I have in making this work.

"Celestia, please."

She squeezed tighter.

"I said no." She said painfully, realizing I wasn't about to join her cause. I was a rebel with a reason though. I felt my body begin to have difficulty breathing before I managed to find grip in my own strength and began to undo her wings.

"Why don't you listen to me!?"

I didn't fully undo her wings. I remained in her embrace for a moment and looked around at all the confusion and worry. I had one last look at Athena who was convinced now, her smile proved it. I heard a voice whimper something out and the next one to fall into the illusion appeared.

"Ben, there's another way!" It was Twilight who ran onto me and I had prepared myself to accept many from then on, and many did. It took a minute or two but I was piled on soon enough with finally a few who had realized the dire situation. The hopelessness was strong. I looked at Athena through it all, her smile only growing devilishly, showing me of what I was about to let unleash onto myself.

"You…you can't be serious!"

A guilt grew and made me sick to the core. I closed my eyes and looked away, hoping that would help but I should know better. My eyes opened for her making me realize the distraught looks all around.

"I need to try something AJ, I'm sorry." I apologized hoping I would be given the chance to finally try and do something, but it never works as I want it to.

"NO! There's always somethin' else to try! We've always gotten through bad or rough! This ain't new!"

I stared at her. I understood well that they've been through bad situations before, but at the end of the day, I also know they've never resorted to serious, lethal violence before. I began standing up, getting them all off of me by any means before I looked down at AJ. I got on a knee, watching her struggle to understand why I had pushed her away, I'd never done so before.

"Applejack, I never want to say 'no' to you…" It was harder than I thought to speak directly to her hurt look. "But sometimes I have to, to be able to say 'yes' later on."

I knew she understood what I was trying to say, despite her struggle to agree. Still, I couldn't force myself to leave her like this. I tipped her hat upwards and adjusted her posture, getting her to look at me directly.

"You're hurt, I know, but I've been in these situations before and I don't want to make the mistakes I did last time and let others get hurt because I refused to act." I explained making her look down.

"Please, Applejack!"

"…"

She remained silent before looking at Athena. She stared at her for a while, holding a firm look before turning back to me.

"Just…make sure you'll be able to say yes after this…"

That was the plan from the beginning; that we'd all be able to say _yes_. I smiled and nodded.

"I promise." I assured her adjusting my own invisible hat before turning to Celestia who was all worried along with Twilight and her friends by her side. I apologized to them all before turning to K, who also matched the ponies in his sentiments, just a lot more like he wanted to rip my head off.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" He asked in a near whisper. I glared at him, my anger a bit ticked by his response.

"Listen, I'm sorry I hit you." I apologized in the same tone before shaking it off. "Really, I do, but I've got to try something K, this dome will kill us all if we don't figure out how to destroy it."

"So, you plan to die for us, and what good will that do if we're still stuck in here!?" He asked, very sure of his words. I backed off a bit, wondering why he would think I would die, as if he didn't know me well enough. I thought about it before shaking my head aggressively and grunting a bit in frustration.

"What is wrong with you!? I'm sure the K before all of this would've also have tried something too, where's that K!? The one the had faith in me and himself to beat the shit out of anyone!?" I asked before looking at everyone and turning to K again. "What the hell is wrong with all of you!? Did you all forget about Yuson, who we got through, and now it's Athena who we'll also get through as well!"

"This is just an effect of this cursed dome…we don't mean to be so negative."

I turned to the Queen who was dripping sweat like she had an insane fever running. I rushed over quickly with K and Chrysalis.

"Are you alright!?" I asked. She struggled to remain still, shaking a lot.

"What's going on?" K asked along with Chrysalis as they turned to me for answers. The Queen answered them instead, mentioning exactly what Yuson told me about changes and it was happening to her. He remained silent as Celestia and Luna joined us in surrounding their mother, their foreseeable worry showing.

"What's happening!?" Were Luna's first words followed by Celestia's painful struggle to remain calm. I took one last look before realizing that time was just being consumed and quickly turned.

"I need to go." I whispered. Athena was grinning like she hadn't stopped from the beginning of our misfortune. I glared at her before turning to K who was seconds from snapping into a fit.

"K, you'll protect them." I ordered and he only looked back before nodding.

"Hurry up." He whispered before Chrysalis comforted him, getting him to at least look up with some courage. With relief, Chrysalis tossed me my blade. Noticeably, it was a good toss. _She had grown comfortable with it_.

"Thanks." I said turning to Athena and aiming the sword at her as I walked up.

"How bout it? I want to kill you and you want to kill me, let's end this with honor." I said, not a single immature tone broadcasting.

"Come." She smirked, reaching her hand through the shield making me pause my next step. I remained still for a moment as I lowered the sword, wondering what it would be like to suffer again at the hands of a being that's supposedly stronger than me. The idea was almost cementing my feet to the ground.

" _This worked out better than I thought it would._ "

I continued staring at her hand before turning to K helping the Queen lay on the ground. I gulped before turning back to Athena's hand and slowly walked the rest of the way.

" _Mortal, you're not as weak as you think, Athena doesn't know you like I do_."

I lowered my sword fully and passed it to the other hand as I began slowly reaching for her hand.

"What makes you think you know me, Yuson?" I asked him as I held my weapon tightly. He indulged me in conversation.

" _I know you Ben, I didn't just bring you over on a whim, you had some…traits that made you unique._ "

I know coming from Yuson it should feel like an insult, but he didn't address me as "mortal" for once. It mind boggled me for a moment.

"Like?" I asked.

" _I won't reveal that…_ "

He sounded like he was trying to warn me in that sentence.

" _You'll owe me answers once I kill Athena._ " I smirked getting Yuson to remain silent for a moment before chuckling himself.

" _Bastard._ "

I nearly planted my hand on hers and with my sword held closely to my side, I took one last look behind at everyone I was about to leave before turning forward.

"I'm going to save them all." I said openly before landing my palm firmly on Athena's. She grinned and with a quick tug she forced me out of the dome and tried to get me to faceplant to the ground which failed as I asserted myself and stood my ground, releasing her from my grip. She wiped her hand off with the other, a grin no longer showing.

"You have no dominance to assert, Mortal." She said tightening her glare.

"Shut up and know your place." I scorned back with her snobby attitude. Her eye twitched a bit and she tightened her fists.

"Mortal, I'm holding back from just vaporizing you where you stand, I'll give you-

I frowned in an instant. "I've heard worse from other mortals like me, Athena, just try and vaporize me, see what happens!"

She remained fixed on me with a glare before she laughed hysterically. I stood in place before laughing as well, stopping her laugh on a dime. I stopped my own as well.

"Insolent fool! Perish!" She said getting me to raise an eyebrow before I felt a breeze zoom past me. Took me only a second to realize it had begun and that my arm had moved as well.

"I've already perished enough!" I yelled, some rage running heavily through me as I pulled back and thrusted the metal back in and repeated it violently before ripping through her sides and kicking her down to her knees before kicking her head down to the ground and landing my foot heavily on her chest, raising my sword high so that the sun could reflect its now red tinted surface.

She was stunned and so was my other passenger.

" _What's this sudden burst of excitement, Mortal?_ "

"What happened!?" Athena asked in a spurt of red liquid from her mouth. I wasn't about to just drop anything, for all I knew this was a ruse waiting for the perfect moment. She was very convincing if that were so.

"What makes a god and a mortal?" I asked before taking my sword and starting from under neck, I ran down to her chest and over her heart, she shivered as I did so. I wondered if it would actually be this easy before I realized how K couldn't detach her arm with his sword. Something was clearly not adding up if I easily messed her up.

"I'm n-not done!" She muttered before I quickly gripped and stabbed through her armor and into her flesh which was the complete opposite of Yuson's back then. I knew she must've felt the pain, but it didn't faze her like I expected it to. She grabbed the face of the sword instantly stopping it from moving further. She growled as she slowly began pulling it out, and no matter how much I tried to fight back and push, she over powered me surprisingly easily.

I tried to push once more before let go of my sword and backed up, letting her keep the blade for now. She pulled it out and stood up only seconds before I went in with intentions and kicked her chest directly which did absolutely nothing. She absorbed the kick, not budging an inch before I caught a look at her face and kicked her again to get a good distance between us.

"What just happened?" I asked in a whisper, hoping Yuson would have the answer.

" _This is just part of who she is, she wasn't really asserting herself to her full potential_."

He laughed a bit.

" _Don't expect her to be let herself unto you so easily_."

I took in a good amount of air before straightening my posture and aligning myself.

"I'm not close either." I let my breath out before seeing Athena loosely maneuver with my weapon and placing her hand with the golden bandage to her side and healing the mess I created for her. I smirked at her doing so, realizing how much that power would come in handy.

"I'm keeping that after this."

"Take your disgusting, mortal-blade back!" She suddenly yelled off my left getting me to suddenly unleash my own sudden spike in ability and quickly drop my body to the ground like I'd been deactivated, letting my sword go over my body before I went on a rolling spree with her stabbing holes that I was dodging at the last second that ended as soon as I rolled onto my feet and kicked the sword's face, sending it straight to the sky. I quickly rammed the palm of my foot to her incoming fist getting us to freeze for a moment and admire the equality.

"You disgust me truly, Mortal bastard…" Athena remarked with a glare.

Well, only one of us admired it.

"You flatter me too much." I said back in the same condescending tone.

She quickly sent a kick which I met with my other foot and used that one to get a distance between us before my sword came back down and stabbed itself completely into the ground. I quickly turned to it but before I could make the effort, I was quickly called back by Athena attempting to behead me with her own thin but longer-than-life katana. I was quickly falling on my ass and jumping over silver blurs like a mad man before it hit me how sharp her blade was. I had managed to stop her with a leap of faith I made towards my sword and gotten it to halt her blade from cutting me from the head down. Sparks flew with the contact as I looked around.

The ground around me was scarred with Athena's mark; her razor went through the ground like it was butter. I gulped before I kicked the face of her blade aside and launched the first magical blast of magic towards her. Her eyes widened as he sword disappeared and she used her hand to absorb the blast and evaporated it into vapors. I quickly raised my sword towards her.

"I'm a lot more than a mortal, aren't I?" I asked to mess with her to give myself enough time to look off at the dome and at how everyone was doing. I had a few spectators while it seemed K was tending to Queen for now, who was on the ground. The calm atmosphere in the dome was enough to reassure me it was fine in there for now.

"More than a mortal!? Yuson's been feeding you his lies, hasn't he!?"

I turned back and stared, her words were oddly stressed.

"I never spoke with Yuson, he was too busy trying to kill me for any civil discussion!" I exclaimed before rising to a new level that opted her to do the same, I wasn't about to let her land a hit on me. My translucent blue aura had finally come out and hers did as well, surprisingly, hers was glowed a beautiful shade of golden yellow.

" _Don't become too stargazed._ " Yuson reminded me and I let him have that one as I aimed my sword at her firmly. I looked off to the dome once more and noticed a bit more action from inside: K moving around a lot more than usual.

" _Don't get distracted Mortal!_ "

" _Shut up!_ " I ordered as I eyed K making moved from inside the dome before I quickly realized the huge shadow I was in and looked up to find a massive block that rushed at me. My fingers went to my head and I was barely an arm's length away before I realized the massive hammer that had landed next to me. She looked at me off in the distance before the hammer disappeared and her razor appeared again in her hand.

" _Mortal, you'll get yourself killed!_ _Forget about the dome!_ "

"No!" I exclaimed before seeing the razor rush down. I was on the verge of raising my own sword before the sun's glare caught on the blade and blinded me, which was enough to get the razor right next to my neck. Never in my life have I been blinded by a sword reflection like I was then. It was a bitch too.

" _MORTAL!_ "

I had raised my sword parallel to me to stop the blade but no contact was ever made. I was paralyzed for a moment before I looked at my side and noticed the razor frozen in place, suspended in the air. My eyes traveled from the tip of the blade to Athena, her eyes trembling as she stared down at me.

"I'm here, Master!"

I looked down before finding the pony right next to my legs. I looked down at her, my smile emerging before seriousness took over and I swiped at the razor making disappear.

"I owe you a lot for that, thanks!" I said making her smile, but only before turning to Athena who was on the verge of shattering in an uncontrollable rage.

"MASTER!? YOU'RE YUSON'S SERVENT!"

Strike glared calmly and shook her head.

"Not anymore. I serve a different god!"

I flinched hard on that one before looking back at her with some confusion as to what warranted such words. I liked it no less.

Athena must have had a cap on her anger since she lost it with that statement coming after her by surprise. In her rage, distracted of all, I managed to run my fist into her stomach. My arm awkwardly got pushed back before I went in with all the power I had in me and managed to get her to fly back with all the force she came in with sending her crashing into the dome and fall face first, motionless.

I felt all my strength exposed for then and gulped as I tried to control my wave of aura. I let it die down by itself.

"Nice hit!"

I turned to Strike. I was still in a bit of awe at her sudden appearance, but this is a common trait of hers as far as I know.

"Thanks again."

She smiled with the thanks. "Of course, but did you really get caught off guard?"

"A little, it's hard to focus at the moment."

Strike looked at me and nodded.

"I know, that dome is a problem for your friends, but I'm sure, me and the little one could look into it and try some things."

I felt another entity spawn next to me and with a nod, I let them know I greatly appreciated them for it. The little one, as I've now grown to label her, was as cheerful as always, not much could down her mood by the looks of it. Yet, I could distinguish something off about her, and I'm sure it was all too well noticeable.

"You're taller…" I mentioned to her and she only smiled before turning to Strike who smiled as well.

"This can wait, I promise." She assured me which got me agreeing to her with a constant nod as I looked to the dome. "Yuson said he had something…he better have something." I said taking off before pausing at the delay behind me.

"What's the matter?" I asked. Both looked to a side before opening their mouth to speak but for only one to speak up.

"Yuson, he's not telling you something, I know he isn't." Strike warned me. I nodded to it, not really in the mood for more talking in the situation.

"That's not really a surprise, he's Yuson after all-"

"But it's something important, I just know it!" Strike persisted before I heard his voice reemerge in my head.

" _I'll tell you this, Athena is going to get up any second now, and you've wasted precious seconds._ "

I agreed with him and ignored the conversation with Strike as we got to the dome at the angle which was closest to Twilight's. She came with many as soon as they noticed me, warning me that something was happening to the Queen which I could notice from out here. I stared at her, resembling a fallen dove with some of her feathers on the ground she laid.

"How do I get them out, Yuson?" I asked and he hummed in thought.

" _I've only got a few slim ideas…but they're hazardous…_ "

"Tell me!" I demanded. He sighed, while I focused my attention on the Queen whose wings were in some jagged positions, not really like what a pegasus or alicorn should resemble. She was going through some sort of change, and it was unnerving all.

" _Tell Strike to cast a spell named, Yum-so-va. She'll know what it means._ "

"Yum-so…va?" I repeated turning to Strike. "Strike,"

She turned almost with a smile barely printed on her from what she was seeing.

"Can you perform a spell by the name of Yum-so-va?"

Her smile quite literally melted off.

"Yuson…he's the only one who could've given you such an order."

I held my mouth shut as I watched her close her eyes and shake her head.

"That spell is from the bowels of Black magic. If I were to set off that spell, it would…

"Forget about it. I should know better to begin with." I looked at her before thinking back to what I was told by Yuson but before I could ask why the hell he had given me such a thing, he got ahead of me.

" _Don't preach to me. That spell would've allow her to have opened a hole in the dome, but if you prefer a less grotesque approach, then we're done with both their help and anyone else's!_ "

"Don't play games Yuson!" I demanded but my luck had run short this time before I noticed a heavy knock ahead of me. K was there, and as soon as I gave him attention, he warning me of the Queen's condition like the others. I acknowledged it this time seeing the Queen quickly growing worse by the second.

"Keep an eye on her, she's fighting it." I said depressing his mood.

"But listen, can your demon magic work in there?"

He looked at curiously before whipping out the wooden sword and making it glow with an aura.

"Yes." He mentioned before looking off to a side and noticing Athena twitching. I turned quick. "Alright, K, see if you can do anything with that, and ask Jade as well, I need to finish this out here. I'll get you all out, I promise!" I said leaving him and Strike behind to come up with some ideas together.

"BE SAFE, BEN!"

I was halted and turned to the dome to find many of friends there, leading the support was Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Flutters, and Pinkie. I looked at Athena, who was finding some balance as she got on her knees. I nodded, raising a thumb.

…

"K, what's happening!?" Celestia asked as she tried to hold her mother from losing conscious. He got down on and shrugged frantically as he tried to figure out what was really happening.

"Something like a mutation or transformation of some kind!" He said, repeatedly slapping the Queen's cheek softly to get to remain conscious but by the looks of it she was near to empty on effort.

"She won't die!? Will she!?" Luna asked and K shrugged again as he wiped some sweat from his eyebrow.

"I don't know! Hopefully not."

Their efforts to keep her conscious failed and she was out, but to their relief she wasn't _gone_. K dethatched his hand from her neck and gulped as pulled his hand away from her neck. He stared at his shaking hand and noticed the visible fumes coming from his fingers.

He turned to all and showed his fingers off, charred. Celestia and Luna came in for closer looks and K bit down his tongue before gulping.

"Tell everyone to get as far away as they can, this isn't a fever."

…

I moved up to Athena as she finally stood up and quickly tried to impale her but she was quick to react and returned the favor by trying the same with her own sword she spawned. We both neglected the attempts and ended up colliding bodies to hold each other from attacking. Both our arms were locked between us as we tried to predict who would move first. Our swords going opposite directions.

"Where did you learn your combat?" She asked remaining still in her locked position.

"From others who fought to save lives!" I grunted as I pushed her off and respawned behind her to dummy it and appear overhead, swinging down to split her head. She fell for the dummy move but laid on her back to avoid my attack, but I expected nothing better as I rushed down.

With a thud, I scoffed at how a medieval shield managed to appear between us. My sword got stuck on it and instantly glowing appeared from under and I quickly backed off. She created a dome around her, glowing of all hues, making a trippy sight to look at. She eyed me before looking at her shield and noticed my sword stuck again before tossing the shield whole into the air. Her shield disappeared along with my sword which got me quickly reach my hand out before backing off with a gulp, charging both my hands with jittery magic.

"GIVE IT BACK!" I demanded making her raise an eyebrow.

"No." She said with a smirk making my head hurt with the idea I'll never get it back. "That weapon is quite the tier, did Yuson hand it to you?"

"FUCK YOU! I MADE IT! NOW GIVE IT BACK!"

She glared at me.

"Seems it holds meaning to you, if that's so then allow me to end you with it!"

"TRY IT!" I growled making her bring it back and launch in my direction. My eyes narrowed on her as she tried swiped at me from every angle imaginable but I had my mind set on getting back my trademark. I quickly spawned next to her and stopped my sword from cutting into my stomach. I gripped my sword's body as I sent my palm full of magic to her face which I got her cleanly, letting my arm jerk back as I let my magic distort her face. I quickly launched myself away and two handed the weapon.

Disappointment ran through me like a virus as I stared onto a faceless blade that weighed too much to be mine. Laughter emerged from ahead of me as Athena pulled off the bandage from her face.

"Did you really think I'd give you back your blade!?" She began laughing it up. I didn't know what to do. I was between hopelessness and fury, which wasn't helping me remain in control as I gripped the mockery, turning it to dust. I couldn't see straight; my vision was becoming blurry and my headache had turned into a pulsing mess. I felt like throwing up from the embarrassment and anger.

"Oh? Was that really all you needed to give in? Where you really what was supposed to be Yuson's ally!?"

The mockery was too much and my vision became fully blurred before a flash of darkness appeared ahead of me knocking me down onto a knee. I rammed a fist into the ground, launching myself back onto my feet and finding balance, the shaking never ending.

"You've got some nerve taking what isn't yours and hurting my friends who've done nothing to you!" I yelled making her smirk.

"Punishment often doesn't come how the victim wants it."

"You'll be the victim of your own suffering in the end!" I affirmed as I let my arms rest lightly to my sides. She smiled as she came at me once more and I quickly changed positions, bringing my arms ahead of me and trying something new for a change. Gripping both hands into fists, a mass of colorful magic slewed around both fists of mass gravity as I quickly threw both hands into the sky and let both magical masses run up and united to create a ball of magic that levitated overhead.

Athena braked to a stop and glared up at the magic in the sky. I looked up at it as well wondering what the hell I had just created.

" _Alright Mortal, what the hell is that?_ " Yuson asked before I quickly turned to Athena and moved.

"What the!?" She exclaimed before quickly turned to me. "What is that thing-!?"

I tried a wonder of kick to her head hoping for some crazy result like a beheading, but I only ended up damn nearly detaching my leg. She stared at my foot pushing against her face before glaring at me.

"What was that?" She asked, unimpressed. "Shit." I said through my teeth and quickly spun to using the other foot which actually ended up sending her stumbling. I quickly threw my arm behind me and spawned out a magical ball which I sent hurling to her using my whole body as a fulcrum.

She quickly created the giant hammer from earlier and swung a perfect swing, sending the magic racing back which hellish speed. I quickly reached my hand out and closed my fist on the first contact. The magic burst everywhere and floated around like deformed balloons before all of them ran back to me and became one with my aura.

It was a funny scene where the both of were waiting each other out. Wondering who would hit next, when we're meant to kill each other. Thing was, I never attack first which is why I'm always getting attacked, now that's a philosophy.

"Mortal! Are you done playing around!?" She yelled. I dropped my hands and stepped closer to her before hearing Yuson in my head mention the dome. Everyone inside had rounded up at the far end of it, all except K, Luna, Celestia and Twilight who surrounded the Queen. I couldn't tell what was happening from this distance.

" _I believe they've realized who the real threat inside the dome is._ "

The Queen by the looks of it. I gulped and turned to Athena again.

" _Mortal, we don't have any damn time for this play fighting! Where is your murderous instinct!?_ "

Yuson had a point there, I wasn't really giving my all but neither was Athena which is what was driving me into a brick wall I couldn't get through. I was under the impression that Athena wanted to kill me but so far, she hasn't done much but evade and block some attacks, not to mention let me hit her directly and lethally.

"Something is off." I mentioned to her making her pause and stare at me. That was enough clue for me to easily see through her. I took a moment of deep thought, before looking at all scenarios beforehand of Athena's. Something was shockingly clear.

"You're not trying to kill me, are you?"

She stared at me before shifting a bit in place and making her hammer disappear. I stared at her before hearing the obvious confusion from Yuson.

" _What's going on? What do you mean, Mortal!?_ "

I had the same question but I was onto something no doubt. I followed her movements closely as she became eerily silent and gazed at me. The unsettling gaze and silence were piercing my ears, not even nature had sound. I looked around myself, the feeling of fear was easily creeping up my arms.

I turned back to her and she was still staring at me which got me asking Yuson if he had the slightest clue on what was ensuing, he was as confused as I was unfortunately.

" _She won't speak…_ " I mentioned to Yuson silently.

" _What did you mean that wasn't trying to kill you?_ "

" _That time when Dash got knocked from the sky along with me, that was only enough to knock us out, not enough to kill us, meaning she didn't want us dead on the spot._ " I explained and Yuson hummed before I pushed forward some more.

" _Then there was that time when her doppelganger appeared, and that one did try to kill K but Sting intervened there and he nearly went and got killed._ _Then we took her down and we captured part of her soul which I'm very suspicious of._ _Again, that double said that this Athena would be unbearable but that isn't the case._ "

He was instantly on that and with good reason.

" _A god's soul is basically like a fragment of themselves. No matter how small it is, it's connected to the entirety, you had literal control of her fate with that…_ "

I paused and looked at Athena, she was still silent and staring which was starting to get interesting considering I was lingering on the edge of something. I inhaled the silence.

"You left that piece of soul with us on purpose." I stated making her eyes narrow on me. I stared at her and put two and two together and Yuson put them together as well no doubt. I stepped forward again making her eyes open a bit more.

"When I mentioned if I'm more than a mortal, you reacted by telling me Yuson had fed me lies, what lies?" I asked her making her face twitch while remaining ever so silent. I looked down to a side and thought some more and put pieces together. I felt like I was close to the light switch in this dark room of mysteries.

Yuson had gone silent as well, not responding to my speculation. I remained silent and in though before some pieces finally connected again.

"Yuson has only ever told me I was his puppet, was that his lie? Or is it something bigger?"

She was on mute and it was taking me down a bad road.

"Was it!? Answer me!"

I held my breath as I noticed her sigh, finally showing a sign she hadn't fully become idle.

"Don't be so hasty." She said, almost inaudibly. "You're nothing but a freak…"

My glare eased a bit as I wondered what she was trying to say. A freak wasn't a word people just use, it's a word that used when there is discomfort present. Yuson was silent, and even when I tried to call for him, he ignored: I was alone.

"…And I love that."

My head shot up and I quickly locked in a defensive stance. She was bearing a smile that was gutting me and forcing me to retract a step. Yuson didn't speak at all which was hurting me. I was alone to face whatever this was. I didn't know anymore and the fear of the dark was present and deteriorating my mental state. What I once thought was going to kill me, has something else in store, and I couldn't be left any further in the unknown.


End file.
